Vivarium, Jardin Botanico, Museo de Ciencias Naturales

Oh hi! Continuing our tour of Quito we headed off to Parque la Carolina, north of the Mariscal to see three attractions situated in the park...well it was a very sunny day.

Our first stop was the Vivarium, home to 87 reptiles native to Ecuador. We weren't disappointed. We got to see some very tiny tree frogs, a caymen, iguanas, gekos, terapins, and a whole variety of snakes.

The Boa Constrictor's were the star attractions for us...here are two sleeping.


Sleeping Emerald Boa Constrictors.


And finally, you could actually hold a Boa Constrictor! This one had been bred in captivity so wasn't aggressive, and was used to being handled. It's head is looped over itself by my left hand. This one was 15 years old and only a meter in length, but could eventually reach 4 and a half meters. It was incredibly beautiful, but not as lively as Michael's South American Garter snake, Trevor!


Next we nipped across the park to the Jardin Botanico, home to more than 300 plant and tree species form Ecuador. We walked around the grounds in the sunshine, the noises of the city humming away in the distance and a backdrop of skyscrapers. It was great to have the place to ourselves.

We enjoyed the orchid greenhouse.


We saw a lot more orchids in flower here than we did in Guatemala. This one was particularly unusual.


I have this plant! If Jenny Pinn hasn't killed it! LOLx


Wiji loved the cactus gardens...




We checked out the herb, medicine and agricultural gardens and watched some hummingbirds.

We then went off to the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, which according to the lonely planet, is the country's best natural history museum. It was quite odd and had a lot of 'threadbare' and miss-shapen stuffed animals, a bit like the Popayan natural history museum, but without the acrylic paint. Oh dear.

There were some interesting skeletons in this display that you could walk through. We marvelled at the jaw of a False Orcha, and the top of a skull of a Humpback Whale.


A skeleton of a sloth.


Wiji admired the condor...hope we actually see one on our travels, hopefully a bit healthier than this one.