Ecuador-Monday, December 26th: Quito to Misahualli

Monday we left Quito again for more adventures.  We drove east towards the Oriente to experience the Amazon rain forest.

The plants were so interesting

as were the butterflies

We stopped for lunch just outside of Tena at a place my parents refer to as 'the Monkey Hotel'.  

After we ordered food we had time to walk down to the river.  There were monkeys playing in the trees all around us while we walked.

It was gorgeous, but the sun was intense-so we didn't stay at the river for too long.

But enjoyed all the plants and monkeys in the dense jungle.

The monkeys were great entertainment while we ate.  The hotel set out a snack for them, so there was a lot of activity with them eating.

It was amazing.

After lunch we continued to Misahualli, where we were staying for the night.  We had hoped to do a hike after unloading our bags, but it was too late so they wouldn't let us start the hike.

Instead we walked over to 'Monkey Beach' on the Napo River.  Ethan swam into the middle of the river to join the cliff jumping fun.

The small city center had a lot of monkeys playing around.  

These were a bit bigger than the kind we had seen earlier that day.

The hostal we stayed at that night had a great gathering area between our rooms.

Ecuador-Sunday, December 25th: Christmas in Quito

Brielle and Katie worked together to spell Merry Christmas in many different languages.  Brielle was impatiently waiting for her brothers to wake up on Christmas morning.  

Our "Christmas morning" wasn't actually taken until that night.  Santa left some chapstick and a travel game for the kids that they opened before breakfast.  (other Santa presents were delivered to our home waiting for us to open when we got back so we didn't have to travel with them.)

We were able to attend a baptism on Christmas morning before church and then enjoyed a nice church service.

After church we went back to the historic district.  It wasn't raining like it was the previous Sunday, but kids were tired, so we weren't sure how long we would last.

When grandma showed Preston the pigeons in front of the church he woke right up and was ready for chasing.

I actually stood in the midst of all the birds also.  It is pretty cool to have them fly all around you.

We went in to the San Fransisco Cathedral-which was built in the 1500s.

we then went to the attached convent where there was a nativity display.

We liked some of the unique displays like this one made out of steal chains.

Preston was mostly interested in the live band playing

and Ethan loved the parrots roaming through the courtyard

Kids were tired and excited about opening some presents, but still really wanted to climb up in the Basilica.

It was an adventure-crossing over a bridge 

and climbing steep ladder-like stair cases

but the view from the top was pretty spectacular

We had a fun evening at the mission house with a yummy dinner

presents exchanged

and lots of video chats with siblings.

Ecuador-Saturday, December 24th: Santa Cruz to Quito

It did not feel like Christmas time on the Galapagos. There were some trees and decorations around town, but it was hard to believe it was Christmas Eve.

We stayed in a guest house (that we found on airbnb) for the week on Santa Cruz.  It was so nice having a kitchen to use for breakfast each morning.  We were about a mile outside of town, but we loved the chance to be away from the tourist area and feel like we were getting more of the local feel.

We packed up Saturday morning and had a little time to explore before we needed to head to the airport.

 

We walked down to Laguna de las Nimphas.

It is a pretty lagoon with a board walk to explore the perimeter.  

We saw a sea turtle and then with some tide surge the fish all went crazy and started feeding and jumping out of the water.  

We then went down to the docks and saw more animal life before needing to head back home.  It seemed everywhere we went while in the Galapagos, there was always some kind of interesting animal action to keep us entertained.

We planned to leave at noon to get back across the island to catch our 3 o'clock flight.  It was a long afternoon of 'hurry up and wait!'.  Our taxi was late (we were concerned James had scared him off the day before, but he finally showed up).  And then it took a long time in catching the boat and the bus, so we just made our flight as they were boarding.

We were excited to get back to Quito to spend time with my parents.  They had a very busy week hosting dinners for the missionaries every night while we were in the Galapagos. But we still all stayed up way too late to look at pictures from the week and recounting our trip.

Ecuador-Friday, December 23rd: Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands

Friday morning we took a taxi inland to go to El Chato-a tortoise reserve.

it was so fun to walk through the woods.  The interior part of the island we were driving through was green, lush and beautiful.

The life of being a tortoise here looked pretty great.

We also explored the lava tunnels on the property

one of them was double layered, which was really interesting.

After the taxi returned us home we decided to walk over to the Charles Darwin Research Station.  A note and story about the taxi:  We were glad we'd found a driver willing to take all 6 of us in one truck (apparently they are only allowed to carry 4).  We scheduled him to come back to take us to the airport the next morning, however after this drive we weren't sure he'd want to.  On the way back James and Ethan were sitting in the front seat-a bench seat.  James had his arm around Ethan, trying to keep him from crowding the driver.  At one point the driver lifted his arm slowly moving it away, at which point James realized he'd been holding and rubbing the drivers arm instead of Ethans.  When James realized his mistake everyone started laughing, including the driver. 

The yellow land iguana was one of the things we really wanted to see.  It isn't as easy to find as the marine iguanas that are all over shorelines.

and of course, there is interesting studies and reports about Darwin's famous finches

on the way back into town we spotted this guy checking out the fish market

It was a long hot walk, so a stop for ice cream to refresh was just what we needed as we debated what to do next.  It was our last full day and we were trying to fit everything while still making it fun for everyone.

To get to Tortuga Bay (one of our last wish list items) would require another long walk.  So we let the kids decide if they were up to it.  We'd already walked about 7 miles so far that day, but if we hurried over to Tortuga bay, we thought we could have an hour to play before catching a boat back to town.

Everyone decided it was well worth the walk.  The beach was breathtaking.

The only issue we found once we got there is that the boat picks people up way down the beach from where we were, and we didn't have much time.

Kids decided they'd rather take the time to play and walk back to town again instead of catching the boat.  They decided the sand felt like powdered sugar.  

Once 5 o'clock hits, they start to clear the beach.  It was a perfect way to start wrapping up the amazing week. We had a bit of time before dinner to go souvenir shopping which we had planned to do Saturday morning, but noticed earlier in the day that the stores don't open until late afternoon.

Our last dinner ended up being our favorite.  This is the menu-just the wall. Katie said it is typical coastal food that she has had when going to the beach in Esmeraldas area of Ecuador.   

It was the place on Kiosk street that had been recommended the first night, but was closed on Mondays.  We were glad we had a chance to get back to try it.  By the time we made it home my phone showed we had walked 10.9 miles that day.  The big kids were troopers and were so proud of themselves and excited about our amazing adventures that day.