Tuesday, June 28

Not much to report today. As I said yesterday, it’s our first really stress-free day since the day before we left. We slept “in,” getting up around 8 am or so. Ate breakfast then found a comfy place to read the day’s news. When it warmed up, we slipped outside to sit on the bench and watch the birds.

We found this comfy place that is above the garden and has a view of the eastern Andes and Quito so we ambled up there and read for a couple of hours.

Then we did the jacuzzi for a half hour, which felt SO GOOD after all the hiking we’ve done. It was a slice of heaven.

We showered, read some more, ate supper and are packing so we’re ready to roll at 4 am to get to the airport for our 6:38 am flight to Miami.

In bed by 9 pm with dreams of a routine flight to Miami, then to Chicago, then to La Crosse where Kelly is going to pick us up around 10 pm

Woohoo! The adventure is nearly over, and it has been the most challenging – physically and emotionally – than we’ve ever experienced in all our years of international travel. We’re patting ourselves on our backs for having done it now as we notice a difference in our stamina, compared to our last trip three years ago to Amsterdam, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

Sweet dreams…… 

Monday, June 27

It’s our 24th anniversary, and we’re going home! Yay!

The morning was absolutely beautiful, as the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky so we ate breakfast and went outside to sit in the sunshine – and get warm.

First thing I did, however, was contact Elaine about getting our tickets reissued for June 29. Around 10:45 am, she said she was on hold to speak to someone about changing the tickets. I also tried contacting someone through my American Airlines mobile app – I was on hold too.

Wouldn’t you know it - but around noon, Elaine and I both finally made contact with someone. Elaine got hold of an international reservation rep – the best she said she has ever dealt with – and I got someone by the name of Upasana. By 12:15 pm, Elaine was making changes so I let my contact go.

We got a return flight – but – when we reviewed the reissued tickets during lunch, the last leg was Chicago to Madison. Geez. Elaine contacted them again and FINALLY, we got tickets to leave Wednesday, and we'll land in La Crosse.

We finished lunch, sat outside a bit more (it was getting cloudy) then a little nap before we went to the bar to watch a WNBA game on my laptop.

I have to say that if we’re stuck in Quito, we chose the right place. It is so pleasant here although a tad chilly. We basically have to “go to bed” to stay warm but I guess that’s a minor inconvenience. We’re a little bored but there’s a jacuzzi that we intend to use tomorrow – our first stress-free day since June 8. 

We’re so relieved, even though we meet the shuttle at 4 am Wednesday, and we’ve got the airport crap to deal with – and, hopefully, there are no thunderstorms in Miami and everything goes smoothly.

Sunday, June 26

Well, it’s 1:32 pm and all the insurance “emergency” person could tell me was that “the hold times are longer than normal to reach American Airlines as we have not been able to speak with an agent.”

We had breakfast at the Air Suites Hotel Boutique this morning, then walked down to the largest mall in Quito – Quicentro – to purchase something to replace a day pack that was just swag from a golf tournament we attended. It is almost in tatters. One of the first stores we encountered was North Face, so we bought a small backpack so we can pack stuff that now is stuffed in the day pack and another day pack we got at a golf tournament. We kind of searched for a store in which we could buy cheap wine, as we’re transferring back to that lovely colonial hotel in Puembo this afternoon. It’s much closer to the airport (15 minutes) instead of an hour and thinking we might get a 6:38 am flight on Wednesday, we wanted to be somewhere that didn’t require us to get up at 3 am just to get to the airport with two hours to spare.

We returned and repacked, asked for a taxi to 1) take us to a liquor store to buy cheap wine and 2) transfer us to San Jose de Puembo. Well, that was a challenge since no one spoke English, and we don’t speak Spanish. Our taxi driver was an old man, probably 70+, and when we gave him the address to the hotel, he seemed confused. After about a half hour of attempting to show him the location of the hotel, he finally understood (well, sort of) so we took off. Apparently, he forgot we wanted to stop and buy wine because, well, that didn’t happen.

When we got to the Puembo area, he was stopping and asking police who were manning a roundabout where protesters had just been how to get to the hotel. He stopped at least three times asking for directions. Lucky for us, Beth had it pulled up on her Google maps so he eventually accepted our help, and we got here around 1 pm. 

We don’t have the rather spacious room we had when Audley moved us here before the Amazon trip. It’s smaller and has no outside access so I can’t step outside to smoke but its pretty easy access to get outside. Minor inconvenience.

None of the places have heat. It’s not cold but it’s chilly – only about 60 degrees – just chilly enough that some heat would feel nice. Minor inconvenience.

We’ve got the hotel room until Wednesday – sure hope we can fly out Wednesday. If we can’t fly out Wednesday, don’t know what we’ll do because this particular hotel is sold out on July 1. All the other hotels near the airport also are sold out. Guess everybody’s trying to leave too.

I did have a chat with someone at American but to avoid any charges for changing our flight, she informed me to contact my travel agent so I’m going to contact par excellence Elaine first thing to see if she can help get our flight rebooked and tickets reissued for Wednesday. She’s a wonder so our hopes are high.

