The Spectacular Antisana Reserve, Ecuador

Ian, Janet and I visited the magnificent Antisana Reserve the day before we left Ecuador, and a fitting last day it was. The landscape was incredible, I've never seen anything quite as beautiful. These pictures don't do it justice, it's just impossible to capture such grandeur in a small image on a screen, but that didn't stop me from trying :-)

Fausto drove us there and did all the necessary preliminary paperwork to allow us entrance to Antisana. There are 4 checkpoints along the way, and if you don't have the proper signed documents you are not permitted to enter.

If you would like to have Fausto take you there I highly recommend him, he was receptive to all our demands and made birding very enjoyable for Ian. Be sure and give him at least a few days lead time for him to get the necessary papers. His email is

presidencia@tzanzaworld.com at Tzanza Tourismo in Quito.

Phone (593)2 2546348

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Ecuadorian shepherdess.

Our first checkpoint, you must have your papers.

The terrain when you first enter the reserve.

Milk collections are taken twice a day, the dairy farmer leaves this blue milk can full of milk at pre arranged locations. The milk collector here drives around, pours the milk into containers in the back of his truck and leaves the empty can to be filled up at the next milking. A very efficient operation, the dairy farmer doesn't need to store or deliver his milk any farther than the road.

The new, very comfortable van Fausto drove us around in.

Stout-billed Cinclodes.

Another check point. More on this one later...

We're very high up now, around 13,000 feet.

If your computer doesn't cut it off, you can just make out Ian on the far right bottom corner.

Ian and Fausto were off walking around when Janet started feeling very badly from the altitude. She's had several heart surgeries, and her heart was not liking the this part of the Andes. We headed back to the last checkpoint at 10,000 feet, where she felt better.

Moorland or Paramo vegetation.

Paramo straw and our van very tiny.

Just wide open space and this flock of sheep being driven across the road...

...by a very colorful shepherdess.

A beautiful sight!

A very unusual sighting of an Andean Fox

After we dropped Janet off we continued on, I think our highest was around 14,000 feet.

The only other vehicle we saw up here was driven by our friend Eduardo, from San Isidro! We'd left that part of the country a month before, it was great to see him again. He was driving a group of birders and here he's hanging out with our other friend Fausto, even though they'd never met before today. Don't they look good together??

Such lovely undisturbed land.

Checkpoint up ahead.

Antisana Volcano 18,800 feet. We never did quite see all of the top, but it made a great backdrop!

Many lagoons and small rivers.

Andean Gulls were enjoying the warmth from the road.

Janet made friends with Gorge and his dog, they spent about 3 hours together and he was very kind. He made her tea and taught her some Spanish, sharing family stories.

The checkpoint were we used the bathroom and picked up Janet.

Whoa!! That's a lot of pictures!

Heading back to Quito, about and hour and a half away. To do Antisana justice, it's best to plan on spending most of the day for your trip. We were picked up at our hotel around 7:30 and arrived back around 4:30.

Which Camera? Which Lens?

I've received many questions about cameras and I thought I'd try and answer some of them here. Fausto in particular wanted to know about my camera versus Ian's camera that Ian used to take the wonderful bird shots on his Picassa photo album.  We both have Canon EOS digital SLR cameras, mine the entry level Rebel series XTi and he has upgraded to the 50D. Both of these bodies are fine cameras, mine is lighter and smaller and has many of the same features as the 50D, but the 50D can shoot many more photos per second, a big plus when shooting birds. It has other fine features as well, and Ian loves his camera. For more precise reviews check out  http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare.asp 

We both purchased our cameras online, Ian from B & H Photo and mine from buydig.com. I tend to keep things simple and mainly use one lens for everything, even though I have other lenses. I don't like to carry a lot of weight, and for that I sacrifice some quality, but I usually have  my camera with me.  Ian is more of a perfectionist and has 2 lenses he keeps with him most of the time, and his photos are much sharper and crisper than mine. As in other fields, there are always those darn trade offs.

Either of these camera bodies will support any other compatible lenses. I occasionally (when he lets me :-) use Ian's 24-105mm on my Rebel XTi with excellent results.

Ian's 50D body with his 2 month old, fuller range telephoto lens. L Series.

 24mm - 105mm f/4 L IS (image stabilization) and USM.  

$1059 just for the lens at B & H.

All photos of the 50D are taken with my Rebel XTi, and visa versa.

50D camera body from the back. Nice large LCD screen.

The L series Canon lenses always have a red line on the lens, you can see it from this angle at the top of the photo. Sign of distinction :-)

50D with the 24-105mm and a turned around hood cover (comes free with the lens)

My Rebel XTi body from the back.

This is the camera and lens that took most of the photos in this Ecuador blog. I also used my small point and shoot red Sony T100 camera (seldom) and I borrowed Ian's 400mm lens for one day.

My lens is by Sigma, not Canon. It has a range of 18mm to 200mm and I find it's great for landscapes or zooming in on a face far away. B & H sells it for $400. I am still looking for a Canon lens that has as large a range in an L series.

