December 2, Tuesday 9am

This is day 18 in Ecuador, a beautiful country. We've met many
Americans who visited 20 or 30 years ago and never returned home. I
can see why, the people are friendly and helpful, the weather is
perfect and the landscape is stunning.

My Spanish is improving greatly, I still sound like a gringo, but I
can get my ideas across to the staff fairly easily. They call me
Senora, or La Senora, and I know most of their names, about 12 to 15
people, some shy, all very hard workers. They don't have access to
cameras, so I've been taking their photos and they have been eager to
see them on my macbook. Before I leave I'll have them pick their
favorites and send them real paper photographs. The baby is especially
preciosa. Some meals I take with them in the kitchen and listen to
their stories.

Yesterday a new guest from England arrived, Chris, who is an avid
birder and extremely well traveled. Even the Himalayas to find certain
birds, and he's here with his guide to find 4 or 5 specific species.
Ian befriended him so this morning at 5am the 3 of them took off in
search of the elusive birds. Today we have a couple arriving before
lunch. It's always fun to meet the new people and see what they're
about. This job is like having guests to your home but not having to
do the work of cooking or cleaning. I enjoy making people feel at
home, finding out about them and taking care of requests, such as "Do
you have a pair of rubber boots, size 42?" I ask the staff and they
get them for the guest.

I've tried to find an internet connection that will send photos, but
so far no luck. I even went so far as to take a bus to another town,
but the internet cafe didn't know how to hook up my macbook to their
internet and neither did I. Ian wasn't with me. I logged onto their
computers to check my email and let Joe know we're fine. I may walk
the half hour to Yanayacu, known around here as Harold's place, and
try their wifi again. I just need to get back here in time for lunch
and it's been a bit rainy this morning. Maybe I'll do it after lunch.
This where the manana stuff kicks in...

Just wanted to let people know Ian and I are doing well. Ian has seen
over 320 species of birds in our short time here, his yearly count of
species in MA is about 310. I love the incredible variety of birds,
very colorful, exotic and they have lovely songs. The Antpittas that
live here are very darling little ground birds that are given extra
worms by the lodge and fairly tame. Photos to come.

You can check out the lodge's web site at www.cabinasanisidro.com