Manana and Blogging, Nov 29

More San Isidro Photos.

The children of San Isidro staff.

Agouti.

Sandra, my favorite of all the hard working people at San Isidro, with Patricia's 11 month old daughter, Paula.

Wilson and Marcelo talking birds.

Fawn-breasted Brilliant Hummingbird.

Jane and John at the hummingbird feeders.

Edgar, Maestro with Paula and Jose Maria.

It's manana and I still haven't made it to Baeza. I looked up manana
in my macbook dictionary and it means sometime in the future. Hummm,
gringo that I am I thought it meant tomorrow :-)

I've written and attached photos to about 4 blogs since I last had an
internet connection that could actually post them to my blog. I write
them as an email and save them in my drafts folder, but I'm not sure
how they will look when I send them to blogspot. I know the photo
captions disappear, but hopefully the text will remain. The dates may
not come out right. So if you eventually see them and the order is all
wrong you'll know why.

I'm sitting at the hummingbird feeders, under the shelter, and a
beautiful Watusa in Spanish,  Agouti in English, has come to the edge
of the clearing to feed. So cool! A mammal about the size of a cat,
black short fur, long nose. I'll try and get a photo...

I did! I stayed very still about 20 feet away and he came back to eat
the hard corn left out for him. I can hear him crunching the corn with
his teeth, he eats like a squirrel holding the corn in his paws.
Another one came along by the path, and I got a photograph him/her,
too. I have an 18-200mm lens, but at times like this I'd like to have
a 300mm, at any rate I got some good pictures. I've been here for an
hour and he's still eating! I stood very still next to the hummingbird
feeders, they are such beautiful birds and I hear their humming at
high volume sitting here, there are at least a hundred of them flying
back and forth very busily in their hummingbird way. So much beauty
everywhere here in Ecuador.

One of the drivers was looking for me, didn't look at the feeders, he
said he could take me to the bus stop after lunch. If nothing else
comes up :-) Maybe manana is today!

First week in Cabanas San Isidro. Nov 28

The cabin where Ian and I stayed, very comfortable, as are all the accommodations at San Isidro.

Dinning room at San Isidro.

Looking into the Mirador and Cabanas area.

Cock-of-the-Rock Trail.

The Log Trail.

Ian on the Antvireo trail.

Ian taking Louise and Hans, from Holland, birding on the trails.

Maurice, Maestro and Marcello keep San Isidro in good shape.

Hanging out in the Mirador.

The fun loving group of birders from Britain, led by Mark from BirdQuest  www.birdquest.co.uk  

Carmen has the red top and is standing next to Mark, who is holding paper.

Imelda preparing dinner.

Patricia, the head cook.

Lunch in the kitchen.

The dining room.

Written Friday, November 28th, 2008

I sit on my front porch in the sun, enjoying the warm and rain free day, birds singing everywhere in the lush vegetation. It's quiet this morning as the American Thanksgiving Birding Tour, led by Mitch, left at 5:30 this morning and the staff are all done with their work. No lunch today as the group took their own box lunches and won't return until dinner time, 7pm. These are hard core birders, a friendly group of 8, plus Mitch their leader, Ian now co-leader, and their driver.

Cabanas San Isidro, www.cabanassanisidro.com, is a wonderful place to work and to visit. Carmen, owner and jefe, is a charming woman who loves the rainforest and is very connected to her land and her people. All the guests I've met have loved it here, the cuisine is like dinning at a 5 star restaurant in Boston, and everyone is pleasant, friendly and wants you to feel comfortable. One of the goals of the lodge is to attract birders and other naturalists so that money raised from revenues paid to stay here can go towards buying more land for conservation. The grounds and trails are beautiful, with the main buildings on about 5 acres, surrounded by 2000 more acres. Buildings include a dinning room/kitchen  next to Carmen and Mitch's home. The cabin where Ian and I stay is near the dining area. Down the road a bit are about 10 cabanas where the guests stay along with a beautiful Mirador common area for all to enjoy. This includes a terrace overlooking the mountains and the hummingbird feeders, a lounge area and a TV area (there are no TV's in the rooms). I've been here nearly a week and realized I haven't walked on a paved road in that time as all the paths are natural and add to the rainforest feel.

