nass' pictures of the trip

http://picasaweb.google.com/Nasser.Thalji/EcuadorTrip#

Lots of pictures from various activities during his visit. Well annotated, as well.
What's missing (in no particular order):
-The flat tire in Sogichos when we couldn't find the jack. It started to rain as soon as we realized we had a flat.
-Pictures of how bad the roads were later in the Quilatoa loop, or in Mindo.
-Any pictures from wine night (thank god!)
-Pictures of the night playing darts with the cotocollao volunteers (a horde of Americans spending a year working in an extremely poor neighborhood in Quito, out to enjoy themselves in the Mariscal one night).
-Pictures of the drive back from Mindo at night - not the smartest thing that's ever been done. Dark, smog, rain, and fallen rocks strewn across a windy 2 lane blacktop through the mountains. I don't think much of anything would have come out in pictures, anyway.

Random note - I saw a handful of hummingbirds, a toucan and a green parrot during our hike to the waterfalls in Mindo - I don't think that Nasser caught sight of any of those birds. I'm thinking that I'm getting better at the bird spotting, and I'm not sure if that's a skill I want to have, or want to boast about.

Today, by the way, was a gorgeous, sunny and balmy day. It figures that the weather would be this way as soon as our guests left. There was more rain, in more copious amounts, with more hail during their stay than I have ever seen here before.