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Ecuador - a country about the size of the UK on the west coast of South America - named because the Equator cuts across it. From tropical forests to snow-capped volcanoes - it is a country of great variety. The only reason that this volcano does not have snow on the top (as it did until 1999) is that it is active - yes, that is smoke, not cloud! |
| What a wonderful variety of crafts - from weaving and knitting (especially alpaca) to making the pan pipes which are so well known. We also saw carving in balsa wood and of vegetable nuts and more. This picture was taken at the famous market at Otavalo, centre for weaving and other textiles. Yes- we did buy some of these but I wish we'd had room for more! |  |
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The most remote place we visited was the Amazon rainforest. A long journey but it really was worth it. There are so many different trees and shrubs, from those producing the vegetable nuts which we saw being carved to one used by the Indians as poison on blowpipes - and it was also used as an anesthetic. |
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Probably the most unusual thing we did was to ride on the top of a train - yes, here we are, going from Riobamba to Alausi, which took us more than 5 hours! We also walked in the cloud forest, on the slopes of Cotopaxi and Chimborazo volcanoes and round a crater lake near Otavalo. |
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Our route had taken us from Quito, the capital lying over
9000 feet on the slopes to the Andes, then Otavalo, Mindo in the
cloud forest for birdwatching. We then travelled south through the
Avenue of Volcanoes and walked on Cotopaxi before going to Banos and on
to the Amazon. We really did know we were in the rain forest on the
first morning when we were soaked to the skin! However, after that it
was fine - and fascinating. Back to Banos and on to Riobamba for a visit
to the slopes of Chimborazo volcano and the train. Finally
by coach to Guayaquil which was our last stop on the mainland.
So to the Galapagos, 600 miles west of the mainland and everything we expected and more. This one bird sums it up for me - how can a blue-footed Booby have such amazing bright blue feet? Well perhaps because this is the Galapagos and it is ALL so amazing!! (more later!!) |
