Birdwatching on motorbike
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2008
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20
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Trip End
Mar 05, 2009
Puerto Lopez,
Ecuador
Friday, September 26, 2008
Anyway I was persuaded by the man from the park to go bird watching. There are National parks all around and and I expected his to turn up with a taxi as I was the only customer to take me to the park. After about 15 mins he turned up with a motor bike and asked me to hop on. I was minded to say no but decided to give it a go and off we went over the pot-holed roads to the park.
Agua Blanca park in past years was home to a number of tribes and there are the remains of their houses and pots and pans in a small museum. Unfortunately further excavations had stopped because of lack of funds but what was there was interesting.
Having seen the museum we started our walk through the woods. Part of the park has people living in it and they had small cultivations of banana, limes,oranges mangoes, papaya etc,but most of it was forest.He was soon pointing out a variety of colourful birds which he referenced to a book that he had. Unfortunately my knowledge of birds is not extensive but I recognised vaieties of humming birds, doves owls, but many others I had never heard of and they had very bright plumage. During this walk he also picked a variety of wild fuits for me to try. They were ok but some were quite sour to taste. Other vegetation he showed was used by the people for medicinal purposes. I did not have a dip in the hot spring, despite his urges that it would do my knee a lot of good.
Then it was back on the bike to go to another park over the rough roads. This 150cc bike struggled to cope with the hills. In this part of the world the people are of small stature and on the pillion I towered over him. We must have looked quite funny.
We arrived at a small fishing village where there were no tourists. Fishing was the main occupation , but there was little going on and as my bottom was beginning to get a bit sore I suggested that we returned to the hotel as we had a fair way to go to get back. Its not ofen that I would agree to get on a motor bike without any helmet or other protection but as we travelled so slowly I guessed that if we came off grazes would be the worst injury.
On reflection I was glad that I decided to go
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