22nd July 2011
I feel a bit sick. More on that later.
Well, we are definitely not birdwatchers. This morning we went out with Julia, a local bird guide, into the cloud forest reserve above our lodging and spotted 56 species of birds in just over five hours. By ourselves I think we might have seen ten at most. Bird guides use their ears before they use their eyes; Julia knows the calls of all the hundreds of birds living around Mindo and having heard something interesting can then spot a tiny thingamybob sitting on a branch miles away. Amazing.
So I think this is a good moment to thank all the various guides we have enjoyed the company of during our year around the world, be it for wildlife or historical sites. We were expertly taken around
Madagascar by Guy who also arranged the brilliant local wildlife guides Jacqui, Luc and Emile. In Nepal we were taken on the
Pool Hill circuit by Peter, and up the
Langtang valley by Umesh. Tenzin took us overland across
Tibet, the most laissez-faire guide we’ve ever had but friendly enough to (almost) make up for it. In Thailand we totally enjoyed our week with Jan and Tu looking for otters in
Hala Bala, despite the numbing tedium of days spent in a hide. We were also taken kayaking in
Khao Sok by Bau, who may not have known his birds and mammals (yet) but who was very good company. In Cambodia we had a great day around
Battambang with Somnang, who insisted he was only a tuk-tuk driver and not a guide, in spite of being brilliant at it. And of course Mr Sim, who knew everything about
Angkor and all the right places for taking funny photos. In Bolivia we learned all about
Tiwanaku from the erudite Edwin, a real contrast to our jocular but useless guides in
Peru. Except for Alfonso, who took us to the
Colca Canyon. Finally in Ecuador we were shown the
Amazon jungle by Dan, a Brit who has adopted Ecuador as home, and we were in the capable hands of Wilo in the
Galapagos.
Thanks to all of them.
Anyway, I only feel a bit sick because I’ve eaten far too much chocolate. Julia suggested to us a place in Mindo called ChocolArte, which is a tiny cafe and shop in a half-finished bamboo building where the owner roasts his own coffee
and his own cocoa beans to make chocolate. It’s worth it, as the coffee was the best I’ve had in South America and the chocolate was the best I’ve had in the whole year. We only stopped to have a drink and brownies with chocolate sauce (yum), but he was just going to do a chocolate-making demonstration and so we stopped for that too… unfortunately it also involved eating all the chocolate fondue that was the by-product of the demonstration.
So I feel a bit sick. And definitely don’t need dinner. Envy me! : )
PS – a motmot is a bird, and we saw one today
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