Through many conversations it seems that for most of us, Quito was simply a short stop before we got to the Galápagos in September. It became something a lot more. For me the sheer diversity in biology and ecology you could find just traveling through and slightly outside the city was mind-boggling. The highlands of Quito quickly transform into alpine, or cloud forests, or rainforests, or dry forests, one thing for sure though there’s a whole lot of trees no matter where you go. Some of us learned about the drastic weather changes the “dramatic” landscapes (as Chancey, the Kiwi, says) could produce the hard way. Our marine ecology class traveled to the thermal springs after Friday class wearing bathing suits and everything else you need to swim in Quito weather. Long story short, we got there in the back of a Toyota truck driven by Carlos and quickly climbed in elevation, dropped in ambient temperature, passed some llamas, and arrived in a landscape with more New England fall weather with some llamas on the side. But the Kiwi is right, it really is dramatic. A 30 minute camioneta drive had me thinking of having to figure out an elfish riddle to enter a dwarf mine, or encounter a band of Rohirrim.
That Sunday my family took me in another direction out of Quito to Mindo. In between more butterflies and hummingbirds than I’ve ever seen in my life you can go tubing down real jungle rapids and flying on a web of ziplines in the forest canopy. Afterwards we had tilapia and trout raised in pools right next to the various bamboo hosterías lining the dirt road through town.
Even just a few more miles down the road is the Rivendell-esque cloud forest reserve of Maquipucuna where we saw a plethora of toucans, parakeets, but unfortunately not a spectacled bear that seem to climb avocado trees and eat until their heart is content or they fall out. While looking for all these amazing creatures we hiked 2 hours to and under a hidden waterfall of love. I’m thinking now the whole country of Ecuador is enchanted not just the Galapagos Islands.
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