South America – ManySharpBends.com

Incas, Machu Picchu, Amazon & more: The unforgettable Peruvian Odyssey

13.05.2016 & 14.05.2016

After a breathtaking 10 days in Galapagos Islands with sea lions, penguins, sharks, marine iguanas, land iguanas, blue-footed boobies and more, we embarked on our Peruvian journey with Machu Picchu and Amazon rainforest as the main bucket list items. 3 flights (Galapagos-Guayaquil, Guayaquil-Lima & Lima-Cusco) and 20 hours later, we landed in Cusco, the gateway to Inca ruins in Peru. We got a lovely glimpse of the Andean mountains from the plane.

To avoid a potential sickness due to Cusco’s height, we immediately took a taxi and descended to Ollantaytambo (2 hour ride from Cusco airport), a picturesque town situated in the sacred valley of the Incas. With a four day local Quechua festivities of dance and music in full-swing we truly lucked out. Ollanta (as the locals call it), is where the Incas retreated to after the Spanish conquered Cusco. It has a lovely small town relaxed feel with a cute town square, narrow cobble-stoned streets, lovely view of Inca ruins, street food and gorgeously dressed Quechua people.

The relaxed atmosphere just sucked us in so we decided to take it easy today and simply watched the festivities and enjoyed local food and beer at the town square. Oh, and Mika enjoyed the Choco museum where we learnt the fascinating process of how Chocolate products are made from.

15.05.2016

The morning was spent in exploring the beautiful ruins of Ollantaytambo. This is where Manco Inca, the valiant native leader who lead the resistance against Spanish conquistadors, defeated the Spanish by building high terraces and flooding the plains. We were reminded of our Rajasthani fortresses from where the valiant Rajputs fought the Mughals.

In the afternoon, we did a VERY steep but rewarding hike to Pinkuylunna, where the Incas built some remarkable storehouses. This hike is not for the faint-hearted and in the end we were rewarded with some breathtaking views of the Ollanta town and the valley as well as a fascinating meeting with a German couple (with 3 small children!) who were also on a 1-year world trip, just like us !! Our resolve grew stronger after meeting them – if they can do it with 3 SMALL ones, we surely can pull it off with a TEENAGER!

By evening, the anticipation of visiting Machu Picchu the next day was building up and we spent our time calming ourselves down, praying to God for a sunny weather and requested our hotel owner for a breakfast takeaway at 5 am.

16.05.2016

The 4:30 am alarm reminded us that the BIG day has arrived. After picking up our breakfast bags, we began our stroll to the Ollantaytambo train station at 5 am.

Getting to Machu Picchu is an logistical adventure in itself. First you have to take this train from Ollanta – this is a very busy gateway to Machu Picchu and train tickets are usually sold out months in advance. We had booked ours 4 months earlier so it was an easy boarding at 5:30 am in a VERY IMPRESSIVE compartment offering beautiful views over a short 90 minute journey. Wait a minute, you have only reached the foothill town called Aguas Callintes. We boarded a 30 minute bus from here to one of the top modern wonders of the world. The excitement of entering the monument means you are willing to forgive basic tourist facilities (water refill stations, toilets WITHIN the complex – there is one at the entrance only and eating options – there is ONLY ONE very expensive restaurant).

9:30 am: We had seen the picture post card view of Machu Picchu ruins against the Huayna Picchu backdrop, a million times but nothing prepared us for the first breathtaking view. As suggested (wrongly) by other bloggers we took a million useless pictures in the first 5 minutes (there were better pictures to come from higher viewpoints) but what the heck – this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip! As you walk to higher terraces, the views start to get exponentially better. Meha’s prayers had been answered as we had been rewarded with an embarrassingly gorgeous day 🙂 We spent most of our time sitting at various vantage points and gawking at the ruins (the best views are from the top) as well as analyzing and concluding that its the dramatic backdrop of Huyana Picchu mountains which gives Machu Picchu its awe-inspiring view, not the ruins itself. Mika loved playing with the llamas.

As the scorching sun blazed, our bodies and energy started drooping around noon. We were glad that we had spent most of our time at the higher view points, since coming down to the ACTUAL ruins can be bit of an anti climax as the views are not as gorgeous. We pulled ourselves to see the Inca architecture including the sun temple and it was all over by 2 pm.