I love working here! When the buses arrive with the guests, and we never know for sure their arrival time, the staff yells the equivalent of "the plane, the plane!!" and we all dash up to the parking lot to greet them. Bags are taken and Patricia, the main woman who knows everything when Carmen isn't here, tells me which rooms go to which guests and I show them to their room. All have been English speaking, some Brits, some American, one Swede who spoke English. I tell them about the details of staying here, where to get filtered water, don't flush paper down the toilet, keys, and any laundry? If anything actually has to be done, like laundry, I tell the staff about it and they take care of it. So basically I'm the go between Spanish and English people. The guests are lovely and I enjoy talking to them and finding out where they are from, how their travels have been, etc.

I don't do anything at breakfast, I get up later than the 5 am eating time they choose. One group left the lodge at 4 am, they took their breakfast with them! Some days, like today, there is no lunch as they took box lunches. Dinner is every night at 7 pm and we've had as many as 18 to serve at one time. I check to see that the tables are properly set, turn on the music and get ready to fill orders for beer and wine, which the staff helps me with. I help bring in the food and set it in front of guests, there are always at least 3 courses, and there are oohs and aahhs over everything and questions to answer about ingredients. Carmen is a very talented chef, she puts flavors together in ingenious ways that has everyone wanting more. Sometimes I sit and eat with the guests if it's appropriate. I joined them last night for Thanksgiving dinner. Ian eats with 'his' group at every meal. Patricia is in charge of the kitchen and has been taught to replicate Carmen's recipes, which she does with great skill, I translate the menu for the guests. And eat it, too!! Best food ever, Ian also loves it. All dietary requests are accommodated, so our vegetarianism isn't a problem.

There are about 2 to 3 hours of work for me every day, spread out over meals and guests arrivals. Walking in the forest, talking to the guests when they aren't birding, reading and taking/editing/sorting through my photographs fill up the rest of my time. I was looking for any other projects I could help with and Carmen asked if I would like to help her with her cookbook. Everyone wants her recipes. So she's going to send me what she has written up and I'll make sure the English is correct, to the best of my ability, and take photographs to go with the recipes. A project that suits me well as I love taking photographs and food. And I like being productive. It's amazing how much time you have in a day when you don't have to do the food procuring, preparing, cleaning up or dealing with mail and grown up things.

Ian is in bird heaven. He has moved up to the position of assistant leader under Mitch and goes off in the bus with the group of 8 everyday. I'm told, by many different guests, that he's a great birder, very nice to be with and what a great son I have. Things I never get tired of hearing :-) He carries the scope, spots birds, makes sure people get on the birds and takes over when Mitch goes for a quick break. Not bad for a 17 year old who's been here such a short time. Ian is learning so much from Mitch, and considers him to be one of the best birders in Ecuador. Did we luck out or what??!!

Carmen said we could stay until December 27th, but I'm not sure what our plans are going to be. After this group leaves there are going to be less guests here and the new ones are bringing their own guide and driver, so not sure where that leaves Ian.  Mitch heads back to his main home on Sunday, and Carmen left yesterday, I don't think we'll see them for a week or more. 

It's 10:30 am on Friday and I'm attempting to go into town this morning to find an internet connection that can send  photos. The driver will drop me off in Cosanga and I'll catch a bus there into Baeza, about 15 km away. All on my own! I'm looking forward to going to town, I may get a haircut even, and just to poke around and see something other than rainforest for a few hours. So if you are reading this and there are photos you know it worked!! ( It didn't work, I'm posting this nearly 2 weeks later :-)

...The driver went off with Mitch this morning, so no ride for me today. It's beautiful here, the best day yet, I have shorts and a tank top on, sunny and warm.

Maybe I'll get to town manana...

Waiting for a ride. Nov 21st, Friday.

Gas station that took us in for the afternoon.

Beautiful Cosanga.

Waiting...

...more waiting :-)

Stalin and his little girl who loved playing with the beetle.

Very helpful and friendly family.

Later on during the rain, another bus like ours.

Gas is $1.40 a gallon here.

A very cool Hercules beetle, unfortunately can get $200 or more on the black market.