Saturday, June 25

It’s 2:15 pm, and we’re lounging around on a comfortable terrace in a hotel where no one speaks English.

Our compatriots who did the last activity yesterday reported that we made a good decision because there were 270 stairs to the observation tower to which the guide took them. That was after a 15-minute walk with wellies on because it was muddy. We would not have made it but we did get some rest. We gathered before supper to watch a video about the Napo Wildlife Centre that was interesting. The Anangu community came together and refused to let a company build and run the eco-lodge, as a neighboring community had done. The neighboring community gets paid $400 a month to let the company run a lodge in their community. The Anangu community, to date, gets about $60,000 a year from revenue at the center.

The community, with the help of some NGO (non-governmental organizations) built the lodge and provided jobs for the community. They brought in all the materials the same way in which we entered the lake on which the lodge is built – by paddle canoes. Extraordinary. They began the project in 1998 and finished it in 2003. The tower was completed nine years ago. Some of the challenges for the community was learning how to wait tables, clean rooms, etc. for which they had experts help. It’s a beautiful lodge and has all the amenities Westerners want. 

The community uses the revenue for basic needs like food and some health care. A lot of it goes toward conserving the portion of the Amazon forest that the government has “given” them. Their issue now is keeping the oil and gas industry out of the forest. There is some drilling, and as I mentioned earlier, there have been at least two oil spills. You can still see a sheen on the water. There were two places along the Napo that you could see the impact of the industry. One was a flaming thing they use to refine the oil; the other was a large landing on which there were big oil trucks and big machinery that despoiled the surrounding area.

At supper, Mauricio (our guide) told us that they were no longer allowing the boats to bring people into the lodge because of the protests. And he gets to go home, which is about a 4 ½-hour bus ride. He and his wife have two children. They live in a city.

We also were told that the roads into Quito are all permanently closed until some kind of compromise or solution occurs between the protesters and the government. The protesters will not talk to the president until he lifts the emergency order, which I personally don’t see him doing so the situation may continue, and there’s more violence.

Because the roads are closed, we cannot do the next segment of our trip because it requires a transfer from Quito to Mindo. We are awaiting a call from our travel insurance that offers emergency travel assistance so we can rebook our flight home. Hopefully, we can transfer to a hotel nearer the airport tomorrow and fly out Monday morning early.

It’s been a long day. We got up, packed and had our luggage on our porch by 4:45 am and got to the dock around 5 am. It was Amazon dark, and here’s an experience few probably have ever encountered: Mauricio and Mario paddled the canoe across the lake into the river IN THE DARK! So glad we don’t have anxiety attacks because this would cause an anxiety attack, and I can just see someone refusing to get into the canoe. We had no choice but to trust our guides, and they did good. 

At one point, we were going under a downed tree that went across the river, and got showered by something crossing. It was a sloth! We were already under it when Mauricio shined a light but we believe him.

We also saw a bird we had not seen but I can’t remember what he called it. It was white and had spindly legs like a water bird.

Eventually, it began getting light and I felt a little relieved that I could see the river. It took about an hour and a half to get to the welcome center where we transferred to the motorized canoe. After we were settled, they provided us breakfast in self-contained plastic Tupperware. There were scrambled eggs, lots of fruit, some salami and cheese, bread and some yucca bread (our favorite). After we ate, they FINALLY gave us coffee. 

It took two hours to get to the facility on the river where the bus was waiting. We had a little respite while they unloaded the luggage from the canoe onto the bus then we were off to the airport. We got our boarding passes, checked our luggage and waited. The plane was late getting off the ground but not by much.

We arrived in Quito around 11:30 am and wished our “team” members (Scott, Toni, Sebastian and Sullivan from Michigan) good luck and well wishes for their Galapagos trip then we were met by our transfer to the hotel at which we're at now. 

So here we are in suspension, awaiting our emergency travel adviser to call. It’s 1:30 pm, and they said it would be 4 to 6 hours.

More later……

It’s 8:40 pm and we have gotten no further than we did at 1:30 pm with the “emergency” travel adviser who has yet to call us so we called back, and I insisted I stay on the line until I talked with an “emergency” travel adviser because when I tried calling them again on my phone (twice), I got someone speaking Spanish, then they hung up. So we used Beth’s phone and got on line with someone who said our earlier request had been submitted but didn’t tell us why we never received a call. Anywho, she stayed on the line for quite a while but couldn’t connect with the adviser.

As I began writing this, whallah! We got a call from the “emergency” travel adviser (at 8:44 pm). In the meantime, I made reservations for Sunday through Wednesday at that pleasant colonial estate, San Jose de Puembo, which is only about 15 minutes from the airport. Didn’t know exactly how long but I asked the “emergency” travel adviser to rebook us for Wednesday so we’ll get some down time.

They speak English there, thank goodness. The hotel at which we’re staying tonight, well, there’s only one guy who barely understands English but he was so nice and helpful. Because we were waiting for the call from the insurance company, we needed to order something to get delivered, so we chose a restaurant nearby that Eddie had recommended. I took the laptop down to the front desk, as I had a translator so I could communicate. The restaurant was closed so we found a Gyros place, and he ordered us two Gyros platters with Cokes. He brought them up when they were delivered – actually, on the floor below us is a nice terrace with tables and chairs so we ate there. He even got us place mats and turned the tv on for us as we ate.

