I was walking slowly along the hiking trail in Mindo, a small mountain resort in Ecuador at 4000 feet above sea level, following the lead of Julia, my veteran bird guide. Suddenly she stopped and pointed somewhere up into the densely forested hillside - “Look up in the fork of the tree, on the left down branch, you’ll see the Masked Titter?” I asked her “the masked what?” Showing me the picture of the bird in her book “Birds of Ecuador”, she replied “It is the Masked Tityra, one of the flycatcher species that resides in Mindo”. With a considerable effort because of a bad neck, I looked up into canopy trying to spot this masked bird. Now, I am familiar with flycatchers from my days as a birdwatcher when I was a Zoology major at UC Berkeley many years ago. I know that many flycatchers love to perch on the edge of a tree branch or on a telephone wire, hopping off from time to time to grab a flying insect which is the staple of their diet. After 5-10 minutes of searching for this bird (trying to follow Julia’s direction), I finally spotted the medium sized flycatcher in my binoculars. He was a whitish and gray bird with a black mask and reddish facial markings along with a black tail and hindwings. I wanted to watch the handsome masked one for a while, but Julia prodded me to continue up the trail so we could see more birds.

During the 4 hour hike, Julia diligently pointed out to me at least 25 different species of birds including four species of Tanagers, a very colorful group of fruit eating birds - the lemon rumped tanager, the blue gray tanager, the gold tanager and the gray headed tanager - all very common “garden variety birds” in the Mindo area (especially the lemon rumped and the blue gray species). There were several species of euphonias, wrens, nuthatches, some very melodious (and noisy) warblers and at least three species of tropical hummingbirds. In addition to the Masked Tityra, we also sighted three other species of flycatchers - the very common Social Flycatcher, the Black crowned Tityra and the Black Phoebe. I sort of stopped in my tracks after seeing the Black Phoebe, a bird that I used to see on a regular basis in Northern California. I didn’t know that this flycatcher species ranged as far as the tropics. At least seeing him made me feel at home. I also heard a bird song that I was vaguely familiar with - that of a Grosbeak. I studied the nesting behavior of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak during my senior year in college; the tropical Grosbeak’s song was very similar.

In addition, with Julia’s diligence and persistence, I was able to see the very exotic looking Squirrel Cuckoo and the very uniquely named Immaculate Antbird. I guess that this antbird gets his name for not leaving a mess after he devours his meal -which consists mostly of ants - or maybe he is excellent at grooming himself. Who knows? We also sighted two species of woodpeckers, including the medium sized Scarlet-backed woodpecker (a male and female pair) that Julia claimed was the only pair that she had seen in the area, to which I retorted there must be some other individuals of this species in the general vicinity. After hearing my comments, she shook her head at me in disdain. We also heard (but did not see) at least two different species of Toucans calling in the bush - the fiery-billed Aracari and the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan. As we were walking up the trail, we passed by many holes that pockmarked the barren hillside on the left side of the road. Julia explained to me, that these holes were the nests the Blue crowned Motmot and most them had been abandoned some time ago. Julia spotted a Blue crowned Motmot high up in the canopy, but I gave up trying to spot it because of my bad neck.

I must admit that unlike most of Julia’s customers, I was not an avid birdwatcher nor was I trying to add new birds to my life list. With my best birdwatching days behind me, I would call myself as somebody who has an interest in the broad spectrum of natural history. Needless, to say, I was very rusty at spotting birds in the wild with a pair of binoculars. Oh well, despite the language problems - Julia’s English wasn’t the greatest and my Spanish was even worse - I would say I truly enjoyed my birdwatching outing. Maybe I should do it more often….

The following story is true - nothing has been fabricated or adulterated despite
the incredible nature of what transpired.

