Nicole:
We're back in Canada, settling into work and school and dog/cat feeding schedules. If you would like to see the full collection of pictures and videos of the trip, click on the below youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phXJGhFtC4M&feature=youtu.be\
Make sure you watch the video with your volume turned up so that you can listen to the video clip sounds and the music.
Thanks for following us on our adventures!
Love you all, have a great rest of your summer.
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
Lares Trek
Nicole & Nancy:
We survived our trek!
We spent a few days in Cusco acclimitizing for our trek, which was really beautiful. We hiked to a type of terrain which our tour guide called ´antiplano´. The landscape was very similar to rocky tundra and we hiked past a glacier through a snowy mountain pass at 4600m!
We saw many llamas and learnt about how people lived in that area.
On day 4 we reached Machu Picchu which lived up to its reputation as being a world wonder.
Today we arrived in Puno to visit Lake Titicaca and the famous floating reed islands. We took the last tour of the day and got to watch the sunset from one of these fascinating islands.
Apologies for the brevity - our hostel is cute but freezing. We love you all!
We survived our trek!
We spent a few days in Cusco acclimitizing for our trek, which was really beautiful. We hiked to a type of terrain which our tour guide called ´antiplano´. The landscape was very similar to rocky tundra and we hiked past a glacier through a snowy mountain pass at 4600m!
We saw many llamas and learnt about how people lived in that area.
On day 4 we reached Machu Picchu which lived up to its reputation as being a world wonder.
Today we arrived in Puno to visit Lake Titicaca and the famous floating reed islands. We took the last tour of the day and got to watch the sunset from one of these fascinating islands.
Apologies for the brevity - our hostel is cute but freezing. We love you all!
Monday, 15 July 2013
Penguins and Boobies
Last time we wrote we were heading towards Southern Ecuador, to Cuenca, which ended up being a very beautiful, little city. We visited El Cajas National Park where we saw wild(?) llamas(?) up close!
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| stoic as always |
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We spent a few days in Ica which is in the middle of the Peruvian desert!
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| Sand dunes outside of Ica |
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| Nancy walking up a sand dune |
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| Watching the sunset on top of the dunes |
We visited the Pacific Ocean and boated out to the Islas Ballestas to see some wildlife!
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| We found Chester´s mom |
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| Peli delis |
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| Humboldt Penguins and Peruvian Boobies |
We hit the wineries at 10AM the next day.. awww yeah.
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| nancy can´t contain her enthusiasm |
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| Speaking of containing.. how about containing your wine in these oldschool, ceramic urns |
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| awww yeah |
More stories to come - we love you all!
Adios
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Monkeys in the Square
Nancy and Nicole:
We arrived in Banos last night, a very touristy, adventure sports type city. Our rafting adventure in Tena was excellent!
Yesterday we headed to the small town of Misahualli which is famous for their mischevious monkeys who take over the square most days. We waited around in the rain for awhile and were thinking the monkeys weren´t going to come out afterall, so we headed back to the bus and waited for them to leave. As we were looking out the window, suddenly a bunch of monkeys began to descend on the towns main square! They were jumping off of rooves, climbing over cars, and ascending the plazas central monument. We saw some fellow tourists feeding them some food, so I went to a store and bought some crackers in plastic wrapping. As I was walking back to Nancy, a monkey saw me with the crackers and ran over to us and started trying to tug them out of my grasp. I put up a fight for a bit but then got nervous he would bite me so I let go of the crackers. He jumped on top of the roof to eat them, but couldn´t open the package, so he dropped it to the ground, giving us a second chance. I grabbed the package and started opening it but as soon as I got them opened, he ripped them from my hands again! Needless to say at this point there were Ritz crackers all over the square and we looked like very foolish tourists. Luckily we were able to pick up several whole crackers before the monkeys, or dogs, got at them, so we were able to offer them to the monkeys one by one, which was pretty neat. I sat down after the crackers were gone and the monkeys started searching me for more food, looking through my pants pockets. But alas, after they realized we were out of crackers, they walked away without a backwards glance.
Then we headed to Banos and have been enjoying the amazing cafes and restaurants. Today for lunch we went to a Danish/Ecuadorian Cafe where they served delicious veggie sandwiches with really amazing cheese. Its been a nice change from living off of rice and fruits. This morning we took a bus to see some different waterfalls in the area and we did some hiking around some of the bigger ones. We also went across a canyon on one of those carts attached to a zipline. And then, very surprisingly, I got suited up for a canopy adventure, where you go across the canyon with your body attached to the zipline with straps.