Voraciously hungry (I could have killed and eaten a Llama), we immediately departed the complex and took the bus down to the foothills. Mika’s favorite pesto pasta was ordered and cold coca cola has never tasted better – I kid not. We utilized the free wifi and then argued with the restaurant over the astronomical 20% service charge which was immediately brought down to 10! It was difficult to believe that it was time to board the 6 pm train back for a day that we had been dreaming for years. The real adventure was yet to come. The train was delayed by 3 hours with a huge collateral advantage of befriending a bunch of Brazilians and Russians with whom we had animated discussions on politics, state of our nations, why we all are still underdeveloped nations and so on. Everyone was amazed that we as Indians had taken a year off to travel and we grinned. What fun. Anyway, we arrived back to Ollanta at 11:30 pm thanks to Peru Rail, and crashed.

In hindsight it sounds incredible that Machu Picchu went undiscovered till 20th century (till an intrepid American explorer Hiram Bingham discovered it). So cool, otherwise the marauding Spanish conquistadors would have destroyed it. What makes Machu Picchu so special is how they chose the perfect site and built a city so high up amidst the mountains ???

17.05.2016

We bid good bye to the Sacred Valley and headed to Cusco, a 2 hour taxi ride. Our first stop was the salt mines of Maras . The Incas built hundreds of salt pans and harvested salt from spring water. It is quite a sight. Mika tasted and found the salt a tad too salty for her liking!

We then headed off to Moray where the Inca’s Agricultural laboratory is situated. They built concentric circles and planted different seeds at different levels in different micro-climates to evaluate the right developmental conditions of plants. Ahead of its times.

We decided to have our lunch in Chinchero which truly was a ghost town with everything being shut, today being a holiday. We managed to find a Sukhsagar-style local eatery which offered us the best Peruvian local food of the trip at a princely sum of $7 for the three of us. With our tummies full, we wandered through the beautiful town of Chinchero – the streets, ruins, weaving ladies and an old church being the highlights.

We reached Cuzco around 4 pm and called it a day. I also had to face Meha’s wrath as the hotel was the tiniest of the trip, our misery exacerbated by lack of windows and having to carry our suitcases over 2 floors.

18.05.2016 & 19.05.2016

After the laidback small town base of Ollanta, the big city feel of Cusco shocked and disappointed us. It was the capital of Inca empire from 13th to 16th centuries, so important enough to be explored. We visited the most famous inca ruin called Sacsaywaman (I know what you are thinking as all dirty minded folks do). Cusco was designed as the head of Puma with the Sacsaywaman being its head. The zigzag fortress walls of Sacsaywaman functions as Puma’s teeth. Very cool. Through readings and museums, we learnt that the Incas revered Puma. We were getting Inca overload by now, so we decided to skip Pisac.

We also visited the cool and artistic San Blas area as well as the main square Plaza de Aramas which has a bunch of lovely cathedrals. A visit to the cultural centre yielded some great ethic dance performances.

20.05.2016

To prep for our impending Amazonian jungle adventure, we decided to visit the famed Ccohahuasi Animal rescue center. We were fascinated by Condors, Macaws & Pumas to name a few.

It’s time for our flight to Iquitos via Lima.

21.05.2016 & 22.05.2016

Iquitos is one of few cities in the world which can only be reached by plane or boat (no roads!). It’s the gateway to Peruvian Amazon. The city taught us the underbelly of the illegal trading of Amazonian animals, in the world (in)famous Belen market. We did not have the heart to see it so we skipped and focused on visiting 2 animal rescue centers – Manatee center and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly farm. It is heartwarming to witness some good samaritans spending their lifetime in educating the local population about the ill effects of animal trading and nurturing the rescued animals. The museum of the Native Amazonian taught us about their costumes and cultures. Wait… Indian autorickshaw-style “mototaxis” were literally everywhere !

