Mariposario in Mindo (butterfly reserve). The air was filled with constant movement of fluttering wings all around. It was hard not to walk into them or step on them! When leaving, you walk through a curtained area first, to check each other’s bodies for stowaway butterflies.
The employees check all the trees every day for new chrysalis and move them to a safe area, to increase their chance of survival. I didn’t realize how different chrysalis can look – paper white, dark black, shiny gold, camouflage brown or lime green… This guy just climbed out of his chrysalis and you can see his wings all wrinkled and wet still. And note the chrysalis that looks exactly like a leaf!
Here you see one butterfly just starting to emerge from his chrysalis, while the one to his right is almost ready to fly away after drying out his wings
End of the life cycle – this one’s wings are all broken up and he’s nearing the end of his life
The middle of the world, standing on the Equator
Fun swing in “toilet-town” (Baños)
Pailon del Diablo – the waterfall is lovely, but most impressive are the stairs to get to the top. I did wonder about the strength and safety of this construction as I found myself on hands and knees crawling through a slippery, wet tunnel that sloped steeply upwards, peering out to see the waterfall pounding into the ground hundreds of feet below me. Can you see Lilly and me at the right of this photo?
At one point it was full-on rock climbing, requiring 2 hands and 2 feet to ascend a vertical wall of slippery rock. (Couldn’t get photos of that part!) When you make it to the top, you are barely able to breathe under the power of water falling on you. You look around for a quick second at the impressive view and then turn around to bolt back down to safety. See Lilly in her bathing suit starting up the stairs in this photo.
Chapter 26: Mugged by a Squirrel Monkey
Lilly helping with the turtles
Spider monkey mama who always came over to say hi when we visited
This capuchin never leaves this spot in the tunnel closest to the door of the house, even though this tunnel extends all over the reserve and into very large enclosures. I guess he really wants to be near people. Every time you walk into the house, he reaches out his arm to say hi!
Afternoon banana feeding time – woolly monkeys (aka lanudos)
Lilly actually did work for the first time in her life. She cleaned the baby coatí cage and helped removing food leftovers from each cage after morning feeding.
I even attempted some minor carpentry, with the encouragement of another volunteer, Sorrell, who insisted we go look for a drill and wing it before asking John for help. Since I met John I never do anything like this because he’s so good at it, so I was proud of my attempt. I also got to use a machete to make some posts to hang some signs, and didn’t lose too many fingers in the process! Luckily OSHA was nowhere in sight.
John and friends building a roof for this temporary holding cage to use while cleaning the main cage
Lilly and I would go visit our favorite monkeys at sunset every day. Here’s Lilly feeding the woolly monkeys some leaves.
The first time I “met” Lisa, she walked right up to me then turned around and sat with her back toward me. She looked the other way, pretending to ignore me, while she snuck her long, strong tail through the cage to check me out. Her tail wrapped around my arm, then went into my pocket, then up to my face – all the while she was pretending to look at something on the other side of her enclosure. So curious and hilarious!
2nd Christmas in the van!
The squirrel monkey who stole one of my bananas as I was walking to the communal kitchen to make banana bread
Chapter 27: The Contrasts of Ecuador
We swim in a waterfall surrounded by dense, green, lush jungle in the tropical Amazon; then drive through highlands with scraggly grass and an occasional struggling flower at 13,000 feet elevation; and end up in a large, modern city celebrating New Year’s Eve in the partying streets – all in the space of 7 days and a couple hundred miles! And we haven’t even been to the coastal beach area yet. This country is impressively diverse.
13,000 feet – feels like we’re driving through the clouds
And the next day in the jungle, washing my hair in a waterfall
Camped at Humberto’s, after getting stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere
And then we spent New Year’s in the city of Cuenca – small fires everywhere, random fireworks, and the burning of figurines that represent something bad from the past year – Lilly made a battery out of cardboard for her bad thing to burn (from our exploding battery adventure in Colombia)
The bigger figurines were always politicians – they all got burned at midnight!
There’s also a strange tradition of men dressing as women and dancing in front of cars for money in the street – don’t ask, I have no idea why!
So far Mexico wins Worst Road of the trip, but then we drove to southern Ecuador to extend our visas. This is a muddy, steep, narrow, dirt road – and there is a HUGE cliff drop-off to our right. Instead of a guardrail there are some feeble orange banners flapping on the edge of the cliff a few inches from our van. Upon closer inspection, they have “Peligro” printed on them (danger) – oh thank you, I would never have realized this was dangerous without that helpful sign.
