Photos

In the airport

view of Latacunga from our window

Laguna Quilotoa

Our hostel in Quilotoa

our room in quilotoa

our room in Mindo

breakfast area overlooking a river with hummingbirds flying around

hiking up to the waterfalls

zipline across the valley

it was raining and we had gone through a little waterfall that was crossing the path and we felt quite elated

we were starting to wonder if the zipline guys were going to come back for us

hummingbirds near Mindo

transparent wing butterflies

a tree with bananas to lure in different songbirds

having a snack and tea, watching the birds

our chocolate factory tour, this is the chocolate bean drying

this is the chocolate bean fermenting

this is the coffee bean and chilies drying, they are used as different flavours for the chocolate bars

this is the machine where they put the chocolate ´nibs´in and it turns into a big solid paste that is stirred with sugar and other flavors and then molded

these are the two resident dogs at our hostel in Mindo, Casa de Cecelia

THE FARM

this is the kitchen and living room area at the farm, all outdoors

the outdoor kitchen

the shower and compost toilet

pig face

One of the greenhouses, interestingly enough, the shelter is to keep OUT the rain so things will grow, whereas typically in Canada, our greenhouses are to trap heat and humidity. 

the fungus farm! growing mushrooms

pollos!

they always look slightly perturbed

the tilapia pond

sheep!

llamas!

bee hives

banana trees

joel doing magic in the kitchen

marcus the billygoat

the little brown one on the left is jackson, people on the farm called me his mother, because i always bottlefed him and we cuddled many an afternoon

MORE MINDO

some really cool graffitti in mindo. One dog is saying to another dog, ¨why vaccinate your animals?¨and the other dog is saying something about population control

The famous Andean Cock of the Rock

Nancy and I at 6AM after our hike in to see the Cock of the Rock or Gallo de Peña

At the Mariposaria (Butterfly Farm), Nancy is feeding a butterfly some banana off her finger

We said goodbye to Mindo and our wonderful hostel

Our hostel in Limoncocha

Suited up for our rafting adventure

Setting sail

One of the waterfalls we passed by

The Capuchin Monkeys of Misahualli

Going across the canyon on the zipline cart

That´s fear in my eyes, not exhileration

One of the waterfalls on our hike

A huge waterfall!

llamas!

El Cajas National Park, Laguna Toreadora

El Cajas National Park

Rumi Wilco Reserve, Vilcabamba

Lobomarinos

These fishing boats are covered in Cormorants, a black bird similar to a pelican

This is the candelabra , a mysterious drawing in the sand

They have built human structures on the peninsula which they harvest bird poop from every 6 years. This bird poop, or ¨island guano¨, is high in nitrogen and is used as a fertilizer.

The Tacama winery has french grape plant cuttings shipped over which they grafted with their peru grapes so that the resulting plant was adapted to the local soil

This was a palm tree that had sprouted 6 arms like an octopus.

Nancy on top of a sand dune that we climbed.

build your own hot chocolate at the cacao museum!

Cusco city