Arrival to Quito...and on to the Amazon!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

We took the Amtrak from Oceanside to Los Angeles on July 4th. From LAX we flew to Panama City (around 6 hours) and then on to Quito (2 hours or so). Pretty uneventful, we were able to sleep most of the plane ride, since it was overnight. Quito was impressive, close to 10,000 feet altitude high in the mountains. Not much chance to check it out, as we were being picked up the following morning at 8:30 by a driver to take us into rainforest.

It was just over 5 hours of a drive from the capital city to a tiny town 40 minutes from Tena, in the Napo region of Ecuador. Safe part of the Amazon Rainforest for me, as I was unable to get vaccine for Yellow Fever (unsafe when pregnant), which is needed to visit other areas of the Amazon.

Dropped off in Oceanside, waiting for train!

There's the train!


Quito, from hotel room balcony. We were at the edge of Old Quito.

Clouds all around!



View from drive out of the Andes Mountains. Went from more this type of landscape to very lush quickly!

Lots of rivers and streams means lots of bridges. Needing repair on occasion. We were stopped for about a half hour for bridge repair (!?!?!) at one point.


And things turn more green...

We got crazy rain at one point heading down the mountains! A bit nerve wracking, with the tight turns and very narrow roads! Beautiful though!

Typical housing we saw. Lots of little kids, and all very independent compared to ours! Kids similar age to Matthew taking younger siblings for walks and to the store...

And finally we arrive at our home away from home! We went the eco-lodge route this trip. Gave us a chance to stay far away from city & town life and be able to better see and experience the areas. So happy we did! Very quiet and peaceful :) This place had 7 other huts/cabins (I think), with a few more being built. Good distance between huts, so night was pitch black and silent. Crazy the contrast to Quito the previous night!


Next post will have more on what we did while visiting the Napo/Amazon region! Maybe tomorrow I'll update?