Someone from Yanayacu was supossed to pick us up when we arrived at
the very small town of Cosanga. There was a mix up and our driver was
nowhere to be be found and no phone number to reach him at. So we
waited, for 3 and a half hours, the same amount of bus time it took to
get there.

The gas station was run by a very friendly family and they
commiserated with us on our situation. Normally we would have paid a
local person with a car to take us the 7  km to the reserve, but
today everyone was at the Walk of the Virgin. The town was deserted
except for the gas station family and the occasional person getting
off the bus during the afternoon.

So we waited for a long time, then decided it would be helpful if Ian
walked to the reserve, so off he went for what turned out to be a 2
hour walk, mostly in the rain. I hung out with the family and made
friends, they showed me beetles and we talked about life in Ecuador.
Did you know there is no postal service, at all, in the countryside?
None. You don't ever get any mail, unless you have box in Quito, 3 1/2
hours away. Imagine not getting any bills, magazines, solicitations or
advertising. All bills are paid at the place of service, electric
company, etc.

It turned out to be a pleasant way to spend the afternoon, Jose
finally arrived and we met up with Ian, who had arrived at an empty
reserve with the friendly dog, around 6pm. In the rain.

Yanayacu for 1 night. Nov 25 post.

A beautiful setting, the main dinning area and general hanging out place.

Our room the next morning, puppy on my bed. Ian

using the wifi in the the bedroom!

So sweet!

Our bedroom.

Exquisite moths.

Ian and Beans.

Boots for whoever needs them.

The Washing rock, laundry taken to a new level.

Originally we had thought to stay at Yanayacu for 3 to 4 weeks. We
only lasted one night.

Not many people staying here, only one other guest, the older Polish man, Jose who picked us up hours late, and a young woman who lived there. 

They cooked us a dinner of pasta and vegetables, showed us to our room
which began a night not to forget!

The rain was relentless on the tin roof and extremely loud, but not
loud enough to drown out the Polish man who talked in his sleep all
night. The walls were a piece of plywood, only 1 piece, and he may as
well have been in the room with us. Ok, not too bad, we didn't need to
sleep anyway. At 4 am the puppy, sweetest puppy ever, started crying
under the building we were in, which was open to the elements. So I get
out my flashlight and poke around in the debris under the building,
find him and bring him back to our room. He was cold and shivering until
Ian put him on his bed and he fell fast asleep. The puppy, not us :-)

Our room was very spartan, only 3 beds, no curtains, lamps, tables of
any kind, just very bare. Did I mention spartan? But we had wifi all over the property. Breakfast, which was included in the $15 a day, was whatever we found in the kitchen, Jose
and friend made up a breakfast but didn't ask us to join them. So Ian
and I ate some really good bananas. The view was lovely.

When I asked about a washing machine I was told they had a rock. See
photo of the washing rock, it's nice, flat and big.

We decided to walk the 3 km to the Cabinas San Isidro that we passed
on the way to Yanayacu, the only other place between us and the town
of Cosanga. Turns out to be the best thing we could have done. We met
5 other birders right away and Ian took off on their bird filled
trails looking for birds.

But the most amazing part is that Carmen, the lovely owner of this
birding lodge, offered us a room and meals in exchange for helping out
with administration. We had lunch that Saturday, went back to Yanayacu
and told them we were moving up in the world and would no longer be
staying there. We've been here 3 nights and I love it!!! I do miss the
puppy and the internet service, but it's so nice to be meeting birders
from all over the world who are also having a wonderful time.

The bus ride to Cosanga, Ecuador. Nov 21st

Waiting for the bus in back of the main building.

Our bus stopping to let people off to get some food.

Roadside food lady, the potato pancakes were great!

Inside our bus, typico scene.

Paramo, the landscape at high elevations above the trees.

An awful accident, later we were told 7 people died.

Hanging out on the bus.

Elevation around 6000 feet.

Dropped off at Cosanga, now all we need is a ride to the lodge 7 km away...