After a night of carousing on a festive holiday weekend in honor of the town’s patron saint, Papa Mono was returning to his hotel on his last night in Mindo, a small mountain resort in Ecuador popular with birdwatchers and young adventure enthusiasts. On the way, he stopped to chat to one of the vendors located on the town square. In a happy go lucky mood, Papa Mono bought a small handmade coin purse - his only souvenir from his trip to Ecuador. As he scrutinized his new trinket, he noticed a mottled brown and white moth fluttering in the lights. The moth landed on his new coin purse, apparently attracted to either the fabric or the bright colors.

Navigating his way back to his hotel over 1/4 mile away, Papa Mono passed by throngs of late night revelers who were gathered around the town square. Amazingly throughout this journey ,“the little hitchhiker” remained firmly attached to the new coin purse. Arriving safely at his hotel room, Papa Mono insisted on taking a picture of the little creature in exchange for providing a free ride. After all nothing is free in life! Turning on the light, he placed the coin purse with the clinging little hitchhiker on one of the wooden beams and rushed to get his camera and tripod. Just as he was setting things up for the picture, the little hitchhiker flew away into the rafters. Damn ingrate creature…

After waking up early in the morning, Papa Mono noticed that the little moth had planted itself on the wall in the entryway to the room. After carefully placing the coin purse next to the moth, he grabbed his camera and viola, he was able to get these dramatic pictures of “the little hitchhiker”.

It happened while Papa Mono was at Posada Amazonas, an all-inclusive jungle lodge not far from Puerto Maldonado located in Peru’s Amazonian basin. It could have happened anywhere in the world, but it happened here - in Papa Mono’s stomping grounds. Papa Mono went to the public lounge to hook up his laptop to the lodge’s telephone line in order to access the Internet. Sitting down the couch, I asked the tourist who was fiddling on his palm pilot whether he was using the line - the answer was no. I was taken aback when this tourist starts nosing into my business whereupon he asked me, “Unless you’re monitoring your stock portfolio, why can’t you wait until you get home for the Internet. What could be so important anyway?” Well, I was about to tell to this intrusive character - that it is his none of his business, why doesn’t he chill and eat a banana or two, but political correctness and diplomacy got the better of me so I answered him very civilly - “Papa Mono needs to make an entry into his travel blog”. Apparently satisfied with my answer, this boorish lout (double entendre) with palm pilot in hand proceeded to call out to some young preadolescent girls trying to recruit them as playmates for his daughters. Papa Mono reckons that he must have been from British Columbia, Canada. No American would have acted as boorishly as this!

It happened while boarding an early morning flight on American airlines on 9/11 from Quito to Miami. As I walked thru the first class compartment of the aircraft, I happened to overhear a somewhat unusual request from a middle-aged American passenger who was sitting with his wife - Calling the stewardess over, the bloke asked her “When you have some time, could you please bring us a glass of champagne”. The time was about 8:00AM - I guess “Mr. Big Shot” had to wait awhile for his champagne, as the flight was delayed an hour or so because of a problem with the jet’s fuel pump. Oh well…

It’s not Rome, Florence or Milan. No, it’s not New York, Chicago or even San Francisco. Surprise - my nomination is Aguas Calientes, a small town in the Peruvian Andes which has the distinction of being the closest settlement to the famous archaeological site of Machu Picchu. Most visitors to this fabled Incan city will either pass thru the small, hilly town of Aguas Calientes as an afterthought while others (like myself) end up staying a maximum of one night before moving on. Walking around town, the sheer volume of restaurants and cafes in Aguas Calientes overwhelmed me; most of them were virtually empty. What was even more astounding was the number of restaurants featuring pizza - wood oven pizza, deep-dish pizza, and thin crust pizza - pizza was all around me.

For the life of me, I do not understand how restaurants in this small tourist town can survive in the long run, as on any given night, there just aren’t enough tourists to go around. The competition for the tourist dollar must be very fierce - many restaurants feature a very liberal happy hour or some other gimmick, like sexy gals in skimpy attire, in an attempt to lure new customers. I should also mention that on the average, restaurant prices for a meal and drinks are higher in this town than anywhere else in Peru, save Miraflores - the upscale tourist zone of Lima. In fact, to prove a point how hungry these restaurants are for business, I was easily able to negotiate 30% discount on my dinner at a small restaurant on my only night in town. The following day, while celebrating my reign as “King of the World”, I was able to demand (and receive) a 20% discount off my order of a small vegetarian pizza.

