Loja-Amaluza-Jimbura-Zumba-Palanda-Valladolid-Vilcabamba-Loja

We went to Loja in the search of one orchid for my research that is endemic to a little spot in a mountain in South Ecuador. This second part of the trip was the most productive because I found this important orchid but this whole trip was awesome, many road adventures (the road does not even appear in the 2009 map of Ecuador), a lot of cows sleeping in the middle of the road, a lot of mud, a lot of fog, a lot of big rivers to cross, a lot of buses in our one way road, a lot of everything. We made this trip with my colleagues from the University of Loja and their student.

This picture is in Cariamanga, having "cafecito" - a small morning coffee

This is Amaluza a very small, beautiful and old town that was established by the Spaniards, the church and landscape is beautiful.

This is from the inside of the church looking at the main plazaJeff owning the main plaza

Just next to our hotel there was a rooster fight arena - this is the picture of the "Beak and spur International Coliseum of Roosters ", no fights took place but we did hear the neighborhood roosters super early.
We went in the search for my very important plant and I was pretty happy when we found it, despite the fact that the pasture was full of cows and bulls that kept on following Jeff's really red rain jacket. Actually Jeff was the one who brought them towards us. This picture is of the happy moment finding my plant.

This is my plant...I know, in life there are some really strange things that make us happy!

I am still happy, we are observing another population on a Podocarpus tree. Carlos is next to me.This is not such a happy moment, these animals were not happy either, to our luck Beto, a student knows how to deal with cows with big horns.Escaping...but I am still happy that we found my plant

So where we were it is really really close to the border with Peru, our GPS often got confused, in the picture we are in Ecuador but our car is in Peru, no welcome sign so we assumed that it was not Peru plus it did not feel like we were in Peru. The border is a huge river but we were close.Jeff helping me find plants

So after this great finding we headed for a sunset in the top of the mountain, we love highlands and this is a pretty spectacular one. I have been there a couple of times but it has never been clear and as beautiful as the pictures that you are going to see.

Jeff climbing the stairway to heaven

It was very cold, here you can see us FREEZING while Jeff is enjoying the Stairway to Heaven.
On the next day we started our day in Amaluza where Jeff found this cute "Che" ranchera, a popular transport for the locals even if it rains and you get soaked.On the second day I had the great idea of trying to find this plant on the other side of the mountain at the same altitude. We have never been in the Jimbura-Zumba road, is pretty new and it still does not appear in the maps, it took 20 years to finish. It was beautiful although a pretty hard drive, lots of rain, clay and fog plus it was so cold and miserable that we did not want to get out of the car. We did not find my plant but we saw tons of other beautiful orchids and a great landscape. This drive is truly not good for people who suffer from vertigo, heart disease or that don't like bumpy slippery roads.

We started in Amaluza, on the way up the mountain we took some natives in the truck because despite of the distance they go to church on Sunday. These region is well know to be a "longevity valley" where many inhabitants surpass the 100 years, so for the very old ladies that were hitchhiking Jeff and Beto galantly offered their sits in the front of the car and went in the bed of the truck. By the end of the trip to Jimbura the bed of the truck was full and Jeff shared his spot with chickens. This pictures are from the trip down the mountain, the video is of a very common landscape, cows on the road