10/06/2019 – Maquipucuna to Quito, Ecuador

We got up early again for the morning walk. It gets light so quickly here, it is dark when my alarm goes off at 05:45 and light by the time I get out of bed at 06:00! We went for coffee and waited a bit until we realised our guide was running late and not here yet. Not wanting to waste the early start we took ourselves on a self guided walk to some nearby waterfalls. When we got there mum and Josh couldn’t resist, so they took their clothes off and jumped in to the freezing water (they said it was nice once you’re in, but I have fallen for that one before!) The waterfall was so powerful that mum lost one of her earrings! Then they got back into their clothes, soaking wet, and we walked back home. It was so hard for mum to get her foot into her wellie that she stayed like that (wet clothes) until we returned our boots in the afternoon to go home! We got back to the lodge for some breakfast and met the two new guests that had arrived yesterday evening. They were an American couple, one of whom was pretty deaf (made bird spotting interesting as she speaks and needs to be spoken to quite loudly) and the other scared of spiders (she had already moved rooms because there was a spider in the first!).

Butterfly on one of the American guest's phone.

Paw print of a Puma along the walk.

Soon enough we were all sat round the same table sharing scrambled eggs and fresh bread, juice and coffee. Then a new guide took us for a lovely green walk through the rainforest, and I finally saw some of the mammals Josh had spotted previously, called a capybara, a small brown creature. They snaffled themselves away into the greenery pretty quickly when they heard us coming. We got back and had some lunch before a really quick shower. Our driver picked us up to take us back to Quito. In the car were a few different number plates – there are restrictions in Quito so that only certain number plates can drive in the city on certain days. We all had a happy time reflecting on the last couple of days, it already feels so surreal now we are out of that environment! I think we all nodded off a bit for at least some of the journey. We got dropped off at our accommodation – casa de Montero in Old Town Quito and checked ourselves in. It is a colonial style building with huge rooms and a sweet little communal square to relax in in the middle. We settled into our rooms and used the wifi to find a local pizza place for dinner. We decided safety in numbers, and it was still early, so walked the 10 minute route to a restaurant called Bocanada. We had starters and pizzas and salad and puddings and filled our boots with lovely good food. We ordered an Uber to get back home and the driver warned us the area we had eaten in is not safe to walk around at all either in the day or the night time. We were glad we had not decided to walk, but it is so difficult when you know it is so close, at home we would always walk! We gave the driver some pizza and put the rest in the fridge before showering and regrouping in mum and dads room to get some information on the place we are heading to tomorrow, Sacha Lodge. It sounds so intriguing, I can’t wait! Early to bed, ready for the next chapter of the Ecuador adventure tomorrow.