There is no heat in any of the places in Quito, so I requested – through the translator – a space heater. He brought it up – doesn’t do much good but it’s better than nothing.

It’s now 9:05 pm – we have been up since 4:30 am (we lied down but didn’t really nap as we’ve been trying – unsuccessfully - to get the hey outta here).

We’ll stay awake long enough for the return call from our “emergency” travel adviser.

I did not get a photo of the "snack" we were given by the Anangu women but Toni did, and she sent me a copy to show y'all what we ate. At the top is heart of palm, then a plantain, to the right is a roasted cacao bean and the best part - the smoked larvae.

Friday, June 24

Our last day in the Amazon, and it was an early start again, breakfast at 6:30 am and in the canoe at 7 am. It was a chill morning. We stayed in the canoe for about three and a half hours plying a small creek off the lake.

We saw again three kinds of monkeys – the red howler monkeys, who are very loud; the spider monkey; and the cut capuchin monkey.

We saw a boa constrictor and a Amazon Whip Snake about which our guide had a story. He grew up in the Amazon, and he encountered a whip snake. He took it by its tail end but it whipped back up into his face. We thought it was probably like a bitch slap. Apparently, the elders tell children not to lie or the snake will whip you.

We saw several species of birds: a stinky turkey which is really a Hoatzin; an anhinga, which resembles a cormorant; slate-colored hawks; some kind of vulture; a lapwing; greater anis, of which there a lot; and a ringed kingfisher.

The best, though, was seeing the white-throated Tucan. There two of them, and they were in the canopy and difficult to spot. But they have a very distinctive call, kind of like the scarlet macaw.

As we were nearing the lake, we heard alligators grunting so we checked in out. Our guide stepped up on the tippy-top of the canoe (not inside it) to see what the commotion was. All of once, we saw water splashing and lots of noise. He said it was a caimen attempting to eat its young but only got the end of the tail of a juvenile. We didn’t actually see it, but we heard it. There was one nearby and the guide ascertained that it was a “monster” because of the grunt/growl we heard.

We also saw the blue morpho butterfly. It’s the largest butterfly in the Amazon with a wingspan reaching up to 8 inches. They are known for the spectacular blue color on the topside of their wings, which is actually not due to a pigment, but the configuration of scales reflecting light in a way that produces an apparent iridescent blue color. And was it beautiful!

We also went through an ecosysystem that featured the tallest palm tree in the Ecuadorian rain forest. I forgot the name of it. 

Our guide, at one point during the trip, used a machete to clear a narrow path through the creek for us to pass. We went through a “tunnel” before we got to the end. It wasn’t really the end but the weeks had totally overtaken the creek, so we turned back.

We got back to our lodge around 11 am, and discussed whether we should move forward with our itinerary because the State Department issues a warning and escalated the level of risk to 3 – reconsider travel. Consular services are no longer provided in Quito but only in Guayaquil, and they urged everyone to remain in place.

So what to do? We’re flying back to Quito tomorrow. The hotel manager says the highway from the airport to the hotel is open today, and the hotel is safe. We’re supposed to be picked up by another tour operator Sunday morning to go to Mindo in the Cloud Forest for five days. Haven’t heard from them yet – it’s like a four-hour drive to the northeast so the situation there may be different.

Right before lunch, we got to watch about six young river otters play and fish in front of our lodge. We’re so far removed from all the other crap – in Quito and the U.S. (overturning Roe v. Wade makes me sick and angry).

Scott, the guy from Michigan we eat with, said at lunch that the Ecuador congress had introduced some of legislation to impeach the president but I can’t find anything about it when I consult my news sources so who knows what’s going to happen?

We chose not to participate in the afternoon activity, which would required tromping through the jungle again and then up, god knows how many steps, to an observation deck that is above the canopy.

So we napped, I did the blog and rested. Tomorrow is a travel day – two hours out in a paddled canoe then two hours more in the motorized canoe, then the airport and a 40-minute flight back to the real world.

I did not take my camera or phone with me this morning so I’m posting the few photos Beth got on her phone. It’s nearly impossible to photography anything in the jungle from a moving canoe.

                                                This is a newspaper photo of what's happening in Quito today.

Mauritzio, our guide, uses a machete to clear trees so we can pass.

We went through a "tunnel" before the end of the trail. 

A white-throated toucan. Can you see him in upper right?

A Blue Morpho butterfly, the largest in the Ecuadorian rain forest.

Thursday, June 23

Up at the crack of dawn – well, really, before dawn. Ate breakfast at 5:30 am and met our guide at the canoe landing at 6 am. We paddled back down to the Welcome Center. Didn’t see much on our way.

We transferred to the motorized canoe and went back on the Napo River for about 20 minutes to a parrot clay lick. There were cobalt-winged parakeets and parrots – hundreds of them – in the trees waiting for the appropriate time to gather on a large clay bank. The clay has nutrients, minerals in particular, that the birds need so they gather each day between 6 and 10 am at this particular lick. Several cobalt-winged parakeets were courageous enough to land, followed by some parrots but apparently they sensed some kind of predator near them so they flew away. We were several hundred feet from them in the canoe so it wasn’t that easy to see them, and it was a little disappointing.

