Flowers flowers and fauna

hummers

Visualizing Middle Earth

Some of the 170 Birds

The Andean Lady

Our flight landed in Quito at 2345 the night before the pre trip-birding tour was to begin. We had been told that we would be met at the airport by a representative from the hotel we would be staying at so we cleared the airport and visitor security and made our way through throngs of people eagerly awaiting many of our fellow passengers.

The language was obviously entirely Spanish, the smells were damp and different to our curious Canadian noses and the security process was suspicious as we observed an elderly gentleman push through the crowd with an irritated contempt for the uniformed officers who manned the unpowered scanning machines. After some thought, it occurred to us that our luggage had been scanned when we left the US and unless we were missing something there would be no opportunity to corrupt or smuggle any contraband so this really was a redundant process. Being polite and Canadian however, we merely observed this gentleman’s activity with tired interest, and continued our wait to take our turn through the check in process. We were impressed with the level of security applied at the exit from arrivals when guards visually confirmed our luggage numbers. Marilyn had safely stowed the baggage claims into one of the pockets in the carry on bag so there was some “excitement” generated as zippered pockets were investigated. After a minute or more of searching many zippered closed compartments, the tickets were located and we were free to leave the secure area.

The agent who was meant to meet us at the airport had much less patience than we did and left after teasing us with a wee glimpse of his handheld signage, indicating our hotel and a name we did not recognize. The next flurry of activity was with the multitude of cab drivers, myriad of private vehicle entrepreneurs and masses of strangers offering to move our luggage and us to wherever we desired to go. Offers followed by “… a tip for me?”

Having noticed a taxi window inside the terminal we proceeded to obtain a ticket to our hotel and headed back out into the darkness to get a cab. Quickly loaded the cab proceeded to fly through the dimly lit night, flying past garlands of graffiti decorating the shuttered up doorways and windows of the city. Through red lights and interchanges, under and over overpasses, past vacant sidewalks we plummeted into the centre of the city. As we neared our hotel we began to observe some human activity, groups standing on street corners mildly curious as we passed by.

Safely on the well-lit doorstep of our hotel, we happily tip the cab driver for not having an accident on the way here. In the better light we see that the vehicle we were riding in had had it’s share of “adventures.”

It was now nearing 01:00 and we had been up for more than 21 hours and were really looking forward to hitting the bed for the early start we knew we would need. We approached the fine young man at the check in desk and gave our names. No luck. We gave the tour name. No luck. We spelled out our name. No. We dug once again into the well-stashed paperwork and provided our tour information. No. He offered to rent us a new room and we pulled out our credit card ready to get that bed and fix the problem in the morning. As the credit card was being retrieved from that well secured zippered compartment, he decided to use “phone a friend.” That conversation ended with him flipping the computer screen around, where for our viewing pleasure we saw that we our reservation had been made in the name of GRUFF. Seeing the humour in this inadvertently, however aptly applied error we all enjoyed a good laugh – the universal language. J J

Our bags were delivered to the room where we would spend the next 4 hours until rising to meet up with the other couple and our tour guide. The only information we had received so far had been that there would be an early start on Day 1. To us that means 0630.

The sun rises at 0600 and sets at 1800 with a variation of 5 to 10 minutes either way so it was easy enough to be successful at early rising. We made our way to the lobby where we laid eyes upon our fellow travelers. Uh oh. Dressed in well worn trek garb, the couple appeared to be a wee bit older than us and we feared that we had been partnered with ornithologists or certainly biologists who maintained scientific lists and held obscure professional conversations. There would be no room for our improvising – wing it birding process. We were doomed.

Introductions were made all round and it was determined that we would have time to have a quick buffet breakfast before we loaded into the mini van with our driver and guide. Over breakfast the conversation swiftly determined that none of us were the scientific gurus that the other had feared. During the half hour of breakfast conversation the four of us became at ease and were comforted in the absence of “listers” or scientists among us.

Happy and excited with the prospect of the next few days and the intimacy of such a small group we headed for the Andean hills.

It swiftly became evident that there may be other issues within the group however when we made one of our first stops along a country road. We had exited the vehicle armed with binoculars and cameras. We had slopped on the sunscreen lotion; our heads were protected with Tilley headgear and our feet were shod with proper walking shoes. We quietly participated in spotting and spying on newfound species while enjoying the emerald farmed sections of the mountainous countryside, the abundant purple, red, blue and yellow wildflowers cultivated as houseplants in Canada and the quiet tinkle of cow bells from a nearby farm. The tinkle of the bell became louder as we stood in silence peering over the edge of the ditch. Quietly emerging onto the roadway was an elderly lady leading her dairy cow. She calmly passed by us and our vehicle. “Bonus Dias” she says. “Bonus Dias.” The entire group reciprocates. Filled with a sense of wonder and amazement at what has just transpired, the time warp effect combined with an overwhelming sense of amazement at differences and similarities in people and the world in general, Marilyn receives a reality check with Barry’s comment: “You know, with that hat on, all you need is a cow and you would look just like her.”

