We spent our last day in Ecuador traveling by car . We drove out of the city, over the mountains and down to the lowlands of Guayaquil (Ecuador's second largest city & home of Ruly, our naturalist from the Galapagos) so that we could to fly to Peru. In just a couple of hours we experienced some dramatic changes in the climate, vegetation and elevation!
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| One last snack of the local pork- prepared in a little different way than we had previously eaten... they split the pig before roasting and use a blow torch to "fry" the skin. It was really delicious- |
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| A foggy U-shaped valley of eucalyptus trees that can only grow at altitudes lower than 11,000 feet |
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| We entered Cajas National Park- "Cajas" means "cold"... it lived up to it's name! |
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| These tiny flowers (that is Nash's fingertip next to the bloom) grow at 14,000 feet |
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| A beautiful lake at high altitude in the clouds- Cuenca gets more than 60% of it's water from this mountain |
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| Hundred year old Paperbark trees that look like something straight out of The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter- |
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| Daddy & Nash having a test of wills- who could hold their hand the longest in the freezing water? |
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| Hot chocolate to warm us from the inside out (Ross was still not happy about how cold it was outside...) |
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| At the Continental Divide between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans- At the point called the Tres Cruces (Three Crosses), it is tradition for travelers to place a rock near the 3 crosses in thanks for safe passage over the mountain **Notice how windy & cloudy it is- and did I say cold? |
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| 10 minutes later... just a few kilometers down the mountain and in lower altitude, the sun came out to warm us & the flora already changed |
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| We were "sandwiched" between the clouds- clouds above us and clouds below us covering the lowlands |
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| A great view of the road we had to travel- Franco called it "dramatic" |
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| The boys styling their hats and happy about the climate change (especially R) |
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| Just a few minutes later... we drove right into the blanket of clouds that had been below us! Can you see the road? Neither could I!!! So glad we had an experienced driver to take us down the mountain- He told us "No problema" |
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| Nearing the bottom it continued to get warmer and we continued to peel off the "onion layer" of clothing. We went from tundra, to sub-tropical into a tropical climate and came across tropical fruit stands all along the road. |
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| All freshly cut from the tree and waiting to be eaten... |
Once at sea level again but before we reached the airport, we visited a humble family Cacoa farm. The family was happy to show us how the cacoa plant grows and produces the bean that makes chocolate. It was a great privilege to learn about this part of the Ecuadorian culture from these generous people.
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| In this small plot of just a few hectares, the family grows, harvests, ferments & dries cacoa beans to be sold at market. They also have a few banana, papaya, chili plants and an exotic fruit that we had never seen or heard of. |
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| Isn't this beautiful? |
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| Marco uses his expert knife skills to expose the raw bean covered with a white sweet membrane... |
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| If you put it in mouth and suck on it like a Jolly Rancher, out comes the dark bean that is used for chocolate. **This of course is not how the fruit is processed- the beans are put into a special wooden box for "fermenting" that takes 5-7 days, then they are spread out on bamboo racks and left to dry in the sun. |
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| Ross just had to try the chili pepper... the smaller, the hotter!!! |
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| Thankful for the opportunity to meet with this local farming family! |
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| Down the road we passed HUGE banana plantations... |
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| Good-bye and Best Wishes to Franco- (He's getting married in September!) |
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| Good-bye Ecuador- Next stop: Lima, Peru |
