Relaxing in the Papallacta Hot Springs (Tuesday, December 26th, 2017)

We have loved our time here in the rain forest!  It is one of those places that draws you in and dares you to take a closer look at everything around you.  It is intriguing, scary and completely tranquil all at the same time. 

It was raining hard this morning, which gave me a little more time before breakfast to take in the views just one last time before saying goodbye to the amazing place.

I decided to take the time to climb up to the top of the dining room.  It is three floors with an observation deck on top that offers fantastic views of the entire Napo River valley.

And the dining room itself is just really interesting to look at.

I could see most of the hotel from up here.

Then I headed down stairs, we checked out of our room and headed to breakfast.  I have really enjoyed the healthy breakfasts here, but probably my favorite thing was the home made plain yogurt.  They also had some flavored with fruits, but I really like plain with a little granola or oats.  

Today I treated myself to something very special.  Being that we are in the chocolate capital of the world, they had chocolate sprinkles on the breakfast bar each morning.  (They were supposed to be for the fresh made donuts), but I decided that since this was the last morning, I was going to add some of them to my yogurt and oats. Oh My Gosh!  I have never tasted chocolate this good ever in my life!  I should have been eating these every morning and just skipping all the rest of my meals for the day!!!!

After I came off of my chocolate high, we jumped into our canoes for the last time and headed to the point where the bus dropped us off two days ago.

We are really going to miss these canoes.  They are amazing for getting around on the river.

As we crossed over the river in the bus, there were some fishermen out fishing in the rain.  I guess that when you live in the rain forest, you just learn to do everything in the rain.

As we were stretching our legs at one of the rest stops, we were talking to Sergey and Yanna who said that they brought tea tree oil instead of full on bug spray, and they were really regretting their decision.  Sergey said he hadn't gotten much sleep in 2 nights because his legs were so itchy from all of his bites.  I wish we had known sooner so we could share our deet based spray with them.  He was covered in bites and looked miserable.

More beautiful views as we left the rain forest and made our way back toward Quito, Ecuador.

A rough spot in the highway. 

We passed this truck on the road.  He was taking his donkey out for a stroll I guess, it was tethered to the truck with a rope as they rolled down the road.

Shortly after we went back over the pass of the Virgin, we turned off the highway and drove through the little town of Papallacta.  This town is at about 10,000 feet, so it is cool and misty most of the time.

Our reason for coming to this little town is their well known hot spring pools.

When we checked in at the hot springs, they gave us our locker key and a bathing cap to use while we are here.  The locker rooms were very nice and had lots of completely private, very nice showers available as well.





There were pools of all different sizes and temperatures to choose from, and the grounds were gorgeous!

Such a styling family!

Then it was time for some lunch.



More magic aji sauce.  The Ecuadorean people love this stuff and so do we!

When we finished lunch, we jumped back on the bus for the remained or today's trip.  Our final destination in Ecuador was the Quito airport.  

Taking a little reprieve before we had to face the crowds again.

At the Quito airport, we had to say goodbye to our beloved guide Giovanna, who took such great care of us while we were in Ecuador and taught us so many great things about her country.  We will truly miss her!  

From Quito we flew to Lima, Peru where we will spend one night at the Costa Del Sol Wyndham before moving on again. 

This was one of the more exhausting days of our trip so far with five hours of driving followed by the short flight from Quito to Lima.  It was so nice to stop at the Papallacta Hot Springs to unwind and relax for awhile.  It really helped to break up the trip!

A Journey to the Unknown (Sunday, August 21st, 2016)

I awoke this morning to packed suit cases and breakfast waiting for me, so I asked Steve what was going on.  He said he had a surprise planned for me and that I should get ready to go. He said that I should plan on being gone over-night.  So like any good wife would do, I got ready as quick as I could, and off we went.  

Our first stop was McDonalds for a couple of hot coffees, and then we continued up highway 6 through Clear Creek Canyon.  It is always such a scenic drive that I just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the views!   Highway 6 eventually runs into I-70 West, and we continued on our way to some unknown location.  We kept climbing higher and higher into the beautiful Rocky Mountains. The aspen groves with their white trunks stood out on the mountain sides.

As we went through West Vail, we saw a couple of parasailers to the south of us.

The mountains of Colorado can be quite unforgiving, and trucker's let their brakes get too hot, they fail, and have to use the run-away truck ramps.  That's a bad day no matter how you look at it.



Then we continued onto a stretch of highway where we often see bald eagles.  Since I didn't have any idea what the plan for the day was, I asked Steve if we could take a little time to see if we could get a picture of a bald eagle.  So of course, he humored me and pulled off the highway in Gypsum.  After exiting, we headed back east through the Gypsum Wildlife Refuge.  We spent about an hour driving through and taking pictures, but to my dismay, there were no bald eagles to be seen.  But it is such a pretty place, I really wasn't disappointed at all.  

So back on the highway we went, continuing west. As we headed through Glenwood Canyon, we enjoyed the sights of the huge rocky cliffs, overhanging the Colorado River below.

The canyon is so narrow in places, that much of the highway had to be stacked in order to accommodate two lanes for the increased traffic. If you look closely you can see the east bound lanes below us.

When we hit the town of Glenwood Springs, I was starting to suspect where we might be going, but I just kept to myself to see how it all played out.

Our first stop was an old cemetery in Glenwood Springs called the Linwood Cemetery.  It is the final resting place for both Doc Holliday and Kid Curry.  Steve said that although it would be fun to see their graves, the reviews said that the views on the way up to the cemetery were as good as the cemetery itself.  So we decided to take the short hike to see it all.

We decided to do a big loop instead of coming and going the same way, so our climb up was via the maintenance road.  It had some nice views of north Glenwood Springs.  

