The journey begins

5/21/2012 and 5/22/2012

So we land in Quito at about 11:30pm delayed about 15 min for baggage issues. Customs was careless, they weren’t even watching the x-ray scanner that our bags had to pass through…but it finally felt like I was somewhere different with the crisp smell of a city running on diesel. Slightly out of it we found our 6 person Josh who had landed right before us. Advised not to let anyone take our bags we found a taxi and headed for Hotel International. A good drive away from the airport, the city was dead with shops closed up and graffiti coating every inch of exposed buildings. The hotel is this old Victorian looking place and where the language barrier finally became realized. Deb negotiates our rooms and we bugger off to get situated at 1:00am. Waking at 6 to make a taxi at 6:30 we were up before breakfast. Checking my email I got the greatest email ever from Rachel which made me super happy before losing the net for a few days.

Our plan was to head to Bella Vista, a resort located in the Cloud Forest Reserve about 1.5hrs NW of Quito. The drive was great, slowing getting out of the city through rural towns straight out of National Geographic. Farming communities located on the steepest of hills, and women with chiseled, tan, tired, looking faces. It was an unfortunate situation to grasp because they were living in shanties tending to the little amount of land that grew corn and fed their cattle. Getting into the rainforest we turned on to a one-way gravel road that hugged the mountainside for 16km. Driving up the valley we passed even smaller communities that had capitalized on the trout they farmed in streams from the subsequent rain that this area receives.

So we pull into Belle Vista Resort…and I literally thought I was dreaming…this place is straight out of Robinson Crusoe. There was multiple, elegant as hell, tree houses that we were about to stay in. We meet Nelson our guide for the few days were here and he starts our tour. Walking into this complex we come to this 4 story round tree house made of bamboo. The dining room, located on the first floor is all windows overlooking the Andes Mountains that are hard to comprehend from their size in the first place. Nelson goes well you guys are staying in the “dome.” A wood spiral staircase in the middle of the dining area leads us to four rooms bathroom and shower in each…it gets better…from here there is a hole located again in the middle, with a ladder that leads to story 3 which holds 3 beds sharing one bathroom…remind you that we have six people and can stay in any room we want…but it gets better…in the middle again there is a ladder leading to the top floor…I get curious and assume it cannot seriously get better than this…climb the ladder and sure enough there are three more beds on the floor surrounded by all windows looking over the Andes Mountains on the fourth floor of a tree house…so of course I’m sleeping at the top…which is where at I’m typing this up right now…

Local Trout

                Again this is only the start to our day; we got settled and went down our bungalow to get some breakfast…consisting of fruit bowlsJ, eggs, and toast. We hear that Nelson gives tours of the reserve throughout the day and decide to go on the 10am tour. Heading out for this tour he stops at a bird feeder where over a dozen multi-colored hummingbirds, tanagers, sparrows, are buzzing around our heads. I would love to bring my Grandma here. I put my hand down and they land on my hand!! Un-real…So we start our hike into the rainforest and it’s like walking through a scene in Jurassic Park. After learning about dragons blood (a medicinal tree that literally bleeds red juice), eating some red flower that was better than any candy you could find in a store, and seeing a rare bird that lives on the top of dead trees it was quite the morning. We headed to lunch which was squash soup and local trout from the stream down the road. Probably the best food I’ve had in a while. After lunch and plenty of coffee it started to pour, which is normal at this time of the day after the moisture builds up enough to dump. We put on parkas and boots and headed for this waterfall called discovery falls which was again like walking back in time. It was a truly relaxing hike despite the elevation were at (7500ft) and the uphill hike on the way back. I’m pooped by now and as I sit here waiting to know what’s for dinner I’m watching birds try to get in my tree top bedroom and watching Joe and Josh climb up our ladder. I’m off to shower, eat, then grab a beer and go insect hunting with our group.

The video below shows a bunch of stuff we've been doing