23.05.2016, 24.05.2016, 25.05.2016

Our Amazonian jungle adventure began with Geyner , the affable guide of Libertad Jungle Lodge, picking us up at Iquitos at 9 am. A taxi ride later (2 hours), we reach Nauta, a tiny village where we boarded our boat. 90 minutes on the Amazon, and we reach our lodge, a community run project run by the local villagers. This will be our home for the next 4 days while we explore the Amazon.

Amazon was truly an unforgettable adventure with some experiences we had only read in books – getting wowed by pink and grey dolphins, exploring and holding a Caiman in the dark of the night, getting frightened by Tarantula spider, spotting Macaws in the wild, eating a worm on the jungle trek, catching Piranha and then eating them, watching Amazonian waterlily (world’s largest leaf) and much more. The boat and guide were at our disposal all the time. Meha had, ironically, the best and freshest vegetarian food of the whole trip so far, here in the middle of Amazon jungle. We made friends with the villagers and felt completely at home.

Thanks for reading. We now head to San Francisco to meet dear friends Vipin, Jagdeep and their lovely children Riya and Sachi, for a much needed family down time. See you in YellowStone after a week.

Las Islas Encantadas: The Bewitched Islands a.k.a Galapagos

“Getting to Galapagos is so difficult” – a sentiment echoed by many fellow-travelers we met on our much awaited visit to this archipelago 1000 kms west of the mainland of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. Logistically and economically it is a challenging destination which perhaps helps with the ecological preservation of this unique natural World Heritage Site.

Our journey to this dream destination began with having to change plans – our originally booked flight out of Quito was cancelled and we were put on an earlier flight. So we had to come back a day earlier from Mindo and book an overnight stay at Quito. At 5 am on 3rd May, we queued up at the Quito airport for an entry permit / “visa” to the Galapagos Islands costing $20 per person. We had to get all our luggage scanned to ensure we weren’t carrying any organic material and then each one was sealed, a process that was repeated on entry and exit out of the two islands we visited.

Our flight with a hop at Guayaquil, the largest city of Ecuador, was to the Baltra island (Isla Baltra) in Galapagos, one of the 18 major islands and is solely dedicated for the airport. Only 3 airlines/alliances operate flights to Galapagos.

At the Baltra airport, we were greeted by warm weather, a welcome change from the chill of Quito, and a desert like environment.

As we entered the terminal building of the Aeropuerto Ecológico de Galápagos, the first things to catch the eye were the huge fans, two of them covering the entire “immigration” hall. These industrial fans with temperature and CO2 sensors to auto-operate them are part of the energy efficient design of this LEED certified airport.

We went through the “immigration” checks to verify our passports and entry permits and paid the Galapagos Islands entry fee of $100 per person. After collecting our baggage we boarded a bus that took us to the dock for a short ferry ride across to Isla Santa Cruz, the second largest island and the one with the largest population.

At the dock we were excited to see numerous birds, some of which we could not identify then, flying around and diving for fish. Pelicans flew by so close, it was breath-taking!

We unloaded a second time at Santa Cruz to take a taxi to Puerto Ayora, the town that was to be our base for the next few days to explore Galapagos.

45 minutes later we were at our hotel, finally! We freshened up and headed out to the Charles Darwin Research Station that was a 10-minute walk away from us.

Here we were delighted to spot Marine Iguanas for the very first time as well as the brightly coloured Sally Lightfoot crabs, some Darwin’s finches, a type of cuckoo later id’d as the Smooth-billed Ani and a striking songbird later id’d as the Galapagos Mockingbird.

The brightly coloured Sally Lightfoot Crab on the dark volcanic rocks is quite a sight!

Ground Finch – one of Darwin’s finches, endemic to Galapagos

All this excitement even before we entered the core area of the research station that hosts Giant Tortoise and Land Iguana breeding centres. And then we came face-to-face with the gentle giants that gave Steven Spielberg his inspiration for the visage of E.T.! These creatures at once evoked reactions of E.T., Anaconda and Voldemort 🙂

Galapagos Giant Tortoise – the inspiration for the face of E.T.

The largest species of Tortoise, now Vulnerable – the Charles Darwin Research Station has a breeding centre where eggs are collected from islands for safe hatching and later release into natural habitat

A neck that can extend quite a bit to reach up for food, perfectly adapted to its environment and thriving on Galapagos islands until man struck here!