Tonight we might go on another bus to view the nearby Volcano at night, or we may soak in the famous hot springs. Tomorrow we are leaving our jungle adventures and heading to the Southern Sierra - back to Llama country! Adios amigos!
We arrived in Banos last night, a very touristy, adventure sports type city. Our rafting adventure in Tena was excellent!
Yesterday we headed to the small town of Misahualli which is famous for their mischevious monkeys who take over the square most days. We waited around in the rain for awhile and were thinking the monkeys weren´t going to come out afterall, so we headed back to the bus and waited for them to leave. As we were looking out the window, suddenly a bunch of monkeys began to descend on the towns main square! They were jumping off of rooves, climbing over cars, and ascending the plazas central monument. We saw some fellow tourists feeding them some food, so I went to a store and bought some crackers in plastic wrapping. As I was walking back to Nancy, a monkey saw me with the crackers and ran over to us and started trying to tug them out of my grasp. I put up a fight for a bit but then got nervous he would bite me so I let go of the crackers. He jumped on top of the roof to eat them, but couldn´t open the package, so he dropped it to the ground, giving us a second chance. I grabbed the package and started opening it but as soon as I got them opened, he ripped them from my hands again! Needless to say at this point there were Ritz crackers all over the square and we looked like very foolish tourists. Luckily we were able to pick up several whole crackers before the monkeys, or dogs, got at them, so we were able to offer them to the monkeys one by one, which was pretty neat. I sat down after the crackers were gone and the monkeys started searching me for more food, looking through my pants pockets. But alas, after they realized we were out of crackers, they walked away without a backwards glance.
Tonight we might go on another bus to view the nearby Volcano at night, or we may soak in the famous hot springs. Tomorrow we are leaving our jungle adventures and heading to the Southern Sierra - back to Llama country! Adios amigos!
Monday, 1 July 2013
Big spiders, piranhas, and caimen!
Nicole and Nancy:
We made it through the Jungle!
Last weekend I travelled up to El Limonal, an hour south of the Columbian border, to work on a fruit forest farm. I enjoyed my week there and learnt a lot from the farmer, Piet, about planting trees, the uses of bamboo, medicinal plants and many more things!
Nancy completed her last week of her elective! And then we took off on Friday at 9pm for Coca, an oil town on the outskirts of the rainforest. We arrived in Coca at 6am and made our way to Limoncocha, a small village north of the biggest river in Ecuador, the Rio Napo.
We had an amazing weekend at the Cabanas of Limoncocha, which was a Kichwa community cooperatively run hostel with the most welcoming staff. About 30 minutes after we arrived, we sat down on the balcony to have a snack and 5 monkeys swung by the us on vines! That´s when we decided we were definately staying a second night.
That afternoon our guide took us to Laguna Limoncocha where we saw some amazing birds and that night we went out for a nighttime canoe ride where he showed us caimen up close! (they are related to alligators!) The next morning, bright and early, we went with the guide to the Rio Napo, but after awhile it started raining quite hard and we had to find a shelter and dock the canoe. We hungout on the outskirts of the Yasuni National Park and waited for the rain to lessen, then we made our way back to the hostel where we were then treated with some traditional Kichwa dancing! The dancers had made necklaces for Nancy and I and on the last dance they invited us to dance with them and we did, though we weren´t as talented as them, as hard as that is to imagine.
This morning we travelled to Ecuadors whitewater rafting capital, Tena, where we are going to go on a rafting trip tomorrow. Pictures to come soon! We love you guys!
We made it through the Jungle!
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| note the rooster in the background |
Last weekend I travelled up to El Limonal, an hour south of the Columbian border, to work on a fruit forest farm. I enjoyed my week there and learnt a lot from the farmer, Piet, about planting trees, the uses of bamboo, medicinal plants and many more things!
Nancy completed her last week of her elective! And then we took off on Friday at 9pm for Coca, an oil town on the outskirts of the rainforest. We arrived in Coca at 6am and made our way to Limoncocha, a small village north of the biggest river in Ecuador, the Rio Napo.
We had an amazing weekend at the Cabanas of Limoncocha, which was a Kichwa community cooperatively run hostel with the most welcoming staff. About 30 minutes after we arrived, we sat down on the balcony to have a snack and 5 monkeys swung by the us on vines! That´s when we decided we were definately staying a second night.