Friday, November 21st, 2008

I was sad to leave the city of Quito and our plush hotel room, but Ian
was antsy to get to Yanayacu. He stayed in good humor during our week
in the city, but the low bird count was nearly more than he could
handle :-)

Another hair raising, no seat belt taxi ride took us to the main bus
station where buying a bus ticket is an event in itself. Pushy men
accosted us in loud voices demanding to know where we were going and
telling us we needed to buy our tickets from them. We chose a man who
said the bus was leaving at 11 am, and it was 11 am, so we gave him
money, overpaid it turned out, he rushed us to the back of the station
and flagged down our bus for us. And the journey began.

We didn't get the newest bus, but it was nice enough, had a TV in the
front with Jurassic Park playing full blast in Spanish. You know
you're in South America when you're hurling down a jungle road with
the sounds of  people screaming Rapido! Rapido! and dinosaurs roaring.

You don't need to bring food on the bus, because every 15 minutes or
so vendors hop on the bus, walk up and down the isle and sell all
kinds of food: fruit, brownies wrapped in cellophane, homemade potato
chips (which I bought and were good). There was also a stop to get off
and buy food, the photo of the woman with the vats of potatoes and
meat. I got off but didn't notice that I had taken too long and the
bus was leaving. Apparently Ian had to tell the bus driver to wait for
me, I came running and wasn't left behind. But Ian was mad.

Nice scenery, Ian saw a Condor. There was an awful accident that
blocked traffic for miles, a huge truck ran over/into? 2 small cars,
nasty. 3 and a half hours later we were dropped off in Cosanga, one
gas station, 5 building town.
We enjoyed the ride, lots to look at in the bus and out.

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

San Isidro Adventure

This photo should be at the end of the post, not the beginning...

Sunday, November 30th. We're at Cabanas San Isidro on the Eastern slope of the Andes.

I made it into the town of Baeza yesterday, but was not able to hook
up my laptop to the available internet connection, even with lots of
help from the young girl who worked there. So, I'll keep writing
because it keeps me sane, and others may read it someday, or not.

Bus rides in Ecuador are a bit scary. I don't hear of many ending up
over the cliffs, but the drivers do not inspire confidence. On the way
back to Cosanga, the driver was flirting with a young lady in tight
clothes and high heels that shared the driving area with him. He
passed a large cement truck on a winding road that he thought was too
slow. I thought it was a perfect speed for both of them. We came to a
single lane bridge with another bus heading for it too coming from the
opposite direction. Neither bus slowed down and met on the bridge
windshield to windshield, inches away from touching! This time the
entire group of passengers in our bus inhaled at once in a big
oooohhh, in Spanish. So I guess this wasn't a common occurrence, they
said nothing about the crazy passing of the cement truck.
Turned out our bus driver was the more macho, and the other bus had to
back up.

To add more excitement the bus TV was playing a Bruce Willis movie,
loudly in Spanish, with a chase scene of Bruce driving a tractor
trailer through freeway underpasses, LA?, while a stealth bomber was
flying low trying to annihilate him. Great sound track when you're on
the bus in the mountains of Ecuador! Maybe the action movies are there
to distract you from knowing when you careen off the road into the
great beyond, you'll just think it's the movie.

The guests that have been here for a week left this morning. Breakfast
at 5:30 and I joined them to say good bye. It's sad to see a group
depart, I get attached to a few of them, and then they are gone. We
exchanged emails and as they are birders we may see them again, very
nice Americans.

Ian went with them, and will have to find his way back to San Isidro
on his own, on a public bus. He's used to the groups private bus, but
decided to give it a try, he didn't want to miss today's birding. The
staff will all leave this morning as we have no other guests until
tomorrow, so I'll hold the fort down on my own. There will be one
other person around to take care of the grounds. No fancy meal
tonight, I'll be fending for us with whatever I can whip up from the
kitchen.

I miss Joe. I liked it much better when we were able to Skype every
evening when we were in Quito, but I haven't talked to him in over a
week. Skype is great, when we have a high speed internet connection we
can see each other on our laptops and speak in real time, so cool, and
there is no extra charge above the usual internet connection. Great
technology.

Here's a photo of the American birding group that Mitch led as they
were on their way back to Quito. I asked them to gather together for a
group photo, but some birds flew overhead and distracted them. Typico
behavior for birders! Ian's on the far right.