A few steps ahead and peep over the wall revealed the beautiful yellow shades of a Galapagos Land Iguana.

Land Iguana – a Vulnerable species, endemic to Galapagos

We noticed the unique tree-like cactus growing all around, and later read that it is called Opuntia echios, endemic to the Galapagos islands and a very important part of the ecosystem as a food source.

Opuntia echios – grows slowly in the volcanic rocky crust, provides food for iguanas, tortoises, finches

After a lot of time spent admiring these beauties, it was time to head back with Mika having learnt a bit about Charles Darwin and his Galapagos inspired Theory of Evolution.

Let me share a little perspective on Galapagos that we learnt while here. The first recorded visit by humans to these islands was in 1535 when a Spanish ship on its way to Peru was blown off-course. It is possible that the the islands were visited earlier by the Incas but no records exist. The islands were initially named Las Islas Encatadas by the sailors who reached here; while today this is popularly translated as the Enchanted Islands in the “charming” sense 0f the word, the sailors meant it as “bewitched” because of the islands suddenly appearing & disappearing in the fog. All life originally found here arrived either by the ocean or aerial route and hence the marked absence of any land mammals. All arrivals had to adapt to harsh conditions to survive and significantly, the same species adapted differently in different islands in isolation from each other. As observed by Charles Darwin, this archipelago seems to be nature’s laboratory of evolution by design!

The islands are of volcanic origin resulting from an intense “hotspot” beneath the ocean on the equator. There is constant activity which results in the formation of new islands and disappearance of older ones. In geological terms, the current islands are described as young meaning just over 2 million years old! Contrast this to human history terms .. we view the 5000 year old Egyptian civilisation as ancient!!

The climate of the Galapagos islands is determined entirely by ocean currents, the major one being the cold Humboldt Current which brings cold south polar water to the shores of these islands. No wonder then that the water here is so cold despite being on the equator! While this makes it difficult for people like us to get into the water to get a peek at the aquatic life, it is what makes the ocean extremely productive by pushing up nutrients from the ocean floor to upper layers where life-giving sunlight reaches.

The name Galapagos translates as per different accounts to either a type saddle or tortoise. Any which way, the name is derived from the Giant Saddleback Tortoises that roamed the islands in huge numbers when they were first visited by the Europeans.

On day 2 we headed off to the Tortuga (Tortoise) Bay in the hope of finding marine iguanas in the wild and an opportunity to spot some sea turtles and fish while snorkelling in the bay. It was a 2+ kilometre trail to walk from the entry point – worked well for us serving the dual purpose of getting some exercise and enjoying the place in peaceful solitude. At the end of the cactus and then mangrove vegetation lined trail, was the vast blue expanse of the Pacific with waves breaking on the lava rocks at some places and rolling on to the white powdery sand at others.

Our first look at Blue-footed Boobies from a distance and without knowing what we were looking at!

As we walked across the beach to cover another kilometer to the bay, we saw a swarm of birds who were flying and diving from time to time. The dive was a vertical drop, like a rocket! We managed to capture some of the action. It was later we learnt that the diving rockets we saw were the clownish Blue-footed Boobies who we got to see and admire from very close quarters. Hordes of pelicans were “surfing” and flying, just having a wonderful morning!

A circling swarm of birds with some diving in at regular intervals

A Blue-footed Booby diving vertically to catch fish!

As we neared the bay, we spotted a Great Blue Heron standing still and to our huge excitement we saw our very first set of Marine Iguanas “in the wild” with a 2-metre radius circle drawn on the sand around them. It is a standard instruction everywhere in Galapagos to keep a 2-metre distance from all animals.

Great Blue Heron – seemed to be meditating

Marine Iguana basking in the morning sun – Tortuga Bay, Isla Santa Cruz

The Marine Iguana, endemic to the Galapagos, is the only sea-going lizard in the world. We were entertained by the occasional “sneezing” of some of them – a mechanism to excrete brine. The bay ahead was a good place to relax and build a sand castle with Mika, something not done in a long time. But the water was not clear at all for any luck with spotting anything while snorkelling. But our day was made with the mutiple “clusters” of marine iguanas we saw on the beach as well as witnessing some taking off to the water and some swimming up to the beach and move across to find their own spot under the sun.