Aguas Calientes has some redeeming attractions other than its close proximity to the ruins - the Plaza de Armas (the main square) which features an impressive monument of the former Incan King and the nearby thermal hot springs are a wonderful place to soothe those aching muscles after a long hike, even though the temperature of the bath waters could be several degrees higher.

Papa Mono is known all around the civilized world to be somewhat of a joker and a clown - some people love his act and some people just wish he would go back to the jungle where he belongs, climb a tree and eat some more bananas. Oh well, you know what they say - you can’t please all the people all of the time!

I have to admit that on my recent trip to Ecuador, a young lady who worked at the hotel that I stayed at in the mountain resort of Mindo definitely made Papa Mono sweat a bit with one of her practical jokes. I guess you could say, that she tried to make a monkey out of Papa Mono. The young lady in question was named Rosea - although I admit she was somewhat of a cutie, because of her relative youth, she was definitely hands off for Papa Mono and I made absolutely no attempt to flirt with her for the duration of my short stay there. I acted like my regular “ape self” - in other words like a clown.

It happened on the day I was leaving Mindo to catch the public bus to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, for my final night in South America. I had just returned to my guesthouse by taxi after visiting an upscale nature lodge in the Mindo Area. The time was about 1:10PM, and the bus was scheduled to leave downtown Mindo at 2:00PM. As I was more or less packed and ready to go and the bus station was only 5 minutes away from the guesthouse, I thought had a little breathing room. After getting out of the taxi, I summoned Rosea, whereupon I told her in Spanish, I was checking out now and had to catch the 2:00PM bus to Quito, so could she please retrieve my valuables from the hotel safe and give them to me? She gave me this weird look, shook her head and told me she didn’t know where the key to the safe was.

I was a little bit concerned and started to sweat a bit, as my passport (and one of my travelers check) was in the hotel safe box, and I could not leave Ecuador, let alone leave Mindo to catch my bus to Quito, without my passport. I tell Rosea, I cannot leave the country without my passport, and begged her to find the key or maybe call the owner in Quito to see if he knew where the key was. I knew that a phone call wasn’t going to happen, as their telephone lines weren’t working. All the time, she had this real dumb look on her face.

In the meantime, I went to my room and hurriedly finished my packing. Ten minutes later after I had gotten all my belongings together, the time was 1:25PM and I went back to the lobby and beckoned for Rosea. She came out with a little smile on her face she asked me “What do you have in the safe?” to which I answered “My passport and a traveler’s check.” About a minute later, she comes out with a manila envelope containing my valuables and hands it to me, again with the same stupid smile on her face. I thanked Rosea profusely, and ask her how much do I owe her for the laundry, to which she replied $5USD - one or two dollars more than I expected - but what the hell, I just wanted to get out of there so I nodded and said no problema. Handing her a $20 bill, I told her to keep a $5 tip for herself and the other employee at the lodge and give me 10 dollars change. She came out a minute or two later, shaking her head, that she only had 9USD. Ok, I said, No problem I said as I took my change, thanking her again for everything whereupon I grabbed my bags and my parcel, and jumped into the waiting taxi, waving goodbye to the smiling Rosea.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, let alone an aging monkey like myself, to figure out that Rosea was playing a little joke on Papa Mono - she knew where the key was all the time. Before leaving, I hurriedly looked at my watch - it was 1:35PM. I made to the bus station at 1:40 PM, twenty minutes before the scheduled departure. Breathing a quick sigh of relief, I quickly downed a beer and broke out with a big smile on my face and said to myself - ” Whoosh, that was a close call. Rosea and her practical jokes.”