Sunday 1 April 2012

I got up early, checked out and made it to the bus terminal in time to get the 8:15 am bus to Quito. In addition to the usual vendors coming onto the bus, this time I had a guy with a recorder who proceeded to play (after, of course, first introducing himself). His first tune sounded very familiar, until I realised it was the theme tune to "Popeye, the sailor man," followed by part of what sounded like some national anthem. The rest of his tunes, I didn´t recognise.

According to the guidebook, it should be 3 ½ to 4 hours´ journey time. We got to Quitumbe bus terminal in the south at 11:15 - which I thought was a great result and that I might even get to Tandayapa earlier than I had thought. I had expected to get there for about 4 or 5 pm.

Then I found that I couldn't just get a bus to Nanegalito from Quitumbe (the south) terminal but would have to go to the north terminal, Carcelen, which involved either a city bus to Ofelia where I would have to change to another local bus to Terminal Norte, or get a bus from Quitumbe direct to Carcelen. I had had to go to the Tourist information desk at Quitumbe as the bus Information desk was unoccupied. I elected to get the direct bus from Quitumbe to Carcelen.

Anyway, I got onto a bus for the Terminal Norte pretty quickly and made it to Carcelen where I then had to find my way to the right ticket booth for a ticket to Nanegalito. I bought a ticket and made my way to the #9 bus stand. There was a bus waiting there but the conductor told me mismo viaje when I approached him about going to Nanegalito (mismo viaje literally means same trip or travel to me, so I think it must be some idiom I don't know). I looked at my ticket and realised that I had about 25 minutes before my bus turned up. The use of mismo here made me wonder if the bus conductor to Alausi had used a similar phrase with mismo in it, perhaps mismo parada to mean next stop or similar.

The Los Bancos - no idea where that is - (and Nanegalito) bus trundled along, but it raced along sometimes and I wondered if he was behind time, or something. I had asked the driver (I think) when he loaded my backpack aboard, and then later, the bus conductor to let me know when we got to Nanegalito, telling them I wasn't familiar with it. The bus conductor replied, if you want (si quiere) to which I thanked him.

I managed to get a window seat (not my allocated one which was occupied by a woman with a baby) right at the back, with a woman whose kid would scream loudly quite frequently. Anyway, I saw a sign pointing to both Los Bancos and Nanegalito at some point. At some point, the bus pulled over and there was a great deal of accelerator pedal activity but no movement. We were there for about 5 or 10 minutes before we pulled off the side of the road. It was obvious, however, that there was something wrong, because as a window seat passenger I had been looking out at the view and I saw that there was an increased amount of black smoke coming from the back of the bus. I could only hope that we'd at least make it to Nanegalito before the bus broke down.

Thankfully, I was let off at Nanegalito - I spotted the name just as the conductor came to get me - and collected my luggage. I then had to ask a guy about getting a camioneta. He got out his mobile but no one was answering. Eventually, he pointed to a corner ahead and said something about roja. I got to the corner and found a motos sign and a red pickup truck so I asked him if he could take me to Tandayapa. We agreed a fee and he drove off. Twice, I confirmed that it was the Lodge but it was only when we got to Tandayapa valley, and I realised he didn't know the lodge. He got out and gestured to me to also get out so we could consult this woman washing her clothes by the side of the road. She basically told him to carry on ahead and turn at the sign (and that it was an ecologia). He told me the price would be $2 more (but this I had actually expected, from information given to me by my contact at Tandayapa) and we got to the Lodge's car park.

I then experienced the infamous steps, at least from people's experiences. Although, it was easier than the 30-minute hike up to La Hesperia, it was still longer and harder than I had expected. During one of my brief pauses, I was "buzzed" by something that flew by in a blur but I had an impression of green and white. I was pretty sure it must have been a hummingbird, due to how it flew - or that it was a very large, colourful wasp, though I didn't think that likely.

It happened twice, one brushing very close to my front daypack and I was encouraged to carry on in a surge of excitement. I met Ben, the volunteer guide there, and he confirmed that it would have been a hummingbird. Ben checked me in and then introduced me to my first hummingbird: a sylph that had flown into the window and was recovering (rebooting as he put it) before he let it go on the balcony. It was beautiful: it had a long tail and a purple streak down its head.

I dumped my stuff in my room and rushed out with my camera onto the balcony with the hummingbird feeders. It was magical! There were so many there, all hustling and zooming around the feeders. I finally understood why they were called hummingbirds (I'd never thought why), but the noise they make as they fly by does indeed "hum." At times, you almost wanted to brush them away, they sounded like flies, or bees or wasps, if you couldn't see them but only hear them.

I took some photos but as I'd got there about 5:30 pm, there wasn't a great deal of light for the camera to take fast enough shots that weren't blurred, so I had to give up and wait for better light in the morning. Whilst I stood there wondering at these beautiful and tiny (some) creatures, I noticed that I had managed to get bitten on the left cheek within an hour - later I discovered one on my right calf: bitten through (thin, skintight) jeans. Welcome to the cloudforest…

At dinner, I discovered that I had the whole lodge to myself, as a guest, that is. There was only the staff (however many that was) and Ben, although Ben told me that the previous week there had been 27 present, the maximum capacity the lodge can take. We agreed what time I wanted breakfast (they can accommodate hardcore birds wanting to get up at 4 am) and that I would probably have lunch at the lodge as opposed to a box lunch (if I was hiking). As I was only staying for the day, I was pretty sure I would be concentrating on the balcony and area around the lodge and wouldn't have time to do both that and even a small hike. Plus I had asked the camioneta driver to return the following day at 2:30 pm, and lunch was served at 1pm.