Bellavista Lodge

We ran out of propane this morning. Andy knew a guy 15 minutes away who could gravity fill our tank. We headed there and it took about an hour but Victor was able to connect a hose to a 15 kg tank and when it was half full he connected another 15 kg tank and then the tank was full. It was $25 for 20 lbs and he gave the kids a candy cane tree treat. Andy has also bought some chocolate croissant for the kids.

We headed to the middle of the world monument at the equator which to me is sort of an arbitrary place since the equator goes around the world and is not just in one place. Even worse is that the monument is about 250 yards away from the gps equator. It was the weekend and the area was packed with cars and visitors and touts were trying to get cars parked at their lots. We went to a location closer to the geographic equator and it was free parking. We took a photo.

There was a Ecuador village museum which has nothing to do with the equator. We didn't stay and headed up the road. We stopped to fill up gas and water and then had a long downhill through the canyon. When the turn off for Bellavista lodge showed up, it was a steep dirt road but was doable, and thus the long slog up the 16km track began. It was mostly single lane and the kids were a little worried. We picked up an old lady hiking up the hill with a heavy bag of produce and dropped her off at her village.

The weather was wet and drizzly. After a long drive we made it to the lodge. We were given a parking space that was slightly sloped. Christian, one of the workers, showed us around, the bathrooms, showers, restaurant, mud boots for us, and the hummingbird and nocturnal feeding places. There were hummingbirds everywhere. It was surprisingly magical. 

We spent a couple hours feeding the hummingbirds which did not seem too afraid. Ellie and Dd even go to touch them when they landed on their fingers. 

For dinner I made some instant ramen from Ecuador for the kids and Christine and I had leftovers.

We went back out at night to look for nocturnal animals and saw a kinkajou.

There was a common area and some American college kids were there in the dorm.

We went back to the RV and made s'mores again. It has been drizzling constantly. They call it a cloud forest for a reason.