From there, we motored up the river to the Anangu community that owns and operates the Napo Wildlife Centre where we’re staying. Anangu means ant, and they cooperate as does the community. We learned about their political structure, which is democratic. They elect a president and other officials to represent them and do what is best for the community. They had a “parliament” building, a “computer” building, a high school and elementary school, a clinic where there is a practicing doctor (Western) and dentist. 

We went to the interpretative center where several women were gathered with their little ones. Women are in charge. Maria, a woman about 30 years old, told us about some of the cultural traditions including food preparation, hunting with a blow gun, cloth they used to use to clothe themselves that is made from tree bark. They showed us how the smoke leaves for tea and served us some. They showed us a drum made from a tree, and a how to make noise on a turtle shell. There were several other younger women who showed us a thank you dance, Maria played a drum. We were invited to dance to become honorary members of the tribe.

All the while, there were several women tending a fire on which were several food items unfamiliar to us. Then they served us: heart of palm, roasted plaintain, a roasted coca bean (not the kind that makes cocao) and the piece de resistance was a weevil larvae – smoked. We were encouraged to eat it, and we did. Actually, the larvae wasn’t that bad. It kind of tasted like bacon. Two of our cohorts then ate live larvae, and they reported that it wiggled in their mouths a little but tasted like unsalted butter.

That was Scott and Sebastian, two members of the family with which we’ve been paired. They’re from Lansing, Michigan. Scott is the dad, Toni is the mom, Sebastian is a sophomore in high school and his brother, Sullivan, just graduated from high school, and this trip is his graduation trip.

We then were invited into another hut to view (and possibly buy) things made the women in the community. And you will NOT believe it – but there was only one armadillo (clay) and so I got it for my armadillo collection. They have giant armadillos here but they’re nocturnal. Our guide said they are very difficult to find but sometimes they are around the lodge. We saw a burrow of one, and it was at least a foot and half wide.

Next, we motored over to another parrot clay lick but this one was a hike, at least a mile, into the jungle. Beth and I took much longer than everyone else, as I had to frequently stop to rest my hip. But no worries – the end of the trail was what I would call a blind but it seated probably 50 or so people (there were only 8 of us). In front of the building was another clay lick. We waited and waited, and the parakeets eventually came and began feeding on the dirt.

But THEN- a scarlet macaw showed up. He jumped from tree to tree screeching before it took to the lick. The parakeets were respectful and left. But THEN another macaw showed up and THEN another macaw showed and THEN another macaw showed up. There were six scarlet macaw in total. It was so totally awesome to see these beautiful birds. The guide did a video on my phone so I’ll show it to anyone who wants to see it when I return. My apologies for the photo I’m posting – it’s not sharp – but I have some on my camera that are pretty awesome!

On the way out of the jungle, we moved slower and another guide stopped frequently to tell us about some of the trees (like a tree that eats other trees – it wraps itself around the tree and eventually strangulates it) and one in particular that the indigenous people use to communicate. It’s broad at the base and hollow so you can pound a stone on it to send a message.

We did not get into the motorized canoe but hiked to the Welcome Centre where we had a lovely lunch of chicken, fish, rice, potato, broccoli and carrots. A fruit cocktail and a heavy cake finished it off.

We climbed back into the canoe for the trip home (takes about two hours), and this is what we saw on the way back to the center: a bunch of different monkeys (red howler monkey, a white-fronted capuchin monkey and a squirrel monkeys and their babies) jumping from tree to tree across the river; a baby anaconda curled up in weeds (we saw maybe the tail), and three-toed sloth and a bunch of giant river otters. A caiman was in the lake that we paddled by on our way to the landing.

The day was absolutely gorgeous (well, the sun was out and it was rather hot/humid), and I thought it would last but nodda. We were about 30 minutes from the lodge when it started raining – well, it was pouring. We donned ponchos but that didn’t keep us that dry. There is a reason they call it a rain forest.

A shower never felt so good. We both showered then eventually laid down for a nap. We awoke to another pouring rain. In fact, it rained from 3 pm until now – which is 8:30 pm.

Supper was served early – the food here is really, really good. We got an orientation i.e. all the staff, chefs, etc. were introduced then our guide told us what to expect tomorrow: breakfast at 6:30 am, we join him at 7 pm on the landing and we’ll canoe around the perimeter of the lake to see what we can see, back for lunch then around 2:45 pm, we put on our wellies and go to an observation tower the community has built to see the birds in the canopy. He said it’s about a 15-minute to the tower, then I’m sure there are tons of steps so I’m going to forego that particular activity but Beth will participate. Gotta say that even Beth today said the activities were difficult for her. It’s been very physically demanding but we’re doing it!

It was a very pretty sunset at 6 am :)

The women of the Anangu community greeted us and told us about traditional food preparation, hunting, etc. while cooking some foodstuffs for us.

The first building is the computer center, the second is the doctor's office and the third is the dentist office.