A Marine Iguana swims to the beach to sun itself

As we left the beach, I saw this pelican which seemed extremely content!

Sand, Sea, Self, Shadow, Sun - Satisfied! — Sand, Sea, Self, Shadow, Sun – Satisfied!

Standardisation of services is always useful for visitors – in Puerto Ayora all taxis are Toyota Hilux / Pickups with a standard charge of $1 for a ride anywhere within the town. So after the 3+ km walk back out of the trail to the beach, it was a $1 taxi ride back to our lovely accommodation for a refreshing shower before heading out to what became one of our favourite places in town – the harbour. One just needs to stand by the pier and watch to see a whole variety of animals – sea lions swimming or resting on the benches, pelicans and herons on boats, marine iguanas climbing up the walls and sea turtles, golden rays and baby sharks swimming past!

Animals have right of way and seating here!

The next few days saw us venturing out to the non-human inhabited North Seymour and Santa Fe islands. The former hosts colonies of the Magnificent Frigate birds and Blue-footed Boobies along with Land Iguanas that we got to see at just over an arm’s length. The latter provides great snorkelling spots where we got to swim with sea turtles, sting rays, baby sharks and watch a bunch of young sea-lions up close. We had just five people on the Santa Fe trip and our guide forecast correctly that it was a “lucky day”. He showed us a fantastic sight of hundreds, maybe a thousand fish forming a beautiful pattern on the ocean floor at one of the spots and in another (with truly freezing water) we saw the most amazingly colourful fish right out a NatGeo production!

A Magnificent Frigatebird family nesting in North Seymour island – the father takes the responsibility of safekeeping of the eggs and upbringing of the chicks, the mother helps with the feeding of the chicks

Male Magnificent Frigatebird with his scarlet throat pouch inflated like a balloon, common in the breeding season

Blue-footed Boobies seen on Santa Cruz northern harbour

A Blue-footed Booby family nesting in North Seymour island – what a lovely close-up view!

Blue-footed Booby taking care of its eggs – the male and female take turns to do this

The scrubby terrain of North Seymour island

In the backdrop here is Mosquera island, a sand beach at sea level

A sea lion stretches itself neck after a swim on the North Seymour shore!

Our guide for Santa Fe - the smiling Camillo who made it a great experience for us — Our guide for Santa Fe – the smiling Camillo who made it a great experience for us

Isla Santa Cruz has sights to explore on land as well. The ones we visited were the beautiful Las Grietas, Los Gemelos and the giant tortoise reserve and lava tunnels at El Chato.

Las Grietas - a volcanic fracture where the cool ocean water mingles with rainwater to provide a deep blue "swimming pool" with the colourful parrot fish for company — Las Grietas – a volcanic fracture where the cool ocean water mingles with rainwater to provide a deep blue “swimming pool” with the colourful parrot fish for company

At Las Grietas, we opted for snorkelling looking at the depth of the water and lack of “landing” places in between the length but our little mermaid was off swimming by herself and disappeared to explore the next two pools beyond!

Los Gemelos are an interesting feature in the highlands of Santa Cruz where the vegetation is completely different from the lowlands due to higher precipitation. On two sides of the road are two large sinkholes (not craters) created when the earth surface became unsteady and collapsed due to the hot magma underneath. Over the millenia, a lush green forest has grown here.

Los Gemelos – large sinkholes where the surface sank due to the hot magma underneath, now covered with a lush Scalesia forest

Tree covered in moss, perfect Halloween prop!

The El Chato tortoise reserve is privately owned and a large property where giant tortoises roam freely. The property also has a series of lava tunnels that one can walk through like an underground tunnel.

El Chato Tortoise Reserve – where the gentle giants roam free

Unique road sign – probably the only place in the world

This 100+ years old giant munches on grass

Lava Tunnels at El Chato, Santa Cruz island

Six days later we left to go to the Isabella island, the largest in the archipelago and the youngest at about a million years of age formed by the merger of 6 volcanoes of which 5 are still active. The last eruption on this island was a year ago in May 2015. Isla Isabella was our base for the next 3 days to explore and admire the rich wildlife in and around it. It was a 2-hour boat journey in the middle of the Pacific, both unnerving and calming at the same time. Unnerving when we looked at the expanse of water with some large waves and not a speck of land in sight making the power boat look quite powerless. Calming to stare into infinity and feeling the harmony in the interconnection between everything around.

