28th- 3rd October 2011
Tuesday to thursday has been a relatively quiet week as we are settled into our routine in Quito. I have managed to make a grown man cry on the bus by accidentally standing on his foot (a bit over the top perhaps it was his latin american flair........ or it could have been the fact that his toes bore the full weight of my body as I am yet to master a bus journey without smacking into someone). On the same bus journey I later managed to sit on a random woman´s lap when I spotted a free chair....... i blame the altitiude.
I was ecstatic this week as I got to make a collage in my spanish lesson of all the things I liked from magazines it brought me back to my school years as I sat there stating ´A mi me gusta el peliqula harry potter y Narnia´. In spanish i am unfortunatly learning irregular verbs and it seems like there are more irregular than regular ones! Robin and Lizi are learning their reflective verbs so there are lots of 'doing' words being flung around our house. On friday our little troup of spanish teachers and learners (Robin, lizi and myself) headed out for our once a week out of the class trip. We went to the Banco Central museum in Quito again we managed to magically go on a trip on a auspicious day. The 30th September is a day of rememberance for the president as last year on that day there was a huge protest with the police and military demanding more pay. The police then captured the president and held him hostage in the Police hospital. In retaliation the military decided it was on the side of the president and his supporters and bust him out of the hospital. Later the president allowed the police and military a pay rise! This year to commemorate his supporters rescuing him he made the museum free to enter and held a big protest filled mainly with idigenous people shouting their support for him (some say they were paid to do it..... who knows)! The museum was highly interesting and there were many interesting artefacts but perhaps the best, in my opinion, was the fertility statues where the male genitalia was nearly twice the size of the person! There were also lots of stories of death rituals in the old tribal days and these amazing jars which where in the shape of different animals. They would pour water into the jar and swing it from side to side to allow the air to blow over the top and it would create the sound of that animal an amazing tool for capturing animals.
The weekend was when the fun really started! After spanish on friday we headed off to Mindo a tiny city 2 hours away from Quito. Mindo is in the middle of the cloud forest so the temperature is a lot hotter and apparently a lot wetter! We got off the bus and waited to get a taxi in to Mindo central in a torential down pour I had clearly been mistaken in my choice of clothing with white trousers and white shorts in my bag. We stayed in Hostel Cecilia which was right next to a rio and in the morning it was so beautiful with bright floweers and banana trees. We had our breakfast in the open dining area next to the rio where tonnes of humingbirds and other brightly coloured birds where also having their breakfast ( Sprite and a banana). We saw lots of blue grey tangaras and yellow rumped tangaras which are completely black with a belly the colour of a yellow highlighter and a orange bird which we dont know the name of. Mindo is famous for its orchids, butterflies and birds. We started the day of with a bit of canopying (zip linning across the canopy) taking in the full extent of the cloud forest. Whilst zipping across you can see lots of flowers and we even spotted a few vultures (they clearly knew that the tiny harness and clip which supports your entire body weight to a thin cable was bound to end in food at some point). The first zip across was scary with the huge plunge to your death gap beneath you and the floor but the rest where great. We even started to venture out a bit doing the butterfly and superman position (the butterfly involves you going completely upside down with all your limbs spread out and the superman involves you intimately wrapping your legs around the constructers body and leaning forward in a superman pose).
After the adrenaline pumped zip lining we took the tarabita (cable car) across to the other side of the canyon where we walked through the cloud forest to five different waterfalls. I felt like Steve Irwin trapsing through the jungle with nothing but my back pack filled with oreos and crisps to survive on. We waded into the waterfalls which were colder than expected and quite fast flowing getting completely soaked. It started to chuck it down with rain so Robin transforming into Ray Mears started snapping the massive leaves (which where bigger than the length of my body) off the plant and using it as a umbrella........ (so much for take nothing but photos leave nothing but foot prints)! The final waterfall Nambillo had a bigger swimming area so I decided here was my chance for a proper swim, there was no one around except us so i stripped off into my bickini and coyly began my descent into the freezing water when a huge group of tourists came along taking multiple rictures of the waterfall with my big white derriere in all of them! Robin was the first one in but it was hard to swim properly as the current was quite strong and the rocks below looked a tad daunting. Finally exhausted and really quite wet we headed back to the cable car to head home. On the road home we expected to find a taxi or a car to a grab a lift in but alas no we had to walk in the torrential rain for an hour down to the bottom of the mountain before we nabbed a lift.
The afternoon was spent touring round a chocolate factory which had the most fantastic chocloate brownies ever! The chocolate itself was a bit to strong for my likeing at 80% Coco. The sad fact is nothing can beat good old cadbury´s in my mind which is probably 20% coco and 80% sugar. Whilst on the chocolate factory tour we met this great irish couple on their honey moon who kept asking where the chocolate rivers and umper lumpers where!
Now you may be aware of robin´s love of relaxing and lie in´s and we are normally always late for everything but not so on sunday morning! Robin was up at 4am!! What could possibly get robin out of bed at this time in the morning pray tell?? The cock of the rock! Yes, a fantastic red crested bird one of the most famous in Ecuador! We got a taxi up to the mountain and at 5am in the pitch dark with nothing but Robin´s piddly wind up 'eco' torch we headed out into the complete blackness of the cloud forest. Thankfully the taxi driver took pity on us and lent us his head torch. Michaels where are you when we need you! We started down the track of the bird reserve to the lek where the andean cock of the rock does it´s display at 6am. To say it was an easy journey would be a lie with thick thigh deep mud, land slides, sheer cliff drops and the inability to see more than 2 feet in front of you! I got stuck in the mud more times than I can count and had to get yanked free as my foot was so deeply immersed. I also managed to slip in the mud and land my bottom in the friendly squelchy mud which delighted in dirtying my pristine white trousers ( as I said earlier I did not pack the right things for Mindo). Finally the sun started to come out and we could see where we were going. With the clouds and mist resting on the tree topped canopy. The final stint up to the lek was incredibly hard as we were racing to get there in time with a steep mountain to climb covered in slippery mud. I was drenched in sweat! Robin raced ahead whilst Lizz and I trailed behind stripping off as many layers as possible. Whilst Robin was racing ahead he disturbed a monkey in a tree which went racing off as soon as he clapped eyes on Robin. Finally at the lek we could see the cock of the rock doing its display ( a lot of jumping around) and calling to each other. Unfortuantly our camera was not good enough to take a picture of them through the foliage. It looks like this:
Was it worth it? Absoloutly it was amazing to watch! On our way back we went for a little de- tour into the forest and saw loads of different vibrant coloured butterflies and at the reseve headquarters there were numerous types of hummingbirds going crazy for their breakfast sprite! We stopped at a rio for a refreshing dip ( Robin went in whilst I enjoyed wading in my hired wellies) before starting our long trek back. All this before breakfast at 9am. Whilst waiting for the taxi to arrive a bird watcher spotted a toucan in one of the near by trees and we got to have a look through her telescope to see this amazing bird. One of these:
We were over the moon! After brunch we headed back to Quito bitten to death by mosquitos but happy!
Other hilarious things:
-Funny spanish words which are rude in english such as 'toser' (to cough).
- Funny signs such as 'snob' a food label. For example 'snob jam'.
-The garage called 'the pits'.
- The sandwich shop which in english means 'sandwiches of the colon'.
-Lizzi trying somehow managing to order a taco milkshake!
We are entering into the last stint in Quito and will be moving after this weekend to Santo Domingo. Still no idea about accomodation! Please pray that they find something suitable for a married couple.
Love from Ecuador!
To see our pictures of our fun time in Mindo click on this LINK and this LINK and this LINK (perhaps I should take less pictures!)
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