Saturday, January 29, 2011

January 2011, Month of Snow for Boston

Joe, Ian and I returned from Ecuador to find a very white world in Massachusetts. I drove Ian to UMass Amherst to start his second semester, Joe went back to his hour commute to Merrimack, NH, and I played catch up with running my photo club and our life in general.

Quincy Quarries 

Quincy, MA




Medfield State Hospital




Milo being cute, again! He loves finding the sunlight.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Otavalo, Ecuador

Our last 5 days of our 3 weeks in Ecuador were spent in Otavalo, a market town in the Andes north of Quito. I've been there twice before, Joe's first time and he loved it as much as I do. There are many more indigenous people living and thriving here than the other towns we visited. Also claims to be the largest market town in South America, the open air markets are fantastic.








Parque Condor, a bird rescue place definitely worth going to see!


Otavalo is surrounded by gorgeous mountains. 



We rode a bus for 25 cents for a 20 minute trip. Nothing like the time Ian put in on busses for the 3 weeks he was in Ecuador birding!


 The Relais Hotel, we went for a lovely lunch.

Complete with a music box as a serving dish :-)

Otavalo.


Luke, one of Ian's very good birding friends. 


Tayler and Andrew, also birding friends.

We all went out to dinner our last night in Quito, Ecuador. The other 3 are staying on at various birding jobs. 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Saying Goodbye to Hotel Palmazul and San Clemente

We so enjoyed our stay at Hotel Palmazul in the sleepy town of San Clemente, the perfect weather, friendly people and beautiful beaches! Can't wait to return next year!



Our last evening with the Soppeland family from Wisconsin.

View from our room balcony.






Pacific Ocean in San Clemente

 Pelicans gliding along the tops of the waves is a beautiful sight.

Frigatebirds.

Daily job of pulling in the fishing nets.

 Magnificent Frigatebird

 Wayne and Jan's house and the fishermen.



Nets and fish after hours of pulling on the nets.

From our hotel window, at about 270 mm magnification.


Loved walking this beach everyday!