This was our final full day in Ecuador and it started bright and early at 06:00 so we could get a walk in before breakfast. In preparation for leaving we also shoved the remainder of our items that we didn’t need for the walk into our bags ready for picking them up later. Fortunately as the forest complex was quiet that day we were able to keep our bags stored in the rooms.
Bellavista Cloud Forest
The morning walk was quite short and once again was very quite, even the morning chorus seemed bereft of life. Apparently it was unusual as our guide had not seen it this quiet before. We got back for breakfast at 08:00, and once again it was quite basic with fruit and some bread available.
By 09:30 we were setting off again for another walk, this time there were two other walks in progress. Once again we had Andrea as our guide whilst the guy and Beth had different tours to lead.
Machete
This walk was a little more on the adventurous side – the original plan would have meant getting wet up to about waist height whilst going through a waterfall, but as we’d be stuck in wet clothes for the rest of the day we went with a slightly drier option.
Walking up the stream
The path we took was a difficult path with a good proportion of it being wading through streams across the bottom of the forest. Some of these involved climbing up over small waterfalls with the water pushing against us. It was amazing that none of us slipped whilst jumping from rock to rock or whilst wading, but we did stay mostly dry. Ascending out of the water our guide got out a machete to cut a path through the rainforest as this path had not be walked for a couple of weeks. It’s amazing to think how quickly the paths disappear into the vegetation.
The Dome
We got back to the complex at around 12 noon and were quite exhausted by this point. I’d started to feel a little unwell which meant when lunchtime came I didn’t really eat much. Whilst others ate fish they did bring me an alternative, however I couldn’t really face eating it.
At 15:00 the bus arrived to take us back to Quito. On the way back down the mountain we stopped a couple of times for photos. For the rest of the journey back to Quito I started to feel really bad, like I could vomit at any minute. Only 40 minutes later we were back in Quito and checking back in to the hotel we’d been in previously.
I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the hotel room as a result of what was likely food poisoning. I never went down for food, though towards the end of the evening I did get room service to deliver some fries and a drink – though still couldn’t keep anything down. It was a long night with very little sleep – I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the flight the next day.
Wandering the World 