This is the school - classrooms for each level.

The is the parliament building at which the president and elected reps meet with the community.

A women cooking foodstuffs for us.

The young women doing a welcome dance.

The following photos are out of order. This is Beth relaxing at the end of the day, which featured about six hours of rain.

This is the lake in the rain.

This is the lake after one storm has passed and before the six hours of rain began.

Three of the six scarlet macaws at the clay lick.

The concrete path through the jungle.

Wednesday, June 22

Today was a banner day. And we have internet in the Amazon!

Eddie picked us up at 7 am after we had a light breakfast. He couldn’t drive the Pan-American highway because it remains closed so we took another route, and we went by several places where tires and debris had been burned the previous day.

We got our boarding passes and waited for the flight to Coca, which took about 40 minutes over the Andes to the Amazon.

When we arrived the folks from the Napo Wildlife Centre where we’re staying took care of us. Loaded our luggage, bussed us to their new facility where we got an overview of the Amazon before loading into a motorized canoe.

Part of the introduction was the Napo River, on which we were going to follow, is one of the main tributaries to the Amazon River. It’s only called Napo in Ecuador, as it has different names in Columbia and Brazil, for example.

He named eight tribes that inhabit the Amazon here, two of which are extinct. Because of the oil extraction business, only two still live traditionally because they built roads and Western culture followed the roads.

They’ve had at least two oil spills that contaminated the Napo River. Part of the demands of the protesters is to stop expansion of the oil industry. They also want better health care. For example, if a woman were to birthing, the closest hospital is in Coca, and they must navigate the river to the get there. We traveled about two and one-half hours on the motorized canoe so you imagine what an obstacle is for rural indigenous folks to get health care. They’re asking for clinics to be built closer to the settlements.

The river is very wide and has a strong current. During our two and one-half hours, we were dodging all sorts of stuff in the river. Much to my amazement, there is no navigation markers.

At one point, we came to a port that was literally the end of the road. There were huge oil trucks that, much to my surprise, were loaded on barges and taken from the oil fields to the port. We only saw one flame, indicating some of processing plant for the oil.

The day actually was very, very nice. The sun was shining – most of the trip. As we were nearing the Napo Welcome Center, the rain moved in, and our guide said “Welcome to the Jungle” (remember that song?) 

It was raining as we prepared for the next segment of the trip to the Wildlife Centre – a paddle canoe with no cover. We were given ponchos and away we went. There were two canoes: one with six people (we were in the very front) and another with one couple and our luggage. The luggage was covered but it was still quite wet when we got it next.

The paddle canoe was the best part of the day! We paddled through a river to a lake on which the Wildlife Centre is located.

Here’s some of the things we saw: stinky turkeys (they’re only stinky after they are cooked so the indigenous people don’t eat a lot of them); a beautiful yellow and black bird; a gray hawk that is endemic and can only be found in the Amazon; we caught a glimpse of a Caracara, which is like a condor but not that big; two kinds of parrots; tiny bats that had snouts that were attached to a tree trunk – they were sleeping – and they looked like they were part of the tree (they were about the size of a ping-pong ball; a red-howler monkey, which is the loudest monkey in the world but we didn’t hear them – yet; South American squirrel monkey. We say a floating spider that is largest arachnipod in the world. He was about 7 inches across. He was near a centipede that was about 4 inches long.

And to top it off, we saw a two-toed sloth in the trees moving about and a black caiman (an alligator) that was about eight-feet long and was probably 30 to 40 years old. It was missing its back left leg, which the guide said it probably lost in a fight.

There are anacondas here as well but the guide said they hide themselves pretty well, as do the jaguars that feed on the caiman.

I got some photos with my camera (the caiman) but few with the phone. The sloth, doggone it, was too far into the jungle to get a photo of any kind.

We arrived at the Wildlife Centre around 4:30 pm, and this place is awesome!

It is owned and operated by the local indigenous tribe, the Anangu Kichwa, and consists of a series of lovely cabins, and a huge dining hall that is on the first floor of a seven-story observation tower that has a glass elevator that goes to the fifth floor. It is a community-based project that took two years to build.

The government gave the tribe (well, they already owned it, so we assume the government gave them permission to build the project) several thousand hectares. It is in the Park Nationale Yasuni, and the lake is Anangu Cocha.

We might take a trek tomorrow to a parrot lick where hundreds, even thousands, of different kinds of parrots can be viewed (including macaws).

Dinner is at 7 pm so we’re heading up to the bar to have a glass of wine before we eat and possibly hear about tomorrow’s activities.

It is very, very quiet here except it is dusk and we can hear more and more birds and frogs. Might be a noisy night. 

Got our marching orders after supper: we eat breakfast at 5:30 am, canoe over to a parrot lick, then on to the local community before going to the Napo River, lunch at the Welcome Center, then canoe back. Should be back by 3 pm – and it’s nap time!

Napo River, Amazon and community of Coca from the air.

                                                    Napo River and the Amazon from the motorized canoe we took for two hours for approximately 25 miles.

                                                Beth on the motorized canoe.

The Amazon and Napo River from the motorized canoe.

