Siempre verde reserve

We went to Siempre Verde Reserve in Northwestern Ecuador (Intag). This reserve is managed by Alex Reynolds a good friend of mine from many years ago that works with orchids and now teaches in Lovett School in Atlanta. Here you can see the entrance to the forest and Alex and the whole group of faculty that went there.
My friend Mike from Atlanta Botanical Gardens was also there. Mike is one of my Atlanta angels, he helps me with my plants in ABG. It was so good to see old friends. We of course went in an orchid hunt for my work, we saw some really cool plants and animals, which includes a spectacle bear, two different tucan species, hummingbirds, moths and a guatusa (I don't know the name in English).

These are the trails that we walkedDay 1: Waterfall and river trail

This was an interesting fun trail. Alex told us that it was fun and short but at my speed, looking for orchids it took us the whole day. It was a lot of fun.

Mike and Jeff at the waterfall

Close to home Jeff lost his boot in the mud. For those who don't know this pair of boots were his anniversary present from a couple of years ago so the boots are a treasure in different levels.

Jeff looses boot and almost sock while enjoying a tamarind lollipop

Boot

Tropical body saves the boot
This is Mike, super happy because he found a Stellilabium

Other orchids we found in the wayDay 2: Hike 1000 m (up to 3160 m of altitude) to El Mirador

This was a pretty steep hike that crossed through several ecosystems. I went super slow looking for orchids, taking pictures, collecting and complaining. As I write, my legs are very sore. Anyway, the forest on the upper part of the reserve is a beautiful, Lord of the Rings kind of forest, here you can see Jeff walking through the moss covered roots.

This is all the way up in the Mirador (observation point) but as you can imagine in a cloud forest by the time we got there it was perfectly cloudy.

Mike, Nelson, Jeff and Judy enjoying the view.

Nelson and Jeff . Jeff is trying to find signal for his phone...no signalLittle treasures that we found

This is a "sunset" in a cloud forestBesides all what people think I do work, here you can see me unhappily pressing plants.This is Alex saying good bye to us as we are leaving in the back of the truck which is one of the best things in life (if it is not raining).

For all of you that have not been in Ecuador I let you know that a trip is never complete if you don't have a flat tire. Here, and to complete our trip, we are changing the tire of the truck that took us to Apuela.

Here we are in Santa Rosa and I am having fun with "Junior" a sweet kid from the reserve that runs all over the trails faster than any of us can. He is one of the happiest kids I have ever met in my life. We drove in the back of the truck and he kept on making sure that I will not hurt my head with the branches.

This is a picture of Jeff working, yes....he is working

So I put this picture here because for a long time I have been trying to find what makes me super happy and I believe that this is one of the things in life that make me the happiest.

Thanks Alex for making this possible!