Ecuadorian roads so far have been absolutely wonderful – paved, wide, signs everywhere, drivers mostly obeying the traffic laws – but we somehow manage to find the one pocket of this country with a disaster for its roads!
John finding a shower wherever he can. (This was during our visa extension trip to Loja)
Lilly spotted this pile of caterpillars / centipedes / worms (?) on the trail. They were walking over the top of each other in a pile, very slowly but collectively progressing forwards as a group. When startled, they would all freeze instantly, not a single one of them moving for a minute or so. Then, as if by some unspoken command, they would all simultaneously start walking together again. It might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in nature!
Chapter 28: Four Earthquakes and a Lot of Homework, aka Living in Ecuador
We live 20 minutes outside of Cuenca, which is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador (about 300K people). The elevation is around 8,500 feet so it’s never too hot or too cold. The weather is totally insane, however – it fluctuates between strong sunshine and stormy rain almost every day! I’ve never stayed in a place with such volatile weather in my life!
Cuenca itself has tons of parks, 2 rivers running through it with trails along the banks, and a host of good restaurants – as cities go, it’s a nice one! We prefer to be away from the crowds and traffic, so opt to live in nearby Challuabamba instead.
We find a little house for rent on top of a hill with the kindest family as our landlords. The climbing area is 15 minutes north, Lilly’s school is just down the road, plus there’s the modern city of Cuenca full of amenities 20 minutes west – perfect!
Lilly’s first day at school. Also first day in a school uniform. And she was the only non-Ecuadorian in her class. She is brave!
Making tamales with our wonderful neighbor and landlady. Such a welcoming family who included us in everything they did.
Hiking/fishing in Cajas national park on weekends
Eating on the roof of our rental house, enjoying the gorgeous sunsets every night
Carnaval here is celebrated by the throwing of water and foam at everyone you see. Don’t ask me why! In downtown Cuenca there are dozens of tents pitched along the banks of the river, right in the center of the city.
On Lilly’s last day of school, we gave a little presentation of our trip, and then let all the kids run amuck in the “casa rodante” (camper van) – it was chaos, but they loved it!
I think John really enjoyed 15 kids climbing around inside his van while he tried to stop them from falling out of windows…
The best part of our stay – this endlessly kind and welcoming family who treated us as part of their family
Chapter 29: Galapagos
Thinking about a trip to the Galapagos with kids? Not keen on an expensive cruise? I wrote up some notes on logistics, in case we want to return some year in the future – here they are, I hope it could be helpful for you!
To give you a sense of scale for the size of the giant tortoises
Why did the sea lion cross the road? Because he found a crosswalk!
Watch where you step! I had to grab Lilly several times when out walking as she’d almost step on iguanas accidentally
There’s nothing like pedaling around a bend in the road and coming across a tortoise speed bump!
Wildlife as we walk the trail to the tortoise breeding center
Tortoises at the Tortoise Breeding Center take their jobs very seriously
Every time we went snorkeling or kayaking we’d see lots of these sea turtles
Crazy-eyed blue-footed boobies
Watch where you sit!
Every island has its tortoise breeding center
Lilly & John swimming through Kicker Rock together
My favorite sighting while snorkeling – she is becoming such a little fish!
Lilly was playing in the shallow water by herself and this sea lion baby swam over to join her. They rode the waves back and forth together, with the sea lion dancing around Lilly as if really trying to play with her. Eventually the mama swam over and barked at the juvenile sea lion like, “Hey it’s time to come home for dinner, didn’t you hear me calling you?” and they both disappeared.
We enjoy yet another kayaking trip and are soon joined by the most inquisitive and playful sea lion yet. He swims toward us and spirals around and behind us, as if showing off his superior swimming abilities. Then he disappears and we swim away, only to see him on the other side of the bay, dancing around us in the water, charging toward us then carving gracefully away through the water at the last moment, blowing bubbles at us. I find myself laughing out loud through my snorkel!
Blue footed booby with 3 eggs in her nest
We notice a mother frigatebird fly down to a nest where a baby is calling frantically. The large, black mama bird makes a couple of jerky motions with her head, like she’s about to vomit, then opens her mouth wide. Next, the baby bird sticks its head deep into her throat! Is the mother eating the baby? As the baby pulls back for a second, I catch sight of a fish being regurgitated from the mother’s throat, and then the baby lunges its head again into its mother’s throat and pulls the fish out to eat. Nature is fascinating!