At both Santa Cruz and Isabella islands, the bigger boats dock a little away from the piers and water taxis (smaller boats) are used to transfer people & goods to the island. It is a very systematic execution with perfect coordination between the boatmen in handling everyone and the biggest pieces of luggage for a smooth operation. And standard rates for the water taxis with no haggling for luggage. A very pleasant experience overall.

As our water taxi approached the island, the boatman pointed out to a penguin standing on the rocks, it felt like a dream to be seeing this! One of the reasons for coming to Isabella was to see the Galapagos penguins that reside here.

Entry into the little village of Isabella, solar-powered street lights in the background

A walk to the bay later that day offered us sights of numerous sea lions and marine iguanas snoozing near and on the walkways, benches, anywhere they wished! And penguins swimming around looking like ducks in the water 🙂

Three sea lions snoozed peacefully with a larger adult on a bench nearby, completely unperturbed by the humans passing by within a couple of feet

The largest single congregation of Marine Iguanas we saw in Galapagos was on Isla Isabella

Penguins swimming near Isla Isabella dock

The next morning Manish & Mika decided to go snorkelling to Tintoreras just off Isabella; I opted to stay back and catch up on some writing as I am not too fond of being in the water and wanted to reserve my last bit of stamina for the next day’s snorkelling at Los Tuneles, the lava tunnels in the ocean. The under-rated Tintoreras turned out to be the most magical experience for Mika and Manish with close encounters with sea lions and penguins in the water and sighting scores of white tipped sharks from arm’s length while walking the Martian terrain. For the details of this day, you need to read Mihika’s blog on her experience!

Galapagos Penguins at Tintoreras, off Isla Isabella

White-tipped sharks resting in shallow pools at Tintoreras

A sea turtle raises its head out of the water!

For all the action I missed in the morning, we compensated with sighting of dozens of brilliant Flamingos on another part of the island.

The next day was the big day with a 45-minute boat ride to Los Tuneles, with a short circle around Union Rock where we sighted Nazca Boobies, another species of boobies, this one with black feet.

Nazca Booby at Union Rock, off the coast of Isla Isabella

The snorkelling at Los Tuneles was a long, exhausting and fully worthwhile experience for the ability to see and swim with seahorses, full-sized white tipped reef sharks, different types of rays including the beautiful Manta Ray, octopus and giant sea turtles.

DCIM100GOPROGOPR1240. — A delicate seahorse

DCIM100GOPROGOPR1253. — Swimming with the Rays!

DCIM100GOPROGOPR1271. — White-tipped Reef Sharks rest here

DCIM100GOPROGOPR1307. — Mika at the Los Tuneles under water!

DCIM100GOPROGOPR1362. — Lobster on the head!!

Los Tuneles – the lava tunnels off Isla Isabella

The day ended with a relaxed stroll on the beach and watching a beautiful sunset.

As we ended what we thought was a once-in-a-lifetime stay at Galapagos, we were quite sure we would be coming back here some day ….

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading this. Posting this as we leave for the Amazon rainforests with no phones, internet for 3 days and generated electricity for only 3 hours each evening! Good luck to us 🙂

In the Middle of the World!

Our maiden visit to South America had a very pleasant start at the Miami International Airport in the very comfortable lounge of Avianca, the oldest operating airline in the Americas and the second oldest in the world after KLM. We were welcomed by a very friendly lady from Colombia with the warmth of the hospitality services we are accustomed to in India and usually miss on our travels to the West. Rested and refreshed we were on our way to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, transiting through Bogota, the Colombian capital and hub of Avianca.

Ecuador literally means the Equator in Spanish, the official language of the country. We landed in the middle of the world in the middle of the night and were pleasantly surprised and happy to see that all the immigration officials, barring one, were women! I do not recollect having seen a single female immigration official in any of the airports in India and now I wonder why?

