Greg Lewbart

The following travel log is a day-by-day account of our recent trip to Ecuadorian Amazonia and The Andes Mountains. We were on a North American Veterinary Conference Continuing Education Expedition with 42 other wonderful and engaged participants. Trip leaders and organizers Carol Walton and Doug Mader did a fantastic job in creating a lifetime experience packed (more…)

Sunday
June 19, 2011

We managed to make the bus with time for some complimentary coffee in the lobby! The bus ride to the airport (there were 29 of us on the early run) was uneventful and we moved through baggage check and security efficiently and in plenty of time for our 6:40 AM departure to Miami. We (more…)

Saturday
June 18, 2011

I walked about the Termas complex in search of coffee about 5 AM, but alas, there was none to be found. I worked on the computer some and then went into the hot pool in front of our room; Diane soon joined me and we had a pleasant steamy soak before getting dressed (more…)

Friday
June 17, 2011

Wake-up was at the more reasonable time of 6:30, although, Diane and I were both already up when the door knock came. We packed, cleaned up, and headed down for our last breakfast at Sacha. By 7:30 AM the canoes were loaded and one-by-one headed for the Anden trail and we were all soon (more…)

Thursday
June 16, 2011

Today was a true early day with a 5:30 wake-up call. Breakfast was at 6:00 and we rallied at the Choza location for our 6:30 trek to the “two towers” and canopy walk. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the first tower. Diane and Johanna were afraid and reluctant, but also brave, and we (more…)

Wednesday
June 15, 2011

We mistakenly received a 5:30 wake-up but I was up regardless. After breakfast our group, except for John, headed off on a 4-hour canoe trip and hike through an area known as La Garto (The Caiman). We saw plenty of plants, birds, and some new frogs.

We spent about an hour down at (more…)

Tuesday
June 14, 2011

I awoke early and worked on this travel journal and my talks. Our official knock-on-door wakeup call was at 6:00 and we started breakfast at 6:30. By 7:00 we were meeting Paul and Wilson at the canoes to begin our morning adventure. Jocelyn and John didn’t join us for the morning hike was just (more…)

Monday
June 13, 2011

I was up early and a couple of hotel workers generously provided me with some fresh brewed Café Americano about 5 AM. It was great! I worked on the computer a while until Di got up about 6:30. We packed, had breakfast with some of the group, and are now ready to head for (more…)

Sunday
June 12, 2011

We slept well and were up and ready for the tasty breakfast buffet about 7:30 AM. At 8:30 our group rallied in the hotel lobby and boarded a large Turismo bus, which we filled, and headed for Otavalo, where the largest traditional market in Ecuador is located.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otavalo

Along (more…)

Saturday
June 11, 2011

We took a Taxi to the airport and boarded our RDU to MIA flight at 1:15 PM, arriving in Miami about 3:00 PM. The flight was nice and pretty smooth, with good views of the Eastern Seaboard along the way. Everglades “back fires” altered our MIA approach but we were still on time, and (more…)