Facial expressions cannot kill, but they can indicate – Game on!

Any remnants of ice or concerns over compatibility were instantly broken and the entire trip remained a jest - with everyone seeking opportunities to tease, joke and generally play.  While birding lists were maintained a more serious list of who had taken or given the most or best shots - set precedence!

Embedded Picasa Album

Click the Andean Lady photo to open the Ecuador & Galapagos Album -

Thanks for the tip,  Sean, Roo, and Aiden.. XOX

Ecuador & Galapagos

Quito November 1st

This Quito is very much quieter than the one we visited at the beginning and midway of this adventure.  The streets are bare and quiet.  Most citizens have gathered up their families and headed west to the beaches on the Pacific Coast to observe and celebrate 4 days of an annual holiday.  We touched down in Guayaquil on our way back from Galapagos and as we were coming in we observed more than 10 different European style tour buses filled with vacationers.  We can still hear the beat of the ever present music emanating from various restaurants and nightclubs near our hotel.  As we have met more and more Ecuadorians it is evident that Latin music, dancing and music are enjoyed from a very early age.   Last night we participated in a farewell dinner with all of our fellow travellers but 2 who fly off tomorrow when we do.  We slept in until 0730 this morning which was very different than the bustle of all days on tour!  After a leisurely breakfast we meandered the streets browsing and taking even more photos although the machine gun armed guard beside the casino smilingly declined a request to have his photo taken.   We considered geocaching but given our extreme limitations with the language and the distance to the caches from our hotel (plus the fact that we have found in Ecuador) we changed our plans.

Tomorrow we rise at 0330 and head to the airport for a jaunt to Houston and an overnight stay with another early rise and several flights home – with our smelly laundry! J J

Teasing on the images...

upload is way too slow to fiddle with here - hopefully quicker back in Quito - or for sure it will be back home - was going to upload a fluke of a fluke, a swallowtail hummer, an adean lady our fellow travellers say looks like Marilyn, tortises, motmots, geocaching smilers... etc.  Stay tuned. :) :)

Midday Saturday October 30th (siesta)

Saturday October 30^th

Last full day on the MS Islander and we got to sleep in until 0700 this morning!  We’ve just returned from an excellent lunch with chicken, chips, grated beets and carrots with salad greens – homemade ice cream with seriously excellent mudslide chocolate chip cookies!  The calories from omelettes, fruit and breakfast fixings were burnt off with deep water snorkelling followed by a walk upon a sea lion inhabited white sand beach.  Today we met the Espanola Mockingbird – exists on this island only – and we observed many, many more beautiful sea turtles, a pair of Galapagos Hawks playing off the edge of the black lava cliff, and Frigate birds fighting in flight, over a dead fish one of them had picked off the top of the absolutely gorgeous green/blue emerald ocean.

This afternoon we are landing at Punta Suarez where we will enjoy a dry landing from the ponga.  We will manoeuvre our way across a lava boulders and rocks to meet…. The Wavy Albatross!  Chances of meeting one on the golf course are rare to none but we are here at the opportune time to see that they do indeed exist!

Posting a minute portion of images…

October 27th - Midway

Days begin between 0530 and 0600 and end anytime from 2000 to 2100.  Every day so far we have done more by noon than we usually do on a weekend… kind of like a day at work for Marilyn!  (ha ha)

This morning we were up at 0545 to whale watch.  We didn’t have any luck but weren’t bothered as we saw a humpback and calf the other day.  Then we had the usual incredible breakfast which we couldn’t hardly eat (but did) as we had consumed immense amount of coffee and banana bread while whale watching.  At 0900 we boarded pongas to tour the shore line where we saw: sea turtles, Galapagos penguins, nesting boobies (not nestling – though there were a few trying…), sea lions, flightless cormorants, sunfish, Marine iguanas, various petrels, masked boobies, and more.  At 1030 we came back to the ship grabbed our snorkel gear and headed back into the water to snorkel with the sea turtles and penguins.  Fortunately this time no sea lions charged past looking to play – one did on an outing the other day and the sound Marilyn made out the snorkel tube sounded like that of an elephant!   We haven’t seen any elephants!  One of the giant sea turtles did swim within inches of us as we floated in the bay and a small shark (Kari??? Where are you??) idled past.  We say floated as we are getting much better at that as the week goes on – not a day has gone past without two desserts!  We get our just desserts!  The only problem this has caused was shower curtain encounter (the old lady and the lost puppy far side cartoon.)  Digression.  This morning’s activities were followed by lunch with 2 desserts as has been the case for the entire trip, except for the one day when we provided our own lunch.  …..back again… there is no time to write – the bazillion photos we have taken will have to provide the “stories” to follow.

