Orchids

Day 5 in Ecuador (January 12, 2023) started up at 5:30 to meet at 6 for more bird watching. I was overdressed as usual in rain pants. The car with Marcelo came a bit late and was a bit smaller than needed. Marcelo had to ride in the "trunk"- the area of the hatchback for the luggage. It was about a 20 minute ride (or longer) along unpaved rough roads and it must have been hard on him.

We drove up past where we stopped the last 2 days to Marcelo's land- 2 hectares of jungle. This is at a slightly higher elevation of 5130 feet above sea level.

We went to his as-yet-not-completed bird watching blind which was under cover. As we walked up to the shaky platform, Marcelo mentioned he still needed to stabilize it.... it got rather cold and windy and I was glad I had my rain pants on for warmth. The clouds were pretty.

After we were done we walked down the road for a few hours until the car picked us up. We saw several interesting plants, a big green caterpillar with spikes and some rather rare and interesting birds. Below looks like the Rat Pack....

He had several hummingbird feeders and a lovely view. It was rather cold and windy, but we saw many lovely hummingbirds. It turns out that there are different types of hummingbirds as you go up to a higher elevation. All together Ecuador has 200+ types - here are some of the the photos!

Here are 100 pictures of hummingbirds we saw. Many of these were taken with Lisa's phone through a scope.

We also spied a bronze wing parrot very far away.

Swainson's Thrush

Swallow tail kite (scissor tail)

Spix's Guan

Back at the hotel for a last picture with Marcelo

For lunch I had a salad with my two favorite things - avocado and fresh hearts of palm plus tomato soup and a fruit salad

In the afternoon we went to the orchid garden. I have NEVER seen so many alternative types of orchids. It was at Annalise's home and a garden she cultivated for 28 years. Here are a million pictures of orchids. There are also some photos of bromeliads and begonias. The only orchid name I remember is a dracula orchid, but the vast majority were so tiny and in the center of very large leaves.

We had a quick stop at the Farm-A-cia (accent on the second syll -A-ble) for some itch relief cream. So many mosquito bites:(

One of the goals of this trip was "the corruption of Ann". Each day she was to try at least one new thing. Here's one of the first new things - a glass of Sangria.

Before dinner we had a napkin folding lesson:)

Dinner was the best hamburger I've EVER had.

Here's a map of where we were today and where we are in relation to Ecuador and South America.