Day 3: Goodbye Quito, heading up 13,000 ft

Good morning! Today we left Quito for the Iyrina Lodge, but first, we had a few stops. On the way to our first stop, we had a jam session on the bus. Without a doubt, Taylor Swift was our most-liked artist!

We journeyed up 13,000 feet to the Parque Nacional Cayambe-Coca. This was cool because it was our first taste of the flora and fauna native to the region. The altitude didn’t affect me as much as I thought it would, but I could feel it as I walked along the trail. I was a little chilly in shorts, but the view was worth it!

Next, we went to the hot springs! It was a bit cold and rainy, but it just made the hot springs even more enjoyable. We had a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and relaxed a bit before getting back on the bus to our next stop.

Our third stop, was to a hummingbird reserve and was one of my favorite stops! We got to see so many amazing and colorful hummingbirds. We were all feeling a bit light-headed and tired, but the coffee, tea, and cookies helped us a lot. We saw a bunch of different species and walked by a river which was very peaceful. Taking photos and videos of the hummingbirds was a difficult task and the photos above don’t do them justice, but I tried my best!

After stopping for lunch, our last stop was in a beautiful cloud forest! It was very rainy and I had some difficulty navigating around all of the slippery rocks and puddles, but overall it was a really cool experience and we got to see a lot of different plants. 

We arrived at the lodge after running into a mudslide on the way, putting an end to a very long day!

Day 4: Tena

Today we stayed around the Lodge, but that did not stop us from having new experiences. We had breakfast around 8:30 which was a treat because we got to sleep in a bit!

Next, we went across the street to harvest cacao! We were told to look for pods that had red lines and some yellow on them. We then cracked them open to try the white fleshy part of the cacao which was surprisingly sweet and a little gooey. We also learned that a very small midge is responsible for fertilizing the flower of the cacao tree.

After spending some free time in the hammocks, we got to make some chocolate! With some help, we started with beans that were dried and though the fermentation process since that takes about a week. We toasted them over a fire until they made a popping sound, then we took the shells off and used a grinder to make create a powder-like substance. We tossed it back into the pan over the fire and added some milk, sugar, and a cinnamon stick. We dipped bananas into the warm chocolate and while it didn’t taste like the chocolate that we typically eat, it was cool to see the process from beginning to end.

Later, we had another chocolate tasting with Kallari! We got to blind test different brands compared to their chocolate and 2/3 times we liked theirs better! Tomorrow we are headed into the Waorani Nation.

More later!

Maddie