The cloud forest and fresh milk!

Today we visited the Ecuadorian cloud forest high above Chugchilan. As its name suggests, the cloud forest sits in the clouds high in the hills. It is a very humid environment and the perfect breeding ground for hundreds of different plants. We were hoping to see some orchids and although we're not here at the best time of year, we weren't disappointed. There were many orchids, some of which were in flower, alongside a multitude of other plants. Our guide (a sixteen year old local boy called Rodrigo) was excellent. Even with our broken Spanish he persevered in his explanations until we understood and put up with our rambling attempts to ask questions. In fact I think my Spanish improved a lot today as I was forced to find ways to make myself understood as well as listening carefully and trying to decipher his replies. For more detail about the plants and some great photos, check out Simon's website (he does a much better job of the photography than me and is, as I write this, looking up the correct names for the plants we saw!).

After our tough hike back to the Black Sheep Inn from the Laguna yesterday, we decided to take it a bit easier today as my knees are feeling the strain. We got a lift up to the cloud forest in the back of truck and hiked back down. After our walk through the cloud forest we ate our packed lunch next to a small waterfall, sitting right in the clouds. The walk back down to the village was great too. Much more gentle than yesterday's decent into the gorge with beautiful views. We spent this time finding out as much as we could about the area from Rodrigo and even helping him with his English a little. Halfway down the mountain we stopped to watch a local woman who was milking her cows in the steep field just off the path. She gestured for me to join her which I did...she then asked me to drink some of the fresh milk. Not wanting to tempt fate I decided that it might be more than my stomach could handle. Simon was keen though. The woman proceeded to decant some milk into a tin pot and pass it to Simon. He took a few sips and told her that it was delicious whilst trying to return the pot to her. She wasn't having any of it though. Simon was not allowed to return the pot until he had finished up all of the milk. He thinks it was just over a pint in total - don't forget that the milk was straight from the cow and very warm! The woman thought the whole episode was hilarious and was very happy to have her photo taken.

We arrived back to the Inn to a good cup of tea and a bus load of new guests. I guess these are the people we'll be spending Christmas with. It feels strange to think it's Christmas and we're not at home wrapping gifts, listening to Christmas music and spending time with families. We miss you all but be sure that we're having a wonderful time and you're in our thoughts constantly. We often remark how one or the other of you would 'love this' or 'hate that'. We hope you're enjoying the blogs as much as we're enjoying using them as a way of recording our journey.