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ECUADOR ADVENTURE 2022
  • Travel with the Wicks
  • Travel with the Wicks

ECUADOR ADVENTURE 2022

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  • Travel with the WicksECUADOR ADVENTURE 2022Viaggiatore

    Quito

    25 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    We arrived at 5 pm in Quito after another adventurous day of travel. As a group we had a disappointing dinner followed by yummy desert. Dinner was supposed to be the best. A choice of Fillet mignon or the second best fish in the world according to Anthony Bourdain. To ruin a fillet all you have to do is severely under cook it and then serve it cool on a cold plate accompanied by cold vegetables. The fish was not as tasty as salmon, which would elevate salmon to the tastiest fish in the world. It might be but this fish was not in second place. I sound like such a Prima Donna.

    Rise and shine 5 am, pack, eat breakfast and head to the bus for a tour in Historic part of Quito. Quito is situated in some rugged terrain. It is green and pretty and has an excellent historic district.    Leggi altro

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  • Travel with the WicksECUADOR ADVENTURE 2022Viaggiatore

    Historic Center Quito

    26 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Our visit to the old town center was a pleasant walk we began at Independence Plaza, with Presidents Palace, municipal buildings and on carried on thru streets of shops. The town was bustling with people, street vendors, police, lots of police! We continued our walk to the plaza with the Metropolitan cathedral.

    We visited two churches, and had the opportunity to shop as well. The first church was the Basilica. It was nice like a basilica is, and we were treated to a traditional folk dance by a senior group of indigenous dancers. (Pictures to follow next footprint)

    The other church was one of my favourite churches. It was of baroque architecture and is a Jesuit church. No pictures inside allowed but is impressive. It took over 160 years to complete. As beautiful as this church was it was almost too much gold…everything walls, carvings the alter all covered with 24 carat gold leaf. The coolest thing was standing at the alter and looking behind you saw a staircase on either side of the front doors. One was real and one was a painting! Just to keep the balance!

    We finally stopped at the Independence Plaza where we enjoyed lunch. Liz found a shop that had the perfect Panama hat for her!    Leggi altro

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    Hot pools to the Amazon

    27 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    It is a bus ride back over the pass and down the mountain to Quito airport. The pass is 13400 high and is the highest road in Ecuador. We are at the airport 2 hours before departure and it is 7:30 am. We had an early start. Plane ride to Coca is only 30 minutes air time. Bus ride to Sacha Lodge’s welcome centre in the city is located. Next is a two hour boat ride down the Nopa river. I wish I didn’t drink coffee at the welcome centre. I’m considering jumping overboard just so I can take a whiz.
    The motorized canoe stops along the bank of the river and conveniently there are Baños. Now we walk for 25 minutes, partly along the river and then into the swampy rainforest. After that it is another canoe ride, this one powered by armstrong. It is a pleasant 25 minute paddle, first through a canal and finally across a lake. We are at Sacha Lodge.    Leggi altro

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  • Travel with the WicksECUADOR ADVENTURE 2022Viaggiatore
    11

    Sacha Lodge

    27 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Nice spot here in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Situated on a lake, you can find river otters, lizards, monkeys, caymans, tarantulas, and a multitude of birds. The cabins are comfortable and walking from your cabin to anywhere is done on an elevated walkway that keeps you out of the swamp. Amazingly, there are not too many mosquitoes. There are quite the number of bats around.Leggi altro

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    Spotting jungle surprises!

