Ecuador - Quito and the Santa Lucia Cloud Forest

Quito is the highest official capital city in the world at 2,800 metres and it's historic centre was one of the first two World Cultural Heritage Sites designated by UNESCO in 1978. It’s full of cobblestone streets, beautiful old churches, and historic squares that are still the social centres of the city. Due to our slightly convoluted itinerary, we ended up in Quito three different times - before and after our Galapagos trip, and then after our visit to the Ecuadorian cloud forest north of the city.

We stayed close to the historic centre each time, allowing us to hang out among the beautiful old buildings that make up what UNESCO considers the "largest, least-altered, and best-preserved historic center in the Americas." Many Latin American cities have beautiful colonial centres, but Quito's really tops the rest.

The Basilica del Vota Nacional.
460' long, 150' wide, and 377' high.

La Iglesia el Sagrario.

A python skin outside the office of a
local Taita (shaman).

After having a short visit with Laurel and Tyler at the tail end of our Galapagos trip, we'd arranged to meet them in Quito and travel together to the Santa Lucia Lodge  (www.santaluciaecuador.com) north of Quito for five days. There are many eco-lodges in the cloud forests north of Quito, but we chose Santa Lucia for a couple of reasons. The lodge is run as a cooperative by twelve local families, so we knew that all the money we spent there would directly benefit the local community. It is also a hike-in lodge on 1800 acres without road access or electrical power. The peace and solitude resulting from that extra distance from civilisation made the stay that much more enjoyable.

We started with a one and a half hour uphill hike to the lodge. Noe, our guide for the next five days, met us at the end of the road and immediately began sharing his knowledge of the flora and fauna of his home. We started in sunshine, but by the time we reached the lodge at just over 6200', we were in the clouds. For most of the next five days, it stayed that way. I guess that's why they call it a cloud forest.

Cyd keeping dry on he hike up to the lodge.

Our guide Noe.

The main lodge was perched high on a ridge with 270° views across the valleys below. The consistent moisture in the forest meant that the vegetation was incredibly lush, and supported an amazing diversity of bird species. I'm not much of a bird watcher, but Cyd, Laurel and Tyler are and they managed to spot over 50 new species including nine different hummingbirds during our visit.

The main lodge at Santa Lucia.

Looking over the cloud forest in a rare sunny moment.
Our green cabin roof below.

Despite my relative lack of experience, and to be honest, lower level of interest in birding, even I was impressed by our early morning visit to a Cock of the Rock lek. We left the lodge at 4:00 AM and hiked for two hours through the dense jungle before Noe stopped in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. It was just before sunrise, and he pulled out some dry plastic sheets and indicated we should sit down on a steep, muddy slope in the middle of the thick forest.

There was nothing. But then just a couple of minutes later, we heard our first loud squawk. Within ten minutes, there were over 20 male Cocks of the Rock in the area trying to win the attention of a solitary female. Over 12" in length with a bright red upper body, they perched on branches and bowed, flapped, and spun in ritual dances while calling out loudly. It lasted about 30 minutes before they left the area one by one. It was quite an experience. For some reason they do the exact same thing at the same time and place every single day.

The other highlight for me was a visit to the small sugar cane fields below the lodge. Within 10 minutes of arriving, we'd cut down some sugar cane, fed it into the ancient press, and were drinking refreshing cane juice. The addition of freshly squeezed naranjilla juice and a splash of cane alcohol was an added treat.

Taking the place of two horses to make cane juice.
You can see Tyler in the background watching me work.

Noe collects the final product from the sugar cane press.

The visit to Santa Lucia was wonderful. It was cloudy almost the whole visit, it rained several times a day, and the trails were steep and muddy. But we saw amazing wildlife and plants, had great dinners by candlelight, and enjoyed many laughs with Laurel and Tyler. We really developed an appreciation for the area and even more for the people that lived there and chose to protect and share their home with us rather than exploit it.