Normally, a travel day is not THIS exciting! We were sad to say goodbye to Quito around 8am, but excited for what would come next. We got back on our little bus to travel to the Iyarina Eco Lodge, where we will be staying for the next 2 days. Our first stop on the road trip was the Parque Nacional Cayambe-Coca, where we were able to walk around at 13,000 feet up in the Andes mountains! We got lots of pictures and even tried running and jumping to watch ourselves lose our breath due to the limited oxygen at such a high altitude.
Our second stop of the day was the Termas de Papallacta hot springs! The mountain views were beautiful, and the hot water felt amazing on such a cold and rainy day. These springs are heated naturally by the underground heat of volcanos in the surrounding area. We enjoyed relaxing in the springs, and probably stayed way longer than we had planned to.
Our third stop of the day was the Guango Lodge hummingbird reserve. We were greeted with hot coffee and cookies, which I had been craving all day long! I was so thankful for the kindness shown by the people of Ecuador once again. The reserve was absolutely amazing. I got to test out my binoculars and even took pictures and videos of the hummingbirds that were farther away by using my phone camera through the binoculars lenses. We saw so many different types of hummingbirds; the reserve is home to over 24 types! I explored the reserve so that I could try to spot as many different hummingbirds as I could. My phone died because I had taken so many pictures and videos throughout the day, and I was crushed at first. I quickly realized how much I could appreciate the experience in the moment without worrying about capturing the perfect picture of the hummingbirds!
Our 4th stop was a late lunch at Restaurant Gina, where I got some Pollo y Papas Fritas (chicken and french fries). The food was great, and we had a lot of fun debriefing our day so far.
Our 5th stop of the day was the Parque Nacional Antisana cloud forest! Even in the pouring rain, our group had fun slipping and sliding down the muddy trail to get a better look at the trees peeking through the clouds. Skip pointed out the shape of the drip leaves; many of the plants in the rainforest have leaves that are pointed at the bottom so that water is able to drip off quicker!
After over 12 hours of travel and singing Taylor Swift on the bus, we finally arrived at the Iyarina Eco Lodge around 8:30! We were greeted with a warm welcome and dinner from Todd, the owner of the lodge. We couldn’t see much on our first night, but we could hear the loud rushing of the river. When we woke up the next morning, it was like a completely new world! Our room was right next to the river, and the view was amazing. We started our morning by going across the street into the cacao plants and getting to harvest our own cacao pods! It was such a cool experience, we got to pick them, crack them open, and remove the white “goo covered” seeds from the inside. We got to try them and they tasted great; we all thought it would make a good gelato flavor.
Next, we got to make our own chocolate! We roasted the cacao over the fire until it popped, then shelled the beans, and grinded them into a fine powder. Then, the powder was poured over a pan of water on the fire and melted with milk and sugar. I got to pour the milk! We tried our chocolate with bananas, and while our chocolate wasn’t the best I’ve ever tried, it was so cool to watch it go from cacao pod to chocolate!
Later, we did another chocolate tasting! This time, Kallari Chocolate traveled to us. We learned about the history of Kallari and how it is a Cooperative, so the employees that are mainly indigenous are able to benefit more from the success of Kallari. We were able to compare Kallari Chocolates to other brands and vote, and almost every time Kallari won! They even beat Hershey’s…so crazy when half of us are from PA and NJ. I bought a lot of chocolate so I can show all of my family and friends back at home:)
Tomorrow, we will be traveling into the Waorani Nation by canoe and we will be spending about 48 hours off the grid!
See you in a few days,
Anna