Packing Update

I succeeded in packing all my camera equipment (I did take all 3 lenses, plus the underwater camera, 9 memory cards, 3 batteries, and 2 battery chargers), as well as all my clothes, toiletries, travel-size hand sanitizer and travel-size toilet paper (the last two items definitely came in handy).

What I failed to bring were binoculars.

Birds tend to be smalll (I have yet to see a wild ostrich, but I have seen plenty of tiny little songbirds) and they tend not to come real close to you, and, most importantly, they tend to look a lot alike from a distance. So birding is almost impossible without a pair of binoculars. You just can't tell the birds apart with the naked eye unless you are holding them in your hands.

Normally, hubby packs my binoculars when we travel, since I'm always carrying a ridiculous amount of camera equipment. But when we went to Belize, luggage space was tight and we each packed our own binoculars. We were supposed to do the same thing for Ecuador, except it never even occurred to me to pack them. Or even to ask hubby if he was packing them (had I asked, he would have said no, and I would have packed them myself. But alas, I didn't ask).

I didn't even think about binoculars until our plane was halfway from Miami to Quito and my husband reached into his carry-on to get something, and I caught of glimpse of his binoculars. And realized that mine were back home in Texas.

I was able to borrow a pair from our guide the first week in Ecuador, and while they were very old and exceptionally heavy, they worked out pretty well. But it sure would have been great if I had brought my own!