Cloud Mountains and flight home

The cats have joined us back in bed again.  Andre has picked up something and is not feeling the best so he slept with both cats (hot water bottles) last night. 

Today we went to Bella Vista, a beautiful spot in the cloud forest about a 2 hour drive from Quito.  I knew it was 2 hours, but I never read anywhere that the last ½ hour was going to be on a twisty one lane dirt road!  We arranged for our pick up this morning, then had our driver go to pick up Ruth at the home she is staying at, this is the last of our travel companions.


 We had lunch in the lodge, watched the hummingbirds, then drove back to the hotel.  We all slept a little on the ride back, it was raining and really clouded in so the scenery was nothing to admire, we had a great drive in though so at least we did get to see the Andes.

A lot of the land has primary forest, but anywhere that had been farmed is secondary forest.  There are 14 staff employed here, there is a research center, and guides for hikes. 

We hired a guide for 3 hours and he took us on a 3 hour hike through some beautiful, but a little difficult trails.  We hit another guide that has a passion for nature.  It was incredible the birds he could pick up by their sounds and then find them in the trees.  He also went through a lot of the different flowers and fauna with us. 

We did hear a Toucan, but unfortunately we weren’t able to see it.  They had some beautiful turquoise jays that had an amazing color. 

I think the most fun to watch were the humming birds, we saw some on our hike, but when we got back to the lodge we literally saw hundreds of them in the hour that we sat watching them.  There are more than 70 different varieties in the cloud forest, I have no idea how many varieties we saw, but it was amazing. 

What an amazing spot, it was a farm that a couple from England purchased in the 80’s and have added a lodge and cabins that probably sleep 40 people.  They are working at bringing the land back to its original forest with trees that have not been introduced. 

Back to our hotel and we said our good-byes to Ruth, our driver was taking her back to her lodging from our hotel. 

Our last farewell to our fellow cruisers, Ruth is our new friend from England, another person that I think we will be keeping in touch with. 

She has had a very interesting life, full of travels and great fun to talk to.  She was Andres buddy on the first day when he deserted me snorkelling, and I never let her forget it! 

We made one more last run through the market that is quite close to the hotel, back for a quick supper and now we are finished packing up and pretty much ready for our cab pick up at 5AM. 

I just turned on the TV in our room, first TV in about 2 weeks, Dancing with the Stars is on, but I think it is at least 2 years old, and with Spanish subtitles.  That’s it for this trip report. 

I simply cannot express how much we have enjoyed ourselves, I would be very afraid to try to do this again, I don’t know how we could ever exceed this. 

Flight Home:

We are on the last leg of our journey now. 

We started this morning with a 5am pick up in Quito, and right now it is 6:30 PM and we are in Montreal. 

So close to be able to go and visit my family, but still a little too far away. 

We are due to arrive back in Moncton at about 11PM tonight, if it is not too late and I'm not too tired I will give you a call Joey, you'll be the only one still up! 

Tomorrow will be a huge laundry day, and a good shower.

I am so looking forward to our own bed tonight, Andre seems to think there will be cats waiting for him every night in bed, he's dreaming. 

Andre may not be too mobile tomorrow, he's suffering a bit of stomach problems, but thankfully hasn't been too bad today or it would have been a very long day for him.

Thanks everyone for reading along, or at least pretending to.  It has been fun reliving our days and keeping track of this, I really had to do it every day in the Galapagos because each day was so different. 

Looking forward to seeing some of you soon, and hopefully everyone in the not too distant future.