We looked around the cemetery for awhile at many of the old graves that are located there.  

And then we went looking for the grave of Doc Holliday.  He is best know for his part in the shoot out at OK Coral.  The interesting thing about Doc Holliday is that he died in a hospital in Glenwood Springs of tuberculosis, with no money to his name.  He lived from August 14, 1851 to November 8, 1887.  He is buried somewhere in the cemetery, probably in the Potter's Field, but no one really knows where.  

After leaving Doc Holliday's memorial, with the flag standing nearby, we stumbled upon the grave of a girl who died in 1912, at the age of twelve.  We were intrigued to see that there was still a doll and stuffed animals adorning her grave.

Next we came to the section of the cemetery call the Potters Field. As the picture below explains, the potters field is where the "unbefriended" are buried.  It is where many of the communities poorer residents are buried, as well as visitors to the area and known people that may have drown in the river.

In the Potter's Field section of the cemetery, we also found the grave of Kid Curry.  He was a famous train robber in Colorado.  After robbing the No.5 Denver and Rio Grande train, he and his accomplices were surrounded by a posse and a shootout ensued.  Kid Curry was shot, and ended up taking his own life to keep from being arrested.

Most of the other people buried in the Potter's Field are known only by a number.  They have only a small metal marker distinguishing their graves, most of which are now unreadable. The grave below now lies right in the middle of the path, marked only by rocks surrounding the metal marker.

As we made our way down the western trail, there we beautiful views of Glenwood Springs in all directions as we descended back to our car.

The Historic Hotel Colorado in the background

When we left the cemetery, we made a quick stop to check out a new hot springs that our friends had told us about.  It is called Iron Mountain Hot Springs, and has about 15 different hot tubs all kept at slightly different temperatures, two of which are reflexology pools with stones in the bottom, and a larger family pool.  It is $25 per person per day, with in and out privileges. They serve food and drinks, including alcohol, so the only things that are allowed in are water and gatorade.  We think we might give this a try tomorrow.

After we left the hot springs, we got back on I-70 and continued west to the town of Silt.  This is where I thought we might be going.  

There is a little Holiday Inn Express on the South side of the highway that our friend Dawn recommended to us several years ago.  I just love it!  It's not fancy, it is just a normal Holiday Inn Express, but the back of the hotel faces the Colorado River, with many room on the south side having either a balcony or patio that overlooks the river.  

Steve and I don't usually stay in super nice hotels, since our goal when we're traveling is to spend as little time in the hotel as possible, but this little gem is the exception. But I guess the caveat is that we still don't spend much time in the hotel, we spend it on the porch or balcony.  It is such a relaxing place, watching the river and the wildlife that call it home.



We headed into Silt for lunch, and upon the recommendation of the hotel manger, we ate at a little place downtown called Thai Chili Bistro.  We shared a chicken green curry and garlic pork.  Both were very good.  Something we didn't expect in such a small town.







They brought us fried wonton strips with sweet and sauce sauce for starters, then we had the choice of hot and sour or egg drop soup. We both had the hot and sour, which was a little different than we are used to, but very good.  





Then back to the hotel for an afternoon of relaxation!







And this is why we stay here.  The river is literally right outside our door.

Just down the road from the hotel is this silly silo with a tree growing out of it.

We enjoy just being outside in this area, and today the weather is gorgeous!

The view from the patio outside the breakfast room.

After lunch, we spent our afternoon at the hotel, sitting in the grass outside our room, under a tree in the shade.  It was so relaxing and peaceful!  The thing that seemed strange to Steve and I is that we didn't see anyone else outside all day.  There were a few kids in the indoor pool, but that was it.  We have this incredibly beautiful setting, and we were the only two people outside enjoying it. Kinda weird.

As evening approached, we headed inside to get ready for dinner. Steve had made us a reservation at my favorite restaurant in Silt, called the Miners Claim.  It has a casual atmosphere,but we decided to dress up a little bit for the occasion.  

They are famous for their steaks and martinis.  Sunday night at the Miner's Claim is also all you can eat crab legs, but that would mean we would have to forego the steak, so that's a tough choice.

Each entree comes with bread and soup or salad, and we really enjoy their salads, so that is usually what we order, but the soup of the day today is seafood chowder and our waitress Kim assured us that it's really good.  So we both ordered the chowder.  

We both started with a martini, which is their drink specialty. Most martini on the menu are about $8. Steve ordered a dirty vodka martini, which was not on the menu, and to our surprise, it ended up costing more than the specialty martinis on the menu.  His was $10, which was fine, but just surprising.  I had a caramel apple martini, which was to die for.



Steve had their nightly steak special which was blackened ribeye with grilled onions and peppers and I had the new york strip with a mushroom and onion kettle.  They did not leave us disappointed! When Steve called to make our reservation, he had let them know that it was my birthday, so Kim finished our meal with a complimentary hot lava cake, complete with a candle.  It was so good!

As we finished our dessert, we asked Kim if the fire pit was going and she said that if it wasn't, it would be by the time we got out there, so we each ordered one more martini to enjoy by the fire pit. Steve had a chocolate raspberry and I had a butter baby, which was basically butterscotch and baileys.  YUM!  We moved out to the fire pit, where one other couple was sitting.  They were also from the Denver area and we really enjoyed talking to them.  When they left, Steve and I were alone by the fire pit, but all of the waiters came by to say hi and talk for a few minutes.  This seems to be a tradition at the Miners Claim.  They are all so friendly, and we really enjoy our time talking with them. Several of the wait staff, including Kim, have kids that will be starting college soon, so it was fun to get their perspective on being the parents of soon to be college students. Pam, one of the waitresses that we really like wasn't there tonight because she was delivering one of her kids to college.  

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep in preparation for tomorrow.