Yesterday was a different story. We walked, hitchhiked and taxied to the parking area for the refugio high on the mountain and walked back to our hacienda from there, through driving rain at times - about 9 miles. Here´s D. making the best of the abandoned umbrella she found at our hacienda. We now know why it was abandoned.
After the last of the metal pieces had fallen off she used it to fulfill her drum majorette fantasy.
The park is full of ¨wild¨ (feral?) horses - possibly descended from stock left there when the Perez family, whose huge ranch included much of the land now in the park, ceded it to the government. They still graze their cattle there.
The family (now the 6th generation) owns several haciendas on their land, including this one, El Porvenir, where we stayed for two nights. It´s the real thing, possibly around for all six generations.
A toss-up between the inside and the outside as to which is more photogenic. I particularly liked the adobe floors, that were so smooth and soft they were as pleasant to walk on as the antique throw rugs that were strewn about.
Porvenir is a working ranch (with a real roundup), but also caters to dudes with excellent horseback rides into the park - complete with leather/llama chaps and woven ponchos.
The ranch also has llamas and alpacas. Kudos to the first to determine which of the two this little beauty is.
It turned out to be a good place for birding. Here and elsewhere in the park we saw several endemic species, including the Andean hillstar hummingbird, which I believe lives only at around 15,000 feet - check the warm coat...
and the Andean coot, which looked to me to be about three times the size of the Oregon variety.
We might take in a Carnaval parade in Quito tonight, braving the spray foam that folks are now using in lieu of a water and flour mix that has been banned.
Today the weather was good enough for us to take a guided tour through the park. A highlight was Laguna Limpiopungo, the lake that appears at the back of the flat land in the foreground of this image.
It turned out to be a good place for birding. Here and elsewhere in the park we saw several endemic species, including the Andean hillstar hummingbird, which I believe lives only at around 15,000 feet - check the warm coat...
the Andean lapwing...
the Andean gull...
and the Andean coot, which looked to me to be about three times the size of the Oregon variety.
We might take in a Carnaval parade in Quito tonight, braving the spray foam that folks are now using in lieu of a water and flour mix that has been banned.
Hummingbirds at 15,000 feet! Loved the picturesque ranch photos, too. We are all awaiting the return of the intrepid drum majorette and her handsome photojournalist.
ReplyDeleteLoved the shots of the wild horses. And I guess you're right, Dad, I never thought about it, but the wild horses in America are actually feral horses, not technically "wild". Or is there a statute of limitations on that?
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