Bellavista, day two

Saturday, April 23- Bellavista Cloud Forest. We are up and getting ready just before 6 am. We meet Natalie and three other guests for some birding. This is the best time of the day to find the different varieties. We hang out a little over an hour and get to see quite a few species.

So many hummingbirds

A turquoise Jay

Breakfast is served at 8:00. We start with a bowl of varied fruits, yogourt, homemade granola, fresh bread and jam, and coffee and tea. Second round is eggs, any style you want. It is a very filling start to the day. We then to go get ready for our 9:30 hike. It is a great trail where we can see many flowers, different species of ferns, orchids, Palm tees, etc. we even see an earth worm, but nothing like the ones at home. This one is over a meter long and about one inch in circumference. It was amazing. 

Earth worm. It had started to burrow into the dirt. The hike continued for over two hours. For a short distance we walked on a dirt road. It was here that we saw a Plate-billed Mountain Toucan. Unfortunately it is very cloudy and he was high up in the tree. The photo is dark.

I could see the many colours through the binoculars. (Thanks Wendy and André).

We returned on the trail, now going downhill for another 20-30 minutes before arriving at our destination. We hung out with the hummingbirds one last time before going back to our rooms to pack. We had lunch at 1 pm, then around two thirty it was the drive back to Quito.

We got back to our original hotel, Mansion del Angel. It was still light out so we got a few photos of the hotel from outside. It is quite wide so the photo doesn't show the whole building. We also went 

for a walk before returning to take a shower and go down to have supper.

Our bathroom is covered in rose pedals.

Our hotel

Cathédrale nearby. We will try to visit in the next few days.

We had made a reservation for 7:30. They make us order beforehand so when we get there it is ready. Ron had the surf and turf and I had the sole. Both were very yummy. Ron topped of his meal with chocolate lava cake. It is now 10pm. Tomorrow's excursion has us leaving at 8:30. It is another two hour ride to a natural hot springs. It is situated between two volcanoes so the pools are naturally heated. Should be very therapeutic. Good night.