Mindo cloud forest - School residential trip

This year Tom and I took our Year 4's on a trip to Mindo cloud forest for their annual residential trip. Brianna and Evelyn came along too. The children are studying rainforests in class so they got to have the rainforest as their classroom for the day. We firstly visited a place called 'Tucanopy,' where we all went on a jungle walk through the rainforest. We saw huge leaves that we could all fit under, had a go at eating leaves that tasted of lemon and saw trees that are endanger of extinction. The kids loved it.








After the jungle walk, we had a go at flying across the rainforest canopy on large zip-wires. All the kids did it alone, which was quite an achievement, it was lots of fun!



We visited the Mariposario in Mindo and lots of the kids and Evelyn had butterflies on their heads! The butterflies are so beautiful and come in all different sizes and colours. Finally we went to a local hostel where we could see large numbers of hummingbirds and parrots in the wild. Then we headed back to school - it was a very tiring trip!

Castro puppies

Scotty, the Casro's dog had puppies a few weeks back and we all suspected Harper was a daddy yet again (again this is impossible as he has had his bits chopped off!). But, one of the pups in Tom's arms, was uncannily like Harper and was actually named 'Harper 2,' as he looked just like him and had the same personality. As you can see, Tom fell in love with him too!

Pop Art

We had a go at experimenting with Andy Warhol inspired Pop Art in our art classes.

Galapagos Santa Cruz Island

Just after getting back from Mexico we headed to Galapagos for a week. A parent of a girl in our class, Tamia, has a place there and invited us to come and stay with them. There place was gorgeous (galapagosexclusivetours.com) and only a short boat taxi away from Puerta Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. Tamia's Dad, Juan Carlos used to be a guide in the Galapagos Islands for 17 years so was an expert and seemed to know everybody! Last time we visited the Galapagos Islands we spend the majority of our time on a cruise and only stayed on the island of Isabela for 3 days so it was great to see Santa Cruz properly.


During the 6 days we were there, we managed to go kayaking, snorkelling and surfing. We managed to see lots of amazing wildlife and saw some breath taking views. Here are just a few of the pictures I took. I was in my element snapping away!



We went for an early morning swim at 'Las Grietas,'which is a series of cravaces. You walk along a natural path of volcanic rock to the beautiful site which has a channel of water between the rocks leading to the ocean. We went snorkelling there at 7 o'clock in the morning. There was not a person in site it was great! The place was only a half hour walk from where we were staying.


We hiked to Tortuga bay with Juan-Carlos and Tamia. We went on to the Mangrove area where we sat for over an hour (again we went really early in the morning so there was noone around apart from the animals). We then had a go at surfing on Tortuga Bay - the waves were great. We were both pretty hopeless but it was great fun. I'd love to have another go sometime!


We travelled 20mins to the East of the Islands with a friend of the family called Treecy. Again we left early to arrive before the other visitors and when it was cooler as the weather was scorching the whole time we were there.



On the last day we went up to the Highlands where you can see giant tortoises roaming around in the wild. The walk was lovely and we saw loads of wildlife.
Some friends from work, Mark, Miranda and Ewan were also on the Island at the same time as us so we met them for dinner and drinks most evenings. They did the cruise around the islands for the first half of their trip them came to Santa Cruz for the second week.

Mexico - Oaxaco and Mexico City

When we came back from Peru at Christmas the airline we flew with mucked us around so we were given $300 each of vouchers to fly anywhere we wanted- so we had to use them! We decided to visit Mexico because it was the cheapest location to visit from Quito. We arrived in Mexico City and only stayed for one night before heading to the city of Oaxaca. In Mexico City we found a great place to stay called Dakota Bed & Breakfast, it was a really funky designer place that was in a great location, near the World Trade Centre. The casa de cultura was down the road from our B&B so we explored it before heading to Oaxaca.
Oaxaco is a beautiful colonical city to the South East of Mexico City. It took us 6 hours to get there on a bus. We stayed in a hotel called, 'The Swallows,' which had a beautiful courtyard with flowers hanging everywhere. We wondered around the tranquil streets of Oaxaca and enjoyed the ambiance of the place.





After a couple of days of relaxing we took a tour to some local sites outside of the city. One of the most impressive was the 'Arbol del Tule,' which is the widest tree in the world. It has an incredible circumferene of 58m!! The pictures don't do it justice. We also visited some local ruins outside of Oaxaca, which were pretty amazing. Below are just a few of the pictures I took.


On returning to Mexico City we stayed at the same B&B. The whole city is really modern and funky. There are pieces of modern art everywhere you look. We loved it. Not unlike Columbia, we had been warned about this dangerous place but felt really safe and enjoyed every minute of it. We were lucky enough to attend an amazing free photography exhibition by Willy Sousa depicting pictures and films of the different Mexican cultures. It was one of the best exhibitions I have ever been to. The clip below shows you a glimpse of his work.

During our 2 days in Mexico city, we also visited the impressive Anthropology museum and wondered through some contempory neighbourhoods. Below are a few pictures.

BBQ and pool at Ewan and Miranda's

During our half term break (only 2 days!)we went for a BBQ at Miranda and Ewan's place. It's a great place to hang out as they have amazing views over looking the Canyon, a lovely swimming pool and a pool table! Some guys from work came along to celebrate carnival. It was a lovely afternoon........