                                                    Our guide paddling for two hours upstream!

                                                    Our accommodations at Napo Wildlife Centre.

                                                    View of the lake from our front porch.

                                                    Our "hut."

Tuesday, June 21 - summer solstice!

  We were successful in staying up past 9 pm last night. We actually watched the June 16 game between the Minnesota Lynx and the Las Vegas Aces. I have WNBA League Pass so we can watch any game, any time as long as we have wifi. And it worked in Ecuador! The game was very fast-paced and fun to watch but, alas, the Lynx lost by one point.

We got down to breakfast around 7 am and received a Whatsapp message from our vendor indicating that we are not going to AnSattisana volcano today because roads are blocked. They’re also trying to book us a room nearer the airport for tonight, as our flight to Coca leaves tomorrow morning. Alas, all the hotels are booked. We guess it’s because traffic is snarled – it takes about 45 minutes to get from our hotel to the airport.

The protesters made their way into Quito yesterday, and many were assembled in the park across from our hotel. Our hotel is barricaded. The protesters were chanting and drumming until around 10 pm when the curfew takes place.

Here’s the news today: “President Guillermo Lasso extended a state of emergency to cover six provinces, with a nighttime curfew in Quito, as he seeks to curtail demonstrations that have seen roads barricaded countrywide, cost the economy tens of millions of dollars, and left dozens of people injured.”

The report continues: “On foot, on motorcycles and in crowded trucks, the Indigenous protesters began a peaceful march towards the city center from Cutuglagua, an area in southern Quito where they have been steadily growing in number since Sunday.

A hundred Indigenous people also entered the city from the north.

The powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) – credited with helping topple three presidents between 1997 and 2005 – called the protest as Ecuadorans increasingly struggle to make ends meet.

Indigenous people comprise more than a million of Ecuador’s 17.7 million inhabitants, and their protest has since been joined by students, workers and others feeling the economic pinch.”

Totally out of our control. We’re so glad we’re in the hands of Audley, our travel agent for this portion of the trip.

We are scheduled to fly to Coca tomorrow and be in the Amazon until Saturday then the folks from Casa Divina in Mindo are supposed to pick us up at 5 am on Sunday for our five days in Mindo. If the roads are still blocked on Sunday, we most likely won’t be going to Mindo so our options? Probably cancel the Mindo trip as well as the indigenous experience, reschedule our flights and come home. Dang.

So there was a platoon of police on motorcycles that accosted a young man on his bike right in front of our hotel, and they’re moving to block the road. Audley just informed us that they found a hotel room in a hotel closer to the airport so Eddie, our guide, is picking us up at 9:30 am, luggage and all, and we’re supposed to do an excursion then he’ll drop us off at the hotel.

It’s going to be an interesting day.

By the time Eddie got to the hotel, it was barricaded so he had to park in the underground parking garage to retrieve us.

It was a beautiful morning – the sun was shining, finally, so he took us to the Telefériqo Quito’s cable car that whisks passengers up the Pichincha volcano in glass gondolas. The 1.5-mile (2.5-kilometer) journey up the mountain offered what was the best panoramic views of the city. It ended at the Cruz Loma plateau, where hiking trails lead to Rucu Pichincha, one of the volcano’s twin peaks. Needless to say, we did not hike.

In fact, the gondola took us from 9,000 feet to 12,000 feet, and that might possibly be the highest we have ever been (our favorite pass, Beartooth Pass, in Wyoming is only around 11,000 feet). So we stood for a while and listened to Eddie tell us about the volcanoes and such. I was still feeling a little woozy from the boat but I felt REALLY WOOZY standing there, as was Beth so we didn’t stay long. It was beautiful though.

From there, Eddie took us to the botanical gardens. It seemed so far removed from the protests. However, we heard two explosions as we were getting to the gate, and helicopters flew over twice. Eddie was constantly checking his phone to get updates.

The Hotel Hilton Colon at which we were staying was totally on lockdown, as many more protesters were in the park across the street, and they had closed it. Our friends from Canada said at breakfast they were going to the Old Town. Well, I’m certain that didn’t happen because on the news this morning, we saw razor wire at the presidential palace and no one was permitted into Plaza Grande nor Plaza San Francisco where we were yesterday.

The botanical garden was beautiful. We saw lots of endemic flora and fauna. The best part was the orchids. Some so tiny you would never know they were orchids, while others were beautiful colors.

We strolled through the gardens until about 1:15 pm, and Eddie used his GPS to see where the obstacles were located on the road to the airport. We did alright until about 20 minutes out when we had to detour as protesters were burning tires and blocking the road. We wound up through the suburbs where you could see that the protesters had been there – blackened streets where tires were burned, some spots still had flames and all.

There was hardly any traffic at all, and we all were praising the fact that there were very few tourists so we had things almost to ourselves. 

We get to our new hotel around 2:15 pm but had to wait until around 3:30 pm when our room was ready. It is so much better than the Hilton – it’s a charming colonial complex with 78 rooms, gardens and one of the most important collections of trees of the Ecuadorian highlands. There are trees of all latitudes: 5 types of palm trees, 5 types of pine, 4 types of eucalyptus trees, kapok, sequoia, coffee trees, magnolias, nags. In addition to many native trees as cholan, walnut, pink sauce, among others. In total, the collection of trees contains a variety of species, some trees over 200 years old. 

