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| On the Trail in Ecuador |
15 people showed up on July 1st for the group hike going up above El Topo Grande - and
13 went the whole way. There were lots of new faces, both residents and
visitors. The weather held - I felt only a single drop of rain!
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| Pausing at Topo Grande before continuing uphill. |
On July 2nd it was a gorgeous morning for a spur-of-the-moment walk up to Laguna Cuicocha, with sunshine, blue skies and a
gentle breeze. It took almost 3 hours to
walk up and over 2 1/2 hours to walk down (with lots of stops for
photo-taking), so I was tired! I stopped for lunch at the Venezuelan
restaurant and joined a couple of nice guys who are visiting Ecuador and
came on our group hike yesterday.
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| A nice clear view of Cotacachi over a meadow |
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| Looking back to Mount Imbabura, with Cayambe to the right. |
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| The peak of Cayambe disappeared into the clouds, but the snow-covered flanks remained visible |
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| Mount Cotacachi rising above Laguna Cuicocha |
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| Tiny purple flowers on a bromeliad along the road |
As I headed back down to Cotcachi, hundreds of butterflies were flitting along the road:
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| Butterfly on Flower - with Imbabura |
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| A bouquet of butterflies on a cow pie |
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| Butterfly on a sweeter spot! |
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| A gathering by the side of the road |
On July 3rd I walked in the Quebrada Piava early, hoping to see more birds. I got a couple of photos of birds and some flowers:
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| Tropical Kingbird |
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| Black-Crested Warbler |
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| Flowers growing on an adobe wall along the road |
Occasionally I get to take in a cultural event here. On the evening of the 3rd there was a joint concert by a local youth choir and the
Pacific Boychoir Academy from California.
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| Part of the Boychoir rehearsing outside the church |
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| El Coro Ally Kanto de Cotacachi and the Boychoir |
Both groups were very good!
On the 5th, I walked down into another section of the Quebrada Piava, on the road to La Merced. I saw lots of flowers - and a new bird.
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| Mural of Mama Cotacachi, and Laguna Cuicocha |
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| Bromeliad Flowers |
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| Black-Headed Yellow Siskin |
Down
in the canyon, I had previosuly walked up a trail on the other side of
this stone bridge - but it's now so overgrown that I gave up and turned
around.
On the way back to town
I noticed a provincial reserve for native trees, with a lane leading through the forest. I snapped a photo, and when I looked at it later, I spotted the face of a young girl at the end of the lane. Can you see it?
More flowers along the way:
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| Low yellow flowers |
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| Tall yellow flowers |
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| Seed pods and red flowers high in a tree |
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On the 6th, friends and I hiked on the service road for the communication towers on
Mount Cotacachi, then branched off on a trail that took us over a ridge
and down to the river that flows from the base of the huge cliffs below
the summit of Mount Cotacachi. There wasn't much water in the rocky riverbed
(much of it flows beneath the surface), so I was able to walk up it to very
close to the cliffs. It was a magnificent hike of about 8 hours (with
rest stops).
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| Heading toward the valley below the cliffs |
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| Dennis, Elin and Erik at a rest stop above the river bed. |
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| I followed this dry river bed to a spot close to the bottom of the cliffs |
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| Bird in a bush along the trail |
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| Misty heights above the cliffs. Unfortunately the summit of Cotacachi was hidden in the clouds |
There were lots of beautiful flowers along the trail. Here's a sampling:
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| Chuquiragua, The “Flower of the Andes” |
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| Deep-purple lupines |
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| The leaves and flower of this plant are huge |
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| Pocket-book flower |
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| Tibouchina |
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| A single blue beauty |
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| Red Paintbrush |
On the 8th, after watching a glorious sunrise, I walked up through El Batan and the eucalyptus forest above Jahua Pacha,
then over to San Pedro and down - perhaps a future group hike.
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| Mount Cotacachi at sunrise |
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| View of farm fields and the lower slopes of Cotacachi |
While I'm house sitting for my friends, I'm taking care of their cat, Chiki. She's a rescue cat and is very easily spooked - and for the first 2 weeks she would hide as soon as she saw or heard me. Finally.on the 9th, she actually got up on my lap and let me pet her.
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| Chiki contemplating jumping up onto my lad. |
On the 10th, nine
of us Cotacachi Hikers hired a truck to take us up to Laguna Cuicocha, so
that after enjoying a view of the lake we could take a leisurely walk
back down to Cotacachi. We enjoyed good company and beautiful views.
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| The hikers - with Mount Cayambe in the background |
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| The summit of Cayambe |
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| Sheep in the meadow |
I walked down into the Quebrada Piava again on the 12th - and photographed some beautiful flowers and a hummingbird:
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| Sparkling Violetear Hummingbird |
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| Another view of the hummingbird |
What an adventure I had on the 14th! Franz and I took buses to the town of Pesillo, just beyond Zuleta. There we
happened to meet a group of students studying tourism at the technical
school who were also heading up to Las Ventana (The windows). We were invited to
join them, sharing the guide and the truck ride way up to the start of
the trail. Up in the heights a very strong wind was blowing cold rain
against us and the trail was at times very muddy - but it was so
beautiful up there that is was well worth the discomfort.
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| Church of the old hacienda in Pesillo, where we started our adventure. |
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| We got a few glimpses of Mount Cayambe when the clouds parted |
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| Heading
toward the "Little Window". If you look carefully, you can see it - a
pinpoint of light in the rock wall in the upper right-hand corner. |
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| This photo taken by our guide, Luis, shows how windy it
was up there: the wide brim of my hat is standing straight up and my
poncho is blowing out behind me |
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| The views were beautiful - even in the mist and rain |
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| Our
lunch spot at the "Big Window". The friendly students' lunch icluded
meat, rice and potatoes! We all chatted and shared whatever we had
brought. |
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| Looking back to the Ventana Grande |
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| Paramo (high mountain grasslands) and rocky ridges. |
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| The mountains of La Mojanda in the distance |
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| The valley we descended through |
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| Franz and our guide Luis as we approached the bottom of the valley |
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| Crimson-mantled woodpecker spooted as we entered the village at the bottom |
On the 15th I went ahead and booked my flight to France for next summer. After walking the LePuy
route toward Santiago de Compostela for about 470 miles and then hiking in the Pyrenees for a couple of weeks, I'll be
staying in this house that my friends Chris & Mike are restoring in
the medieval town of Villefranche de Rouergue. Here's the front of the house, on a narrow street near the center of the medieval town:
And I'm excited that 3 wonderful people that I met on my walks in Europe last summer - Lieve from Belgium, Yvette from England and Juli from Germany - are planning to meet up with me.
On that note, I'll close this post - with one final photo, of a ripening
field of grain, with Mount Imbabura in the background.. Seeing these fields here always
makes me think of
the sting song Fields of Gold
(Click on the link to enjoy the song while gazing on the photo).
