As promised, here are a series of videos that we took while in Ecuador. This first clip gives a mini-tour of the gardens of Sachaloma – the property that Caleb’s grandparents are developing. (Note, I did not choose the music!)
We had a chance to visit Dave’s uncle’s farm in the foothills of Cotopaxi. He has a lot of animals that Caleb loved. Here’s a shot of the horses being corralled from the field to their stables for the night.
Later on we were able to get up close with a different group of horses. A little close for my comfort at one point!
The cows went through the same drill as the horses, but they were a little more calm so we could walk with them. Not sure if it’s easy to see, but one cow is pregnant. She was due any day, but it didn’t happen while we were there.
Llamas and alpacas are very common in Ecuador. There is one Llama on the farm named Santiago. She’s not featured in any video, so here’s a picture. 
Santiago used to be allowed in the house, but when she hit her teenage years she started misbehaving (i.e., nibbling) so she’s now restricted to a field right next to the house. You can see her through the kitchen, living room and most bedroom windows. When you go outside she comes when called and is very excited to see you. I think she was a little jealous of Caleb because Dave got some nibbles.
There are a number of smaller llamas on the farm called llamingos. They are very sweet and liked Caleb much more than the grown adults. We went to visit them just as they were put in their pen for the night. There’s a puma cat that lives on the mountain and he goes after the llamingos, so the high fence is for their protection. There were lots of eyes trained on Caleb.
Another adventure in our trip was returning to the hummingbird reservation where we hiked with Caleb when he was only 5 weeks old. This time around was a lot easier and he even did a lot of the walking himself. Here he is excited to be at the top. Notice the clouds rolling in behind him.
And then him tackling the trail on his own:
There’s a funny bathroom in the middle of the trail that we regretted not capturing last time. Here is the full experience:
Just outside of the bathroom hut is a nice sitting area. This is not the prime hummingbird watching location, but there is a feeder you can see with some activity. In fact the noise of the wings actually catches Caleb’s attention at one point.
Caleb insisted on walking down in his own unique way. With the altitude (we were even higher than Quito), he didn’t last long- maybe 10 mins. As soon as he asked to be picked up he was asleep.
Back at the hotel he had lots of fun hanging on a stainless steel rail (compliments of Conduit) overlooking the city. While the video may play tricks on your eyes, trust me this was all behind a very thick, secure glass wall. After you recover from your heart attack, be sure to enjoy the wonderful view of Quito.
