Rufous-winged Tanager
Termas Papallacta Lodge (2008)
Preparing for our trip to Ecuador. The packing process in an RV is a bit more complicated than when we were in Appleton where we had a spare bedroom to layout bags. Now, our packing has to be more structured, otherwise, we’re tripping over things. We have less “stuff” and yet that which we have, gets in the way!
No, we're not DRIVING to Ecuador (although wouldn't that be an adventure!). Our flight path starts in McAllen, Texas where we depart at 5:30 a.m.. On to Houston where we'll be joined by four more of our group who have flown from Wisconsin. Then on to Panama City, Panama where we'll connect to our flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. The four remaining members of our group are flying in from Illinois and Maine and will converge in Guayaquil about the same time we arrive.
No, we're not DRIVING to Ecuador (although wouldn't that be an adventure!). Our flight path starts in McAllen, Texas where we depart at 5:30 a.m.. On to Houston where we'll be joined by four more of our group who have flown from Wisconsin. Then on to Panama City, Panama where we'll connect to our flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. The four remaining members of our group are flying in from Illinois and Maine and will converge in Guayaquil about the same time we arrive.
Our itinerary runs something like this (name of province in brackets):
Wed Feb 3 | arrive Guayquil, Ecuador (Guayas) |
overnight Hotel Continental | |
Thu Feb 4 | explore Guayaquil |
overnight Hotel Continental | |
Fri Feb 5 | Cerro Blanco, (Guayas) |
overnight Hotel Roland, Zaruma | |
Sat Feb 6 | JFR Buenaventura (El Ora) |
overnight Hotel Roland, Zaruma | |
Sun Feb 7 | El Empalme (Loja) |
overnight Hotel Santigyn, Macará | |
Mon Feb 8 | JFR Jorupe (Loja) |
overnight Hotel Santigyn, Macará | |
Tue Feb 9 | Sozoranga (Loja) |
overnight Hotel Santigyn, Macará | |
Wed Feb 10 | JFR Utuana Reserve (Loja) |
Catamayo Valley (Loja) | |
overnight Hosteria Izhcayluma, Vilcabama | |
Thu Feb 11 | Podocarpus NP (Zamora-chincipe) |
overnight Hosteria Izhcayluma, Vilcabama | |
Fri Feb 12 | Tapichalaca (Zamora-chincipe) |
overnight Hosteria Izhcayluma, Vilcabama | |
Sat Feb 13 | revisit Tapichalaca (Zamora-chincipe) |
overnight Copalinga Lodge | |
Sun Feb 14 | revisit Podacarpus NP |
overnight Copalinga Lodge | |
Mon Feb 15 | Old Zomora Rd (Zamora-chincipe) |
overnight Copalinga Lodge | |
Tue Feb 16 | revisit Podacarpus NP |
overnight Hosteria Duran, Cuenca | |
Wed Feb 17 | El Cajas (Azuay) |
overnight Hotel Continental, Guayquil | |
Begin trip extension: | |
Thu Feb 18 | Ayampe (Manabi) |
overnight Mantaraya Lodge | |
Fri Feb 19 | Puerto Lopez/Machailia NP |
overnight Mantaraya Lodge | |
Sat Feb 20 | revisit Ayampe (Manabi) |
overnight Hotel Continental, Guayquil | |
Sun Feb 21 | depart Ecuador |
Our travels in southern Ecuador will take us through a variety of habitats that will include lowland semi-humid coastal plain, tropical dry forest, coastal cloud forest, foothill forests, dry desert scrub, bamboo-dominated highland scrub, paramo grasslands, upper subtropical forest and temperate cloud forests. Elevations as we traverse the east and west slopes of the Andes will range from sea level up past 13,000 feet. You can imagine why packing the correct clothing for such an outing is so tricky!
To give you some indication of what birds we expect to encounter here is a link to the Tropical Birding web site where several trip reports are available to read:
Select the most current reports for Southern Ecuador. The itinerary is very close to what we'll experience.
José Illanos, Tropical Birding
As always we’ll be traveling with our good friend Richard Garrigues (Gone Birding). Our guide from Tropical birding will again be José Illanos from our 2008 northern Ecuador adventure.
Our 2008 trip group (Richard: back row, furthest left)
An account of our trip will eventually be posted. In the meantime here's a link to our 2008 journal:
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