Medical Spanish Program in Quito

ER in Quito – By Robin Fillner – SALUD Program Guest blogger traveling in Quito.
Hola!
This weekend past, I went to Bellavista with the Salud group. This was our last weekend excursion together. I must say that if any of the trips on the weekend were bad, it was this one. But, not that it was horrible, just that the others were so much more enjoyable. First off, we were picked up by the owner of Bellavista, Richard. I believe he is English and has lived in Ecuador for 20 years. He is very nice, but perhaps a little stressed out at the time he met us.
We left from the school and headed out of town, winding our way through the high jungle of, I believe, north of Quito. The roads twisted and turned their way what seemed miles above a tiny river and alongside a vast, thick expanse of palms, ferns, and beautiful white trees. I was feeling a little nauseas, when we stopped at a cliff area that overlooked a wondrously (is that a word?) huge caldera, or crater of a volcano. I didn't know that that was actually a caldera until someone casually mentioned it as we were leaving. There was a cute little man explaining the natural and cultural significance of the place, but I wasn't listening because he had 2 dogs with him that captured my attention the whole time.
From the crater, we ventured up 12 kilometers on a rocky, dusty road to a jungle bungalow called Bellavista. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, lay this rustic paradise complete with a "dome", as they called it, made out of wood that would have resembled a tree house had it actually been in a tree. We had to climb a ladder to get to our beds that overlooked the entire valley.
We spent most of the morning taking pictures of hummingbirds that flew noisily to feeders posted all around the main path in and out of the bungalow. The birds were beautiful and small, as hummingbirds are. Some of them, it appeared, didn't have feet! However, after the frustration of capturing the perfect picture took the best of us, we were left to explore the area on our own. A few of us ventured on the marked trails until lunch was ready. After lunch, we were left to explore the area on our own. So we ventured back to the trails.
We ventured back to the trails for a self-guided moonlight hike after dinner. Then the next morning we were supposed to have a 6am bird-watching hike, but around 7am we figured the guide wasn't coming and again we ventured back to the trails. By now, I had walked every trail the bungalow had to offer without taking a serious next step into exploring.
However, before lunch a guide took us deep into the forest to see a waterfall. It was a really cool hike through a stream bed, complete with a stream, up and over logs, and at one point we had to tie a rope around our waist and swing across a rocky cliff. That excited me. A little further and we came to a tall, not gushing, skinny, but sufficient waterfall. I don't mean to be a waterfall snob, but after seeing the waterfall in Banos, and of course living in Hawaii, I've seen enough to compare this one too.
Four of us, braved into the freezing rain of the waterfall just long enough for some pictures and then numbly ran out. It was really fun. Then we hiked back.
My friend Amie and I settled into our last round for the weekend of vino caliente. I think it's a mixture of just red wine, cinnamon, and solo un poquito de limon, heated up of course.
MMMmmm. And then the weirdest of all weirdest things happened. I picked up a book from the free book pile: Hyenas laughed at Me and Now I Know Why, a collection of short travel stories. I began reading The Snake Charmer of Guanacaste on page 12 and couldn't believe my eyes. The story was about a Russian hotel owner named Yuri that I actually had met. That was weird and it made the trip. Well, that and the cold waterfall.