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| This is where the monkeys swung by to say whats up |
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| we were trying to open our eyes when the camera flashed. This is us on our caimen night canoe ride |
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| Windy canoe ride down the Napo River |
That afternoon our guide took us to Laguna Limoncocha where we saw some amazing birds and that night we went out for a nighttime canoe ride where he showed us caimen up close! (they are related to alligators!) The next morning, bright and early, we went with the guide to the Rio Napo, but after awhile it started raining quite hard and we had to find a shelter and dock the canoe. We hungout on the outskirts of the Yasuni National Park and waited for the rain to lessen, then we made our way back to the hostel where we were then treated with some traditional Kichwa dancing! The dancers had made necklaces for Nancy and I and on the last dance they invited us to dance with them and we did, though we weren´t as talented as them, as hard as that is to imagine.
This morning we travelled to Ecuadors whitewater rafting capital, Tena, where we are going to go on a rafting trip tomorrow. Pictures to come soon! We love you guys!
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Cock of the Rock
Nicole:
Nancy arrived in Mindo on Friday night and we had an amazing last few days there. On Saturday morning at 3:30am, we woke up and took a taxi a few kilometers uphill into the cloud forest. We hiked uphill along the trail of a nature reserve for about an hour until we reached the top around 5:30am. At nearly 6:00am on the dot, as the sun was rising, we started hearing screeching and chirping and gawking noises all around us. There is a famous bird in the Andes mountains called the Andean Cock of the Rock, or Gallo de Peña in Spanish. They have a huge head crest on their forehead and the males are bright red. The location that we hiked to was a lekking ground of some Cock of the Rock in the nearby cloud forest. A lekking ground is an area that birds congregate for mating purposes. All of the males do their best sexual displays like rocking on the branches, flapping their wings, turning about, swinging their heads, etc, and the females mosy around from one branch to another looking for the best male. Typically, a lek ends with one or two of the male birds receiving 90% of the copulations. The birds were so distracted with their displays that they came so close to our observation bench, so we were able to watch them quite closely, it was like nothing we had ever seen before. After about half an hour, they settled down and we hiked back to town to start a day of relaxing and chocolate consumption.
On Sunday we went to the Mariposaria, the Butterfly farm, where we got to feed some butterflies bananas from our fingers, and we got to watch butterflies emerge from their cacoon! It was neat because when they first come out, their wings are all small and wrinkled, and then they eventually dry them out and spread them out fully. Their bodies are also initially really fat because they have a bunch of stored up embronic fluid which they drain as their wings spread out.
We headed back to Quito Sunday afternoon and I checked into a very classy hostel that charges by the hour, close to where Nancy is staying. On Monday Nancy went to the hospital and I went to check out the Natural Science Museum and Botanical Gardens.
This morning (Tuesday) I caught a bus to Otavalo, a small city 2 hours north of Quito. I checked into a hostel and headed to the Parque de Condor. It is a large park run by a couple who rescue birds of prey (hawks, owls, etc). The birds had fairly large enclosures, and most of them were able to go out on flights around the nearby forests and towns, and they just come back since they associate the park with consistent food, and most of them didnt know how to hunt because they had been there since they were young. The birds that were the most shocking to see were the Harpy Eagle and the Andean Condor, they looked spectacular. The Andean Condor is HUGE, at least two and a half times the size of a bald eagle, and I believe it is Endangered. I watched the flight demonstration where a few of the hawks got to fly around and he talked about them a bit. At the end everyone got to hold a small kestral on their hand wearing the birding glove, so that was really neat. Im pretty sure that I was more excited than all of the visiting school children put together.
On the way back from the Condor Park to town, I passed two women herding their sheep across the road and they started chatting with me. I actually managed to have a sort of conversation with them, although Im not sure they considered it such a success because they laughed at most of my responses.
Adios amigos!
Nancy arrived in Mindo on Friday night and we had an amazing last few days there. On Saturday morning at 3:30am, we woke up and took a taxi a few kilometers uphill into the cloud forest. We hiked uphill along the trail of a nature reserve for about an hour until we reached the top around 5:30am. At nearly 6:00am on the dot, as the sun was rising, we started hearing screeching and chirping and gawking noises all around us. There is a famous bird in the Andes mountains called the Andean Cock of the Rock, or Gallo de Peña in Spanish. They have a huge head crest on their forehead and the males are bright red. The location that we hiked to was a lekking ground of some Cock of the Rock in the nearby cloud forest. A lekking ground is an area that birds congregate for mating purposes. All of the males do their best sexual displays like rocking on the branches, flapping their wings, turning about, swinging their heads, etc, and the females mosy around from one branch to another looking for the best male. Typically, a lek ends with one or two of the male birds receiving 90% of the copulations. The birds were so distracted with their displays that they came so close to our observation bench, so we were able to watch them quite closely, it was like nothing we had ever seen before. After about half an hour, they settled down and we hiked back to town to start a day of relaxing and chocolate consumption.