    28 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    In order to get to our intended destination, a Ketchwa cultural site, we must first travel by canoe across the lake and down the canal through the swamp until we reach a walkway that allows us the traverse the swamp without sinking. The canoe ride is around 25 minutes and the walkway about the same. Then we are at the river and continue by motorized canoe for another 35 minutes.
    Along the way we spot birds and three different species of monkey, as well as other interesting flowers and insects. This makes the journey even longer than stated, but more fun. We also go off trail, through the mud and jungle for a bit to get a more in depth view. The rubber boots we were equipped with are more than handy, a necessity. While we were trying to get pictures of monkeys high up in the trees, with our cameras looking straight up, Dianne looses her footing and ends up in the swamp on her back. She has skillfully saved her camera and big lens from the swamp by holding it all above the muck, but was unable to break her fall because she had to keep the camera safe. When I turn to see her, she is lying on her back holding the camera above her chest. My first instinct is to aim my camera at her and catch this heroic moment in a picture. Self preservation and the desire to not be remembered as a total cad replaced that idea, and I held out my hand to help Dianne up from the swampy ground instead. The backpack she was wearing kept the back of her shirt somewhat dry but her butt was muddy and wet. Everyone was asking if she was ok, was she hurt? I knew it would take a lot more than a fall backwards into the soft swamp to bring her down. The others were polite and didn’t laugh. One of our two guides, Geranio pulled out his knife and began picking leeches off of the back of Dianne’s shirt. There were only two and they were small. As a group, we pulled ourselves together and continued the journey. This is entertainment.    Leggi altro

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    Visit to Cultural Site

    28 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    The cultural site is an opportunity to learn about Ketchwa indigenous people and their traditional life style. Most of the presentation is around diet. We sample some food, drink some strange brew, have a blow dart competition and to top it all off, we also adopted a river turtle. There is too much to tell about it in this short piece, but the highlight for me was when Casey, a young girl from Boston who is travelling with her aunt, eats a live weevil larvae. It is part of the traditional diet, and I had the opportunity as well but I declined. Casey bit the head off that nasty weevil and downed the rest of him whole. That is a crowd pleasing moment, and it drew a round of applause.
    Last was the release of the baby river turtle into the river. Ours was named for Norah and Hendrix.    Leggi altro

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    Hold on tight!

    29 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We hiked again this morning. This time for the canopy walk. It is a suspension bridge high above the forest, 140 feet high
    . More than one member of our group was not comfortable with heights, and walking the 900 foot length of the bridge was challenging. We took plenty of pictures from the three towers of the bridge and used a spotting scope to see things like three toed sloths, toucans, howler monkeys as well as other small birds. When we traversed between the first and second tower, Dianne held onto the side ropes so tight, she gave herself blisters. Dianne must have used a different technique between the second and third, because her hands were no worse arriving at the third. Probably some yoga breathing.Leggi altro

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    Piranha fishing!

    29 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Alan wanted to fish for piranha, so someone got us the bargain basement fishing gear and out we went. Didn’t catch any piranha, but they ate all of our bait. So you might say this was an exercise of piranha feeding !
    Our guide did say if we stuck fingers in the water or fell in, the piranha would not be interested as they prefer dead food. I am not to sure about that! We didn’t test the theory.    Leggi altro

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    We are at the equator!

    30 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    A bus picks us up at Quito airport and we drive to the Equatorial museum. It is conveniently located on the equator.

    Lunch is boxed lunch from Sacha Lodge and is served in a quaint restaurant at the equator. A favourite drink of Ecuadorians is put in front of us. A shot of sugar cane liquor you are to mix with a heated drink made from parsimonious fruit, cinnamon & water. Dianne grabs the horns of the bottle and pours a shot! The hot drink is tasty.Leggi altro

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    Fun night out!

    30 maggio 2022, Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Most of the group went to a restaurant overlooking Quito at night. The food was plentiful and moderately priced. I had goat stew and Dianne had a steak that was so rare she sent it back. My goat was better that her steak in my opinion. Background music was mostly Peruvian flute to contemporary songs. Not too loud or too offensive. Then a man sat down at the piano and assaulting the keyboard in a way that made you think his hands were bleeding, and maybe your ears are too. Conversation became impossible, but Alan and I were still able to communicate through eye rolling. Eventually he stopped and the fun began again.Leggi altro

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