Gang of dogs

A gang of dogs in Baños (see earlier post).

There are a couple of mongrel dogs called Diana and Bobby that spend time around the house, but unlike some of the excitable dogs here they are sweet natured and lovely and defend the house at night (not that there is really anything to defend us from). They have owners but we feed them too because we like having them around.

Fresh bread and marmite

Our cook, Celia, makes fresh bread most mornings and we chow it down with the marmite that Claire bought (all gone now!) and eggs and fresh juice.

The house we are staying in here is very simple - the walls in the sleeping quarters are falling apart and you can see through the cracks in the wooden planks to the outside. We get woken at 5.30 each morning from the sun streaming in and by the roosters down the road. It's beautiful and still in the morning. We spend the days walking and trying to find signs of bear tracks to place the traps in the best places. If we are not walking or monitoring traps we spend the day doing laundry by hand in the sink out the back of the house, or reading in hammocks. It's very quiet and peaceful. In the afternoon it usually clouds over and at dusk sometimes there is a hazy white cloud covering everything and you cant see more than about 50 metres. we really are in a cloud forest! We saw a huge beautiful moth last night the size of a sparrow, beating itself against the light at out house. Most nights after tea we sit in the kitchen reading and there are moths divebombing at our eyes and mouths.

We have a camping trip planned for tomorrow - it's a tough five or six hour trek in with all the gear but apparently once we are there it is beautiful and we will have meals with a local family who will make fresh bread each day.

Stacey