Tuesday, May 9th, we left Quito in the early morning. It was a sad goodbye, but I was excited to start exploring the rest of the country. Our first stop (of many) was a summit of around 13,000 feet. My lungs were struggling to adjust to the extremely high altitude, but the views made it worth it. We then got to enjoy hot springs in the cold and rainy weather; it was a perfect balance.
Our third stop of the day was a hummingbird conservatory, the Guango Lodge. This experience entirely exceeded my expectations. We were able to watch them from inches away and their colors were even more beautiful in person. As we went further into the property, we noticed a walking trail by a large river with an amazing view including the hills and clouds, since we were still fairly high up. After eating lunch in a nice small town, we went to a cloud forest. While it was a hard decision, I think this was my favorite stop of the day. It was so cool walking along the trail seeing all the trees and plants in the rain. We ended the day going to the Iyarina Lodge, which is where we will be staying for a few nights.
The Iyarina Lodge is a beautiful property with hammocks, home cooked meals, and a view of the river that could be seen all around the lodge. I woke up on May 10th to the sound of the flowing river and birds chirping.
Our first adventure of the day was going to where they plant the cacaos right near the lodge. We got to open the cacaos and eat the fruit off the seeds. The cacao that was more red was sweeter, as the green cacao was a little more sour; the green one was my favorite. A worker then showed us how to then cook the cacao seeds over a fire. They knew when they were ready when they would make a popping noise, like popcorn. We then had to take the shelling off the seeds to grind them up to make a cacao powder. After that, we went to the fire pit to put the powder in a pan, mix it with water, and then stir it up together, like making a fondue, but much healthier. Once it was ready, we got to dip bananas into the chocolate. It was easily some of the best bananas I’ve ever had.
After that, we had some free time to explore around the lodge, so we walked down to the “beach.” It was only about five feet wide because the water was so high up, but it was still nice to touch the cool water because it’s so humid. There was another chocolate tasting this afternoon, where Kallari came to the lodge. They had amazing chocolate, but I also loved how much they care for their community and what they stand for. This was our last activity before going deep into the Amazon rainforest and being away from society for a few days.