The main lens Ian uses to shoot his bird photos. Canon Telephoto fixed focus lens of 400mm. (400mm f/4 L USM) 

B & H it goes for $1140. Ian does not have IS on this lens, if it did have image stabilization it would cost around $6000.  It is an L series, note the red stripe.

This photo was taken with Ian's 50D and 24-105mm. The previous one was with my Rebel XTi and Sigma lens.

50D with the 24-105mm Canon lens.

Rebel XTi with the Sigma lens at 18mm, widest range, from our apartment balcony.

Canon 50D at it's widest range of 24mm on the 24-105 lens. If you had the 400mm lens on you would get none of the foreground, but maybe a soccer player nearly full frame.

The color is different in each of the above photos because of the way each camera processes the info. I may also have my camera set on a different internal color setting then Ian has on his. They were both shot at ISO 400, f/10 on the AV setting.

Enlargement of the 50D photo. The detail holds up better than with the Rebel and the Sigma lens.

Rebel XTi shot blown up, enlarged to show that the detail isn't very sharp. Important if you are enlarging your photos. Not so much if you are posting them on a blog at the size you took the photo :-)

Maximum zoom with the Sigma 18-200mm zoom.

Maximum zoom with the Canon 24 - 105mm lens.

New blog on Washington D.C.

I just finished a now post on my Washington D.C. blog. There are still many more amazing places and people we saw in Ecuador that will be posted here in the coming weeks. So don't give up on this blog!

But if you want to see where we are in D.C. click on this link or the blog link on the right side called "Where are Amy and Ian now".

http://whereareamyandiannow.blogspot.com/

Walking back to Otavalo after the Raptor show.

January 8, 2009

This lovely child shyly greeted us at the entrance to the Condor Park, 5 km outside Otavalo on top of an isolated hill.  As there were no other vehicles in sight we asked the taxi driver that brought us there to come back in 2 hours to pick us up, but he never returned. I guess the $3 fare wasn't enough to entice him back. Turned out to be the best thing for us as the walk back  down to Otavalo was incredibly beautiful.

The arena for the raptor show overlooking everything.

This is a rehab center for injured birds, 90 percent of the birds that come here are released back to the wild.

Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle

American Kestrel in foreground and Aplomado Falcon in the background.

Aplomado Falcon

Janet and Ian were huddled in this Adobe courtyard trying to stay out of the wind.  Janet took this photo of me returning from a fruitless expedition to find some hot tea.

Making the best of a windy waiting-for-the taxi-that-never-came.

Note handmade mud walls.

Condor in captivity.

We start walking down the hill. The taxi in the distance is someone else's and the last car we saw until we were back in Otavalo.

Farming barefoot.

 Volcan Imbabura. 

An older woman bringing a very large bunch of sticks up the hill, very hardy! No rest home for her.

Stunning views of Lago San Pablo. It's impossible to capture how grand everything looked in a small photo.

Some kind of three sisters growing system, the vine wrapped it's way around the corn and another plant was just starting. Don't know what the purple flowers vine plant is called...

Lago San Pablo.

A determined shepherdess coming for us, asking for money because we took a photo of her pigs. Even after we gave her some money she would not allow photos of her. I shot this from my hip before the conversation started. In Spanish.

Same woman from previous photo walking up the hill with her flock of pigs and sheep.

Tree tomato tree.

The actual tree tomato fruit, makes a great juice, but Ian didn't like it at all.

Our destination after a lovely 2 hour walk: Otavalo.

A modern home, maybe condos?

Close up of a more traditional home in Otavalo.

Hotel El Indio, Otavalo, Ecuador

Hotel El Indio. January 6 to January 11, 2009

Fausto, our driver from Quito, showed us 4 or 5 hotels and we chose this gem a block from the Plaza de Ponchos.  We used the nearby internet cafe, had large windows with lovely views and our own private patio off of our room. A room with 3 beds and private bathroom cost us $40/nt total, no breakfast or internet included. Great room, great price. There is another hotel in town, Hotel El Indio Inn, that is rated higher than this one, with internet, but none of their rooms had windows facing the outside, only an interior courtyard. This place was a much better value.

The hotel appeared to be owned and operated by a family, and the side entrance was turned into a lingerie shop. This is the wife selling some of their popular underwear.

Janet buying some of the goods from the daughter. I bought some, too, friendly service and good prices:-)

The second floor was where the owner's family lived. We had a room on the 3rd floor, a healthful walk up the stairs. We didn't see any elevators in Otavalo.

The hallway outside of our room.

View from our window.

Janet unpacking. The clear surface on the right was soon covered with my luggage and stuff and not seen again until we checked out 5 days later. Our patio was through the red curtains.

The Lonely Planet guide book accurately described the decor as "inadvertent 1970's mod ambience".  The mural.. well.. it was a one of a kind work of art.

Lunch on our patio.

More views.

The bathroom and bedroom were very clean, just a bit quirky. Never did figure out how to get hot water out of the sink, only the shower reliably delivered hot water.

