Tiputini Biodiversity Center
September 5 - 9, 2011
I feel as though the Amazon is something you learn about in school but is never really somewhere you expect to go. As the pastel butterflies swarmed up around the bus and monkeys played in the trees as I walked to breakfast I knew I couldn't be anywhere else. The Amazon adventure was amazing and the most remote place I have ever been in my life. To get there we took a 30 minute plane ride, a 2 hour boat ride, 2 hour bus ride, and another 2 hour boat ride that dropped us off at the front door of the Tiputini Biodiversity Center. I was more than excited to be there for 5 days and explore one of the best places in the world for multiple species of everything.
TBC's front door
The week's activities included day and night hiking, walking across the tree tops, climbing a giant tower, eating good food, sleeping in cabins, sweating profusely, canoeing, floating down the Tiputini River in life jackets, volleyball, swimming, a night boat ride, application and reapplication of bug spray, an experiment with dog poop and dung beetles, and getting stung by miniature wasps. Along the way I saw spiders and insects that I thought only existed in Men in Black, really pretty colorful birds and butterflies, three different types of monkeys, Caimens (small crocodiles), and the largest rodent species, the Capybara (I thought they looked like miniature hippos) but sadly no Jaguar sightings.
Caterpillar
Canopy bridge
My descriptions don't do this beautiful place justice with its amazing staff and guides but I guess you will have to take my word for it. I wish I could have stayed longer but pouring rain and a delayed flight farewell awaited us.
Antisana
September 11, 2011
On Sunday we took a guided tour of one of Ecuador's thirty volcanoes. Antisana happens to be inactive but offered spectacular views of its snow topped peak and wildlife. We were lucky enough to see a condor on our tour. This is Ecuador's national bird and going extinct so it is very unusual to see. We saw a handful of other birds as well and a couple of white tailed deer. We stopped at a lagoon that is one of Quito's main water sources to take pictures and had a fantastic lunch of trout with figs and cheese for dessert. After lunch we went horse back riding and enjoyed the scenery.
At the lagoon
So fun! I hadn't been horseback riding in years.