We probably won’t see them as I took a nap and Beth took advantage of the whirlpool bathtub. Then I worked on the blog.

There’s also a farm here that is specially designed for children, an interactive experience with rabbits, ducks, chickens, sheep, goats, peacocks, etc. There was a llama and her baby milking in the parking lot.

So here we sit waiting to go eat supper at the on-site restaurant.

Eddie is picking us up at 7 am and get us to the airport that is about 15 minutes from here so we can catch our flight to Coca then we’ll be met by those folks and put on a canoe.

Another emergency order was just issued with a curfew and encouraging everyone to remain in place. Even the U.S. Embassy and Consulate officials have been instructed to avoid road travel and remain in place. 

We might very well be in the midst of a revolution. 

We fly back to Quito on June 25, then we’re supposed to go to Mindo for five days. If things continue as they are now, we probably will cancel the remainder of our trip (we have a three-day indigenous experience in Guamote planned for July 2-5 after the Mindo excursion), and – with Elaine’s help – get a flight back home.

Each day has become a bigger adventure than we had imagined. 

BTW, I have no idea if there is wifi in the Amazon so this might be my last post until June 25 when we hopefully arrive at our hotel in Quito.

                                            The hotel at which we were staying was barricaded by the time we left at 9:30 am this morning. It was a good thing Audley moved us out of the hotel, as protesters were already amassing and by noon, the road was closed and the protesters were burning tires. The hotel was on lockdown. We have friends from the boat trip that are at the hotel for the next four days. They thought they were going to see the Old Town today. I imagine they're holed up in the hotel.

                                                The cable car gondolas in which we ascended from 9,000 feet to 12,000 feet.

                                                    At the top looking northeast.

                                                    At the top looking south.

                                                    Eddie, our guide.

                                                            This is what Ecuadorans call a paper tree. It actually is Polylepis, and Polylepis forests used to cover the high Andes. Only a few forests remain in the Ecuadorian Andes. Most grow on federally protected lands above the normal tree line, between 9,800 – 16,400 feet, making the Polylepis the highest-growing flowering tree in the world. At the highest elevations, this slow growing tree can take more than 160 years to grow a half-inch in diameter.

Pichincha Volcano (Volcán Pichincha). It is a is a stratovolcano in Ecuador. The capital Quito wraps around its eastern slopes. Lots of people hike to its summit. It is an active volcano; the most recent significant eruption began in August 1998. On March 12, 2000, a phreatic eruption killed two volcanologists who were working on the lava dome.

                                                    An orchid in the botanical garden.

                                                    More orchids.

                                                        Protesters blocking the road to the airport.

                                                Protesters burning tires and rubbish under an overpass on way to the airport.

                                                    San Jose de Puembo hotel where we're staying tonight.

                                                            Another interior room at the hotel.

                                                    Llama with baby milking the hotel's parking lot.

                                                    Our room at San Jose de Puembo.

Monday, June 20

We did not make it to Artisana today because all the roads are closed due to protests by indigenous folks over gas prices and food prices.

We got a phone call about 8 am telling us that our guide Eddie would be here at 9 am and we would do a Quito tour.

First thing was dropping off our laundry. We had quite a bit from the boat trip, and it cost only $12 to do it all.

Then Eddie drove us up to the highest point in Quito – the Virgen de el Panecillo (Virgin of Quito in English), which is a huge sculpture made of aluminum that sits in the heart of Quito. It is the 135 feet tall, including the base, and is the highest statue in Ecuador, and one of the highest in South America (its taller than the Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro). It also is the tallest aluminum statue in the world. It is a replica of a 48-inch-tall wooden sculpture created by Bernardo de Legarda in 1734. The original is in the monastery we visited. The statue is made of 7,4000 pieces of aluminum, which was disassembled in Spain and assembled again on top of the base. It was finished on March 28, 1975.

From the hill of El Panecillo, we could see nearly all of Quito. Quito is very narrow, 26 miles and six miles at the widest. It sits between the western and eastern ranges of the Andes. There are 2.5 million souls.

The weather worked with us, as it was raining when we took off from the hotel but had cleared by the time we go to the top of El Panecillo so I’ve included some photos.

From there, we drove down to the old town that is filled with colonial churches, historic streets, and some of the city’s most important buildings like the presidential palace.

Eddie was concerned that Plaza de la Independencia (Plaza Grande) was closed because of the protests by indigenous folks over gas and food prices. The city of Quito is under curfew, and you wouldn’t believe the military/police presence. There are three kinds of law enforcement that you can distinguish by the uniform: there is the tourist police who wear yellow and orange vests (they are not allowed to carry guns); there is the local police who wear gray camouflage, and they can carry pistols; then there is the military which is dress in green camouflage and they carry AK-17s. There were even what I would call riot police in Plaza San Francisco with shields and everything. And there six helicopters constantly circling the plaza.