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| Cock of the Rock |
On Sunday we went to the Mariposaria, the Butterfly farm, where we got to feed some butterflies bananas from our fingers, and we got to watch butterflies emerge from their cacoon! It was neat because when they first come out, their wings are all small and wrinkled, and then they eventually dry them out and spread them out fully. Their bodies are also initially really fat because they have a bunch of stored up embronic fluid which they drain as their wings spread out.
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| Nancy feeding a Mariposa |
This morning (Tuesday) I caught a bus to Otavalo, a small city 2 hours north of Quito. I checked into a hostel and headed to the Parque de Condor. It is a large park run by a couple who rescue birds of prey (hawks, owls, etc). The birds had fairly large enclosures, and most of them were able to go out on flights around the nearby forests and towns, and they just come back since they associate the park with consistent food, and most of them didnt know how to hunt because they had been there since they were young. The birds that were the most shocking to see were the Harpy Eagle and the Andean Condor, they looked spectacular. The Andean Condor is HUGE, at least two and a half times the size of a bald eagle, and I believe it is Endangered. I watched the flight demonstration where a few of the hawks got to fly around and he talked about them a bit. At the end everyone got to hold a small kestral on their hand wearing the birding glove, so that was really neat. Im pretty sure that I was more excited than all of the visiting school children put together.
On the way back from the Condor Park to town, I passed two women herding their sheep across the road and they started chatting with me. I actually managed to have a sort of conversation with them, although Im not sure they considered it such a success because they laughed at most of my responses.
Adios amigos!
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Mindo
Nicole:
I just left the farm this morning. Joel, another volunteer, and I, left the farm after some coffee and bread, at 6:30AM, to start the four hour hike to Mindo. We saw a few green parrots and cattle egret along the way. He went back to the farm after lunch and I booked into a hostel for the weekend, the same one Nancy and I stayed at before because it was quite nice.
If you would like to see photos of the trip so far, you can find them if you click the Photos tab at the top of the blog page.
Now that I have left the farm, I am missing the animals, especially Jackson the goat, like I knew I would. But he has many and will gain many new friends on the farm, and I will gain many fun adventures off the farm in the next two weeks. It was a really interesting look into sustainable farming in a latin american country and I learnt a lot of new skills such as how to farm mushrooms, how to build a dryer (for beans and grass, etc), how to use a jigsaw, and how to scratch a pig in the right spot so it doesn´t get overexcited and bite at you. The farm also gave me a lot to think about in terms of forestry, conservation and land/animal ownership. And I suppose that´s good when an experience leaves you with a lot to think about.
Nancy is coming to Mindo tomorrow and we are going to visit the Butterfly farm where you can see many different butterflies.
If anyone knows a very fast way to upload pictures to an online storage space, let me know, I´m struggling to find a webspace that uploads many, many photos quickly enough.
Adios!
I just left the farm this morning. Joel, another volunteer, and I, left the farm after some coffee and bread, at 6:30AM, to start the four hour hike to Mindo. We saw a few green parrots and cattle egret along the way. He went back to the farm after lunch and I booked into a hostel for the weekend, the same one Nancy and I stayed at before because it was quite nice.
If you would like to see photos of the trip so far, you can find them if you click the Photos tab at the top of the blog page.
Now that I have left the farm, I am missing the animals, especially Jackson the goat, like I knew I would. But he has many and will gain many new friends on the farm, and I will gain many fun adventures off the farm in the next two weeks. It was a really interesting look into sustainable farming in a latin american country and I learnt a lot of new skills such as how to farm mushrooms, how to build a dryer (for beans and grass, etc), how to use a jigsaw, and how to scratch a pig in the right spot so it doesn´t get overexcited and bite at you. The farm also gave me a lot to think about in terms of forestry, conservation and land/animal ownership. And I suppose that´s good when an experience leaves you with a lot to think about.
Nancy is coming to Mindo tomorrow and we are going to visit the Butterfly farm where you can see many different butterflies.
If anyone knows a very fast way to upload pictures to an online storage space, let me know, I´m struggling to find a webspace that uploads many, many photos quickly enough.
There are a lot of stray dogs around so it´s really cool to see awareness initiatives like this! The dog on the left is asking the other dog why spaying and neutering of pets is important, and the right dog is answering that it helps control stray populations.
Adios!
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