As we were being driven to our hotel from the airport, it felt like we were headed to a hill station. I didn’t realise then that Quito, at an altitude of 2,850 metres above sea level, is the highest of all national capitals. The next morning we could see just how many hills and valleys there were in this city.

We stayed in old Quito, the historic centre characterised by cobbled streets, monuments and colonial style buildings, that became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site (along with Krakow). Our hotel was an old bungalow with a central courtyard, a common feature of traditional homes in many parts of India. The Presidential Palace of Quito features this too. I am sure you can guess which of the two courtyards below is our hotel’s and which is the Presidential Palace’s 🙂

We spent the day exploring the
monuments and sights starting with the central square, the Plaza de la Independencia more commonly known as Plaza Grande, that is flanked by the Presidential Palace and the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Archbishop’s palaceof Quito.

It was a bustling square with vendors selling a variety of fare – handmade shawls, hats, eatables and so on. An interesting feature were the shoe-shine boys on one end of the square.

Metropolitan Cathedral of Quito flanking the Plaza Grande

IMG_20160429_111506 — View of the Plaza Grande from the Presidential Palace

Next we headed for a guided tour of the Presidential Palace that was possible since the President was not in residence on the day. We had to handover our passports and go through expected security checks to enter the building that had no external signs of opulence.

We started with huge murals depicting the discovery and conquest of the Amazon by the Spanish and walked through lavish meeting and banquet halls before stepping into the radiant “Yellow Room”.

All gifts received by the various Ecuadorian presidents from different countries were on display. Samples here are from Peru and Saudi Arabia.

We then strolled out onto the cobbled street and headed to La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (the Church of the Society of Jesus) known for its Baroque style architecture and ornate interiors with elaborate gold leaf decorations on its walls and high ceiling. The facade of the church bears no hint of the splendour inside.

The next highlight was Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco (Church and Monastery of St. Francis) featuring twin bell towers. Notice the storm clouds gathering above the bell towers!

As we walked through this pretty part of the city, we noticed how well the traffic was being managed through these narrow streets by very committed traffic-police, most of them being women! No wonder there are no traffic jams here.

We walked on to the La Ronda street which looked picturesque and right out of a European town with eateries lining the pedestrian-only cobbled street.As the street comes alive in the evenings, we decided to come back there for dinner.

And there were women constables patrolling the streets.

It was great to see so many women in law enforcement roles, more so because traditionally there has been a disparity in women’s status in terms of education and economic status.

In the evening we strolled around to take in the evening lights & atmosphere and stopped by a small eatery to taste our first Humitas, a traditional steamed corn snack. We saw many signs of “Cafe con Humitas” suggesting it was something like “Chai with Samosa” for the locals. Corn and plantains are a big part of the daily diet here. We returned to La Ronda and found a place with a guitarist playing & singing as a nice way to wrap up the day. Given the lack of an English menu, vegetarian food and English speaking folks around, it took some effort to choose what we wanted. Just when we sat back to enjoy the music, Manish realised the backpack he had placed next to him was missing! A frantic search around the place ensued and quite soon it was clear the bag had been taken. The usherer at the door thought a guy who just left the place had taken our bag mistaking it for his own and ran out to find him. We found another backpack neatly tucked away a little further from our table, but given the place & manner in which it was kept it became apparent that it was not a mistake at all by the person who had taken, rather stolen our bag. As we stood on the street quite shaken thinking about what happened and asked to restaurant to call the police, we recollected the contents of the bag. To our utter relief, the bag didn’t contain our passports and any valuables. Thanks to Manish’s research on safety during travel and his habit of preparing for the worst, he had our passports, cash and cards all on his person. We figured we had lost our rain jackets, a portable mobile charger & phone cable, some medicines & first-aid and a water bottle. The police arrived immediately and they called for an English speaking officer who also turned up pretty quickly. On hearing the details, they apologised for our bad experience, duly recorded our complaint and gave us a copy of the report. The restaurant turned in the backpack left by the thief who for sure would have cursed his bad luck at getting nothing of value in return for the loss of his own backpack! Not in the script as Manish said, but a briefly nerve-wracking experience to reinforce the absolute need for alertness in cities.

