Back to Quito - May 18, 2017

Going over the day’s tasks. The community president is in the red shirt, the ladies are the housekeeping crew.



The lodge kitchen.



Our last meal at the lodge.



Heading off down river to where the water is deep enough for the canoe.



What an experience. This community built the lodge themselves, operate it themselves and live a better life because of it. Each person earns a salary for their work, gets time off, and once a year the entire community flies to the beach for some R&R together. They even put their children through college with the stipulation they must return to the village after graduation for five years. Not all leave after the five years. Their life is very good indeed.



That’s not rain, that’s water splashing up on the camera lens. The wind was definitely blowing and the waves on the river made for a less that smooth ride, which because of going upstream, the low water and having to seek out the channel because of the low water took over 2 1/2 hours.



That’s the community president serving coffee aboard the canoe. They are truly a community of equals with no one being more equal than others.  What a novel idea.



Those canoes were definitely comfortable.


The bridge over the Napo at Coca.



Back in Quito. Did you know the equator runs through Quito?



Yes, it’s really is what it looks like.



Goofing off astride the equator.

Astride the equator water drains differently, straight down.

A few feet north of the equator it drains clockwise

Move south of the equator and it drains counter-clockwise.




More fun on the equator, balancing a egg on the head of a nail. Think it can be done? Try it at home.

Yea Linda!



When the bus stopped at a homemade ice cream shop, everyone got a taste treat. I don’t remember what our flavors were, but they were not what we could have gotten in the states. One thing I have learned over the years is that when Linda says to take a photo of our ice cream cones, I say, “You take the photo, I’ll hold the cones.” Otherwise when she holds them mine comes back with several licks out of it. Smart Bob.



Darkness descends early when you are on the equator.



No group diner tonight, but we still had a wonderful treat, We discovered Ecuadorian tamales. This is definitely NOT the typical Mexican tamale we are used to. First, they are huge, second the masa is kept to a minimum and the filling is maximized. We joked there could have been a half of a chicken in this one. A slight exaggeration, but not far off. Plus there was a smattering vegetables, and the tasty sauce in the filling was lip smacking good. It was the fitting end to another great day in Ecuador.