Working on a nearby roof.

Nighttime in our room. We had cable TV with English speaking channels from the States.

The lobby, heartbeat of the owner's family.

Interesting decor in the lobby.

This lobby was an important extension of family life, meals were taken here, babies fed or nursed, dogs and friends hanging out and watching TV, all the usual activities of a private living room. We enjoyed walking through this public place on the way to our rooms with a friendly buenos tardes from everyone. I shot this photo from my hip, I didn't want them to see me photographing them eating...

The family dog, very sweet.

Living was casual, but there was always someone around to answer our questions, hold our purchases if we didn't want to take them upstairs, and offer a friendly smile. It was so casual I only gave them my first name at checkin, no passport or last name was ever requested and it was fine to stay on a day to day basis and pay at the end.

There were plenty of empty seats, these 2 men just liked to be close. They may have been brothers or cousins. Another hip shot, I accidentally cut off their heads.

The roosters were very vocal right outside our window every morning.  Janet could only take it for so long without a good long night's sleep, and this is the rooster that drove her...

To get her own room facing a different, quieter street. This room was $10 per night, complete with private bathroom 

The owner of our hotel, walking in the market.  This is typical dress for men of the region. Ian dubbed him the great white hunter :-)

The family dog checking out the passers by.

A Parade in Otavalo, Ecuador

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

The parade started right after we'd checked into our hotel, around 4 pm, what a great welcome to my favorite town. Lively people making music and dancing, very informal and I have no idea what they were celebrating. 

After the parade Janet and I checked out the famous Otavalo Market, what a treat of color and texture. I bought one of these hammocks and had a good time bargaining. General rule of thumb is offer half of what is initially quoted. And be prepared to walk away.

This is now in my living room, a lovely work of art.

I think they enjoyed the bargaining as much as I did. Janet bought one of these gourds as well.

An unusual spelling...

At the end of an eventful day of travel from Quito, settling into our new lodging, parade and market we found our favorite pizza place, cozy and very good food. We went back 3 more times in the week we were in Otavalo. Pizzeria Siciliana Ristorante, at the corner of Jose de Sucre y Juan de Dios Morales. Telf: 062925999. Live music Friday and Saturdays.

Driving North to Otavalo

Giant Hummingbird, photo by Ian. Note the size of this largest of all hummingbirds compared to the barbed wire.

About this Post:

Tuesday, January 6th, 2008 Janet, Ian and I drove with Fausto to Otavalo on the Panamerican Highway. We stopped at many places on the way, a lovely drive through the Avenue of the Volcanoes.

 Today, January 18th:

Arriving home last Thursday night to Boston after an easy day of travel, we found snow on the ground and a taxi with a partition between us and the driver. $45 for a 15 minute drive, OMG culture shock! In Ecuador it would have cost $5, and we would have talked with the driver...

Joe came home on Friday for a week as there are no hotel rooms in DC due to the festivities of the Inauguration, great timing for us. Luke, Ian's friend from Maine arrived on Friday for a few days of birding with Ian, and they were so lucky to find the rare Ivory Gull at Cape Ann, specifically Eastern Point in Gloucester.

 Ian's Ivory Gull images: http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227/IvoryGull#

I'm happy to be home and be with Joe again, looking forward to seeing friends this week. A great quote from my friend Susan  "I love the experience of returning home from far away places:  the familiar is brand new for a few bright moments."

Ian and I did indeed have a most excellent Ecuadorian adventure, it was fantastic and I hope to go back again many times!

I'll post the rest of our trip in the next 2 weeks, Ecuador has so many fascinating images to offer, I just need to edit the 8000 or so pictures into manageable groupings.

Janet and Fausto at the place we found the Giant Hummingbird, just outside of Quito.

The runway location of the new Quito airport, 45 minutes north of the old one, on the Panamerican Highway. Due to open in 2010.

Janet happily birding.

Landscape just before the crater.

Puluahua Crater, an very old volcano that is now a lovely pastoral home to a small village.

Locals enjoying the view from above the crater.

Close-up inside the crater.

A restaurant overlooking the crater, for special occasions.

The donkey turned his back on us at the last minute. The donkeys can be hired to take you down to the bottom of the crater. Photo by Janet. Ian, me and Fausto.

Street vendor, in the highway, selling Guabas.

We bought all this for a dollar!

Inside the Guaba, you eat the white fuzzy stuff, kinda sweet, and spit out the black seed.

More yummy fruit, sucking mangos. Para chupar. 

Delicious!

Chirimoya also sold on the way to Otavalo, a great drive sampling all kinds of food.

A different Equator stop than Ian and I did a month ago, much less touristy, nice views and we were the only ones there.

Janet, Ian, and Fausto checking the GPS to find the exact Equator.

This area is known for it's flower growing, exported all over the world.

Cayambe is known for it's Bizcochos, melt in your mouth little morsels of dough resembling pie crust. A big hit with all of us, too.

Ian checking out the Bizcochos.

Scenery as we approached Otavalo.