I may freeze to death on the equator...(posting from the road)

The equator literally passes through my bed. When I roll over I am in another hemisphere – and I am freezing.

We arrived in the early afternoon in Quito only to be quickly whisked away to the Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge about 2 hours outside of the city. Our elevation of 9,000 feet brings more than just stunning views; it brings clouds - specifically damp, bone chilling clouds that blanket the rain forest in a constant mist. Our room is in the bamboo house, which is really like a giant tree house for adults. Awesome yes – but things made entirely of bamboo seem to let a lot of the elements in.

There is actually a worldwide competition annually to see who can count the most species of birds in a single day – Bellavista Lodge is the current record holder with 450. This is one of the reasons that I wanted to come to this place. A little known fact about me is that one day, I am going to be a birder. I am saving all my photos for that day, but until then I am that annoying person that says things such as “I like the blue one”. But when my day comes, I will have a leg up on the competition. Until then, we spend our days hiking in rubber boots up and down steep muddy cliffs taking photos of branches where birds used to be, staying out of the way of the “serious birders”. On a plus side, I am feeling extremely young – the average age of the birder seems to be 68.

Nights are spent trying to stay warm under a giant pile of wool blankets while the damp chill tries to freeze me slowly to death. But if you can put up with the cold, or own a good set of thermal underwear and you like birds – this is the place to be.