Around Quito, Ecuador (Ally)

Bus from Lima to Quito

We decided to take a direct 36 hour bus to Quito and we left early in the morning. Only after collecting the laundry, which opened late, did I make it to the bus station with a very worried G outside with minutes to spare. We should not have got our knickers in a twist as our bus left half an hour late anyway. South American time!

As bus trips go it was fairly uneventful. The scenery was stark, coastal dessert all the way. Every so often we would we see pictures and words carved in the sides of the mountainous sand dunes. The only thing we could think of was that this was some form of advertising. There are no bill boards along the road so they use the next best thing. Cheap, but lots of effort to put up and a shortage of colour to get your message across.

The restaurants we stopped at for food were definitely along the "road less travelled" - not on the gringo route. We could not understand the descriptions of the food they served so we just looked at the other diners and liked the look of the soup. Stirring it, we discovered that it had a chickens foot in it. This must be a local delicacy - but not one to catch on in our household.

Quito

We arrived in Quito in the dark so it was a surprise to walk into the sunshine and be surrounded by mountains and a city that reminded us very much of Cape Town. We did not do very much apart from book our trip to Gallapogos, eight days on a beautiful boat going around these stunnning islands starting on 4th June (I am sooooo excited). G tried but failed to find a bird book much to our surprise. The second hand book chap told us that he has even had people fight over them when they were available. It would seem the bookshops don´t really want to make money - no sooner do they run out and they take 6 months to restock.

The highlight of being in Quito was spending time with Donna and Pete. We ate delicious mexican food and steak as well as pottering around the market over an afternoon.

Forest Reserve

Our first stop outside of Quito was a forest reserve which promised lots of birds and some quiet time after the cities. Well, we arrived to a campground of extremly hyperactive kids - waking up at dawn no less!

There were very nice walks in the forest but overall we felt that Kistenbosch was 10 times better and half the price. But it was the birds we came to see - unfortunately as it was raining they were taking cover as any sane creature would do - apart from us of-course!

Here is me next to our intrepid tent. It has done us very well indeed.

The flowers were beautiful and we did get to see a couple of hummingbirds.