Because of the protests, a lot of places are not open and, much to our advantage, there are few tourists! We wandered around all morning without seeing many tourists but the plazas, which normally are bustling with people, were pretty empty.

Anywho, we parked and walked through La Ronda, which is an addition to Quito’s UNESCO-listed historical district. I believe Eddy said it was the oldest district in the old town. Its origins date back to the time of the Incas, but it underwent a major transformation after the Spanish conquest I the 16th century as residential and commercial construction began – largely in the Andalusian style common in Spain. In the late 19th-century, La Ronda got the reputation of being a bohemian barrio, and over the following few decades, it became home to painters, poets, political activists and even priests. It has been rejuvenated with lantern-lit streets and floral balconies, making it one of the crown jewels of Quiteno culture. There’s a series of doorways that open upon to a courtyard on which there are multiple art galleries, museums, craft shops and elegant restaurants.

From there, we went to Plaza de la Indpenedencia on which the presidential palace, the buildings housing the administrative offices for Quito and the Catedral Metropolitana or Metropolitan Cathedral, which is the highest-ranking Catholic building in the city. 

Most of the buildings are Baroque but there are a couple of churches that are more Medieval architecture.

We stopped in one of the small cafes to enjoy the people-watching and have a beverage. I got a wonderful cappuccino, and Beth had mango frappe.

From there, we went over to Plaza San Francisco, which is attached to the San Francisco religious complex built by Franciscan monks in 1537 and said to be Latin America’s oldest church. 

Built over a period of 150 years (1534-1680) and founded by Franciscan missionary Jodoco Ricke, the complex was the first Catholic church in Quito. At over eight acres, it is the biggest of its kind in the Americas, encompassing one main church and two chapels, seven courtyards and patios, vegetable gardens, catacombs and even a football pith and old brewery.

We were allowed in only one of the courtyards (where we saw parrots!) and the main church. We also climbed up to the towers to get another overview of Quito. The towers have been reconstructed after they collapsed in a 1638 earthquake.

We then passed through Bodegas Plaza San Jose, which was a pretty drab plaza compared with the others. It was the site, however, of some violent protests last week in which protesters threw rocks at law enforcement.

We slowly ambled back to a pharmacy to get toothpaste then on to the car. On the way to pick up the laundry, we made plans for tomorrow and, hopefully, we can do Atisana which Eddie raved about in terms of wildlife. We might get a chance to see an Andean condor!

Eddie dropped us off at the hotel around 1:30 pm. The park directly across the street from the hotel is a “hot spot” for protesters, and there is a huge law enforcement presence.

It’s 3 pm, and there is a small contingent of protesters moving through the park but it isn’t threatening or anything. But we’ll check with the concierge before leaving later this afternoon to visit the market directly across from the hotel in the other direction and eating at the Magic Bean that Eddie highly recommended.

After our nap, we took off to the market and the Magic Bean. We browsed the market – can’t buy anything yet as our backpack and small suitcase is full. We will buy some things at the market in Guamote during the last segment of the trip. Eddie said it has the best indigenous market in all of Ecuador so we can buy an oversized bag, stuff it and check our luggage on the trip home.

We never found the Magic Bean but we ended up in Plaza Foche, and a young lady convinced us to eat at Miskay that serves Ecuadorian food. Mis comes from a Quiteno word that means food. Kay means culture. So Miskay is food culture. I had a pork tenderloin in a delicious milk/peanut sauce and Beth had what they called trout but it really was salmon.

Took a cab back to the hotel, and it’s 6:45 pm. I’m working on the blog, Beth is reading, and we’re going to try to stay awake until at least 9 pm.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

        A NOTE: Beth met a woman in line for the bathroom at the Quito airport who has a close friend named Joanne who teaches math at Winona State University. It's a small world - although I don't know a Joanne from math. In fact, I don't know anyone from the math department! :)

        AND, we're just now starting to feel like we're on solid ground. I was taking a shower last night, and it felt like I was rock'n'rollin' - just like being on the boat!

                                                         Virgen de el Panecillo,

                                                South Quito from El Panecillo.

                                                            La Ronda.

                                                    Presidential Palace.

                                                            Catedral Metropolitana .

                                                        The church for poor people. Eddie explained to us the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, and this church was built for poor people to worship.

                                                            La Compania de Jesus - the earliest church in Quito. It was begun in 1530 and it took some 70 years to build it.

                                                Monasterio de Carmen Alto, the home to Carmelite nuns who are cloistered.

                                            One of the seven courtyards in the massive San Francisco monastery.

                                                A parrot in the monastery courtyard.

                                                Just one corner at which there was military presence.

                                                Plaza San Francisco from the towers of the monastery. Normally, this plaza would be full of people but with the protests and such, people are staying at home for their safety. And there were very few tourists with which we had to compete!

                                                    Some mural art. Artwork is all over the city in the form of murals and sculptures.

                                                A fountain with sculptures/artwork.

                                                    Military presence in park across from our hotel.

    

                                                The protesters in park across from our hotel. The military retreated to station themselves in front of our hotel.

                                                    Beth at dinner, Miskay's Restaurant.

                                                            Beth's dinner at Miskay.

                                                            My dinner at Miskay.