Since the wee bit above there was a presentation/lesson about digital photography, we rode the pongas over to an island/volcano to walk on a 200 year old lava flow, see a nesting oystercatcher, two Galapagos hawks (first time!) a bazillion land iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs (cool name, hey?), more boobies and we learned how the last eruption of Espinoza boiled the sea causing bazillions of very small sea creatures to cook and for their shells to eventually wind up on the “beach” to become white sand – in a couple hundred more years.  Each day is like being in National Geographic 3D programming!  The ship is the MS Islander and the company is partnered with National Geographic.  In a couple of minutes we will be topside on the ship for a star guide presentation (after the gorgeous sunset) and then there will be dinner at 2000 and a recap of today’s events!  Oh yeah, on the way to the lava flow walk we were surrounded by a herd of dolphins!  They were the welcoming committee!

PS a clown and his crew sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy and he had some awesome cake – and then dessert!

Happy Birthday Aiden! October 28^th. 

Sorry LYNDA your name was misspelled in the last blog!

Hard to believe we are only half done – there are still bazillions of things to see and do!

Friday One Spare Hour

Tried to blog last night to say Happy Birthday Lynda - but the internet is very slow here and the blog froze and then it was time to go meet the rest of our group.... Days are flying by.  The second part of this trip is just as busy so far and looks that way until Galapagos.  We've seen the real equator the fake equator (geocache) 4 Andean Condors, 1 Spectal Bear (all tour guides are blown away by our luck in both of these sightings) the bird tally came in at 129 species with 35 hummingbirds, the cock of the rock, toucans, motmots.... and many more amazing animals.  Thank you Linda for inspiring us to check out the SA avain life with your trip!
PS Pat ate the guinea pig! (not sure if the grandkids will want to know that! :(

Near Mindo

Lots to write about if we get any free time - it's all good we had a long day yesterday landing in Quito after midnight last night and getting up at six this morning to connect with the other couple and our guide.  We are at a lodge near Mindo tonight and again tomorrow night so will likely upload some photos and write more then.  Today we drove on wagon trail roads at 3700 meters saw birds only ever dreamed of, farms and homes of the local people - we even saw 18 different species of hummingbirds!  Night night - we are up at 4 tomorrow to see the cock of the rock - apparently he only shows off in the morning!

Calgary

Marilyn spent the morning packing and getting organized while Randy spent some quality time with his guitar interupted with observations at the feeder as we enjoyed visits from
a pair of nuthatches who appeared to be stocking up on sunflower seeds for an upcoming event -winter perhaps!
Thanks Rene & Murray for the airport limo service - we owe you! :) :)
Checked out the local caches here in cow town and saw a cool puzzle right at the airport - did the work which involved some cool facts about the displays around the luggage carousels and the rushed excitedly outside to find the log book. Once the gps powered up we were sad to see that the cache was over 2 kms away. :( :( Never ones to admit defeat however we made our way to the nearby nano that had just been replaced today. The cache owner must have known we were coming to town! Tftc
Now it is nite nite to all as we have a wakeup call for 5! Tomorrow we will have the first first class flight of our lives so getting up won't be too bad.

Getting organized

Lots of things to think about and organize as we are on the final countdown.  Woke up last night in a cold sweat (you'll love this, Rene) realizing that we hadn't booked reservations in Calgary or Houston yet!  Finished sending some of the travel documents this afternoon, a few more tomorrow and those ducks should all be in a row.  Haven't started packing at all - need to do a wee bit more shopping and get some low denomination US funds... and here is one of us playing around with this blog. :)
However, our itinerary is posted so those who may be interested in vicarious travel may partake as desired. Now I really must go finish that chickadee drawing I have been playing with - oops... I mean clean up the mess I made on the counter... :)

Black Capped Chickadee - Our Good Luck Omens

Why the heck are we doing this?

When we moved to Beaverlodge close to ten years ago, we were encouraged to join in the Christmas Bird Count, by bird advocate Joan Kerr.  As postmaster in the community of Beaverlodge Marilyn had plenty of opportunity to interact with people and it wasn't long before Joan and her determined that they shared this common "interest" and when Randy learned of this "game" we were both sold.
As a pair of procrastinators and this bird counting thing looked like another great means of escapism - our kids weren't coming home for Christmas anyway... and now the bird count has become a Christmas tradition for us empty nesters.  The precount coffee meeting with stories of this year's possibilities followed by the adventure and search of the count and the hunt for that elusive species.  Our digital camera has been a godsend for us as there are times when we are unsure of the species observed and these photos have removed all doubt on accuracy.  We still revel in the mystical encounter we had with a Snowy Owl on the north perimeter of "our area west of the Boe's place.
But why all this chatter about the Christmas Bird Count when this blog is about our journey to Middle Earth and the bird life that knows not of winter?
Well, participants of the bird count receive mailings and sometimes these mailings have advertisements in them.  Early this summer when the publication arrived out flew an interesting notice about a tour.  A tour to Ecuador and Galapagos.  A birding tour with plenty of sight seeing intertwined and even better we had been discussing how to celebrate those 40 years, those 14,600 days of togetherness besides, weird or not - our wedding cake topper is/was a pair of white doves...