LEAVING THE NAPO, BACK TO QUITO

Leaving the Napo back to Quito Day 6

After breakfast we had a short canoe ride to a Turtle reintroduction facility. Here they hatch and keep the little guys till they are about 8 months old, then they are released back into the wild. Turtles are a food source for the local folks so this project helps keep the population sustainable. 

Back to the Anakonda for a early lunch as we need to leave for Coca. This will take us two hours up river in the motor canoes. It is still very hot but the canoe ride air feels great. We land in Coca and say farewell to some of our naturalist guides. A bus takes us to the airport and then the 35 minute flight back to Quito. We check back into the JW Marriott and our bags are delivered to our rooms. 

The ABD folks have arranged a very reasonable laundry service and we sort out a few dirty items to take advantage of this service. 

Our room is a nice top floor room and we have a pretty darn nice view of Quito. 

After cleaning up and unpacking, we make our way by Bus to Zazu, a local restaurant which my research shows to be the best Quito has to offer. 

We were greeted with a glass of champaign and escorted to cooking stations, where we were given an apron. A chef was assigned to each table and guided us on the preparation of ceviche. A fun time was had by all. Note, in Ecuador the ceviche has the seafood cooked prior to adding it to the mix. In other ceviche the citrus juice is used to cook the seafood. 

Following our preparation we were escorted to our tables for dinner. Here we enjoyed an amazing meal, we were served our ceviche followed by a seared tuna and then the main course of  lamb shank. The meal ended with a nice rich chocolate cake, gnocchi, and raspberry sorbet.  All was beyond excellent. 

Full and content after a long day, we came home and fell quickly asleep.