The next day dawned, we put the previous evening firmly behind us and headed right to the middle of the world – latitude 0°! Interestingly, before the advent of GPS, the location of the Equator near Quito had been wrongly marked and the official monument Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World City) is situated about 200 metres south of latitude 0°. So instead of this we headed to the Intiñan Museum that is closer to the right spot. Here we heard some interesting facts about the native tribes of the region, saw totems representing Inti (the Sun) from different countries, witnessed experiments demonstrating the Coriolis effect, tried our hand (successfully) at balancing an egg on the head of a nail and walked on the red line representing the Equator.

An ancient tribal ritual of creating a pendant from an enemy’s head!

A burial mound — Replica of a burial mound – the dead were placed in fetal position in a pot that denotes the womb – tribal belief of rebirth

Balancing acts, each one trying to centre ourselves!

The below pics of parent and child on the two hemispheres are symbolic of the differences that exist (and always will!) between generations, despite our attempts to be “cool” parents. We’ve decided to just “mind the gap” and Mika is happy we finally accept the “gap”!

The demonstration of the Coriolis effect helped us understand the difference in the directions of weather systems north and south of the Equator – hurricanes & tornadoes that hit North America move in an anti-clockwise direction while typhoons in South America have a clockwise circulation.

The tribal handmade crafts on display were a colourful visual treat and we also witnessed a demo of a tribal dance.

From here we headed further up the Andes towards Mindo for a rendevous with the clouds in the cloud forest and an opportunity to see some of the hundreds of bird species that inhabit them. Needless to say, some of the bird species are in danger of extinction.

In our journey of about an hour & a quarter, we came across some scenes reminiscent of home – what car would you say is the one overtaking the cattle carrier?

In our Mindo hotel balcony we found ourselves at an arm’s distance from Hummingbirds of so many different types with their resplendent colourings shining in the sunlight that we remained excited, mesmerised and clicking away for a long time! It was unbelievable to see so many of these tiny birds feeding with their wings flapping rapidly at the feeder placed by the hotel staff. We got to see from close up the backward flight that we had heard and read about. And various kinds of colourful Tanagers were frequenting the guava tree next to our balcony, making us wonder at the colours and types of the birds residing in the forest where we would be heading to the next morning!

We strolled through the rather little main street in this quaint little town, more like a village actually. We loved the peaceful, laid-back atmosphere and had an enjoyable dinner of fresh handmade pizza at a local bakery. Mindo is not a typical family destination, it is a haven for backpackers and young travelers who are either nature lovers or adventure-seekers coming here for the thrills of rafting, tubing and canyoning.

It was an early start the next morning and a pleasant walk with our naturalist and guide Irman where he pointed out many Tanagers and small birds like Seedeaters quite early on. We were eager to see the bigger & brighter ones that are much harder to spot. We admired the streams and the view of the clouds touching the forest canopy on the way.

Hearing the calls of toucans, our guide ushered us on. The first ones we got to see were the Crimson-rumped Toucanets, a smaller variety of the Toucan family and then the big Pale-mandibled Toucan. What a majestic sight!

Crimson-rumped Toucanet2 — Crimson-rumped Toucanet

Then came a really beautiful call that got our guide all excited and soon enough we were rewarded with the sight of an amazing bird – the Masked Trogon, what a beauty & what a beautiful call!

Another beauty that we saw a couple of was the Rufous Motmot.

We learnt that it is common practise for many of the residents to place food (bananas) in their backyards to feed birds. This attracts many colourful birds from the forest to come and feed, providing an easy opportunity to see them from close quarters. We did this at the end of our forest walk in one of the little farms and got to see the bright Red-headed Barbet, Toucan Barbet and Golden Tanager amongst many others.

Amazed by the stunning colours and beauty, we spent many more hours admiring our own clicks of these wonders of nature and watching the thunderstorm of the late afternoon with the rain continuing through the night.

Having experienced the stunning diversity of mainland Ecuador, we were all keen to head out to the islands of Galapagos to see Evolution in action! Though part of our Ecuadorian Odyssey, Galapagos demands a separate post for it has way too much to offer and is truly a world apart.

Thanks for reading and being a part of our journey!