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The Forest That Blooms Brilliantly for Just a Few Days a Year

38 points by prismatic 9y ago

RickJWag 9y ago
Amazing, and interesting. I like HN for the programming news, but articles like this are frosting on the cake.
Larrikin 9y ago
Reminds me a little of hanami season in Japan. The trees bloom a little longer, but it's amazing nonetheless. It's just particularly sad when it rains during the bloom and the season is cut short after the rain has pounded all the delicate petals down.
bikamonki 9y ago
AMA about Ecuador if you ever plan to come visit ;)
- samschooler 9y ago
  What do you think are some things tourists and backpackers miss about Ecuador when they visit (whether it be tips, misconceptions, or spots to visit)?
  - bikamonki 9y ago
    We do not tip. By law, a 10% is added to hotel and retaurant bills, which is then split among all employees. However, tips from tourists are common so go ahead and do it if the service was worth it. Backpackers will miss cheap food and rooms found while touring our neighbours. A booming decade has increased purchasing power for most ecuadoreans, naturally, that's made everything more expensive to buy, in particular restaurants and hotels. For instance, I just booked Airbnb in Prague for less of what I paid (per nite) for a room in Puerto López (awesome beach town) during our past holiday. A couple of weeks ago on a road trip to Riobamba I paid $10 for a fritada (a local dish made of fried pork and sides) and a glass of fruit juice. I still remember paying $3-$4 for the same meal not many years ago! Tickets for local flights are super expensive. Booking a flight from the capital Quito to any other city will cost from $150 to $300 round trip. On the bright side, we have good roads and plenty of bus routes. As far as places to visit, thing to do, let me put it this way: the place is so diverse and so small, that on a week-long trip you can do a lot of stuff except snow skiing.
diego_moita 9y ago
Guayacan (Tabebuia) is a family of trees very common all over South America. In Brazil it is called Ipê Amarelo and is the national flower of the country. In Brazil, there is also another variety in purple, called Ipê Roxo, just as striking. The flowering of the Ipês/Guayacanes is one of those things that mesmerize foreigners but Latin Americans are too used to it to pay attention.

38 points by prismatic 9y ago

Amazing, and interesting. I like HN for the programming news, but articles like this are frosting on the cake.

Reminds me a little of hanami season in Japan. The trees bloom a little longer, but it's amazing nonetheless. It's just particularly sad when it rains during the bloom and the season is cut short after the rain has pounded all the delicate petals down.

bikamonki 9y ago

AMA about Ecuador if you ever plan to come visit ;)

samschooler 9y ago
What do you think are some things tourists and backpackers miss about Ecuador when they visit (whether it be tips, misconceptions, or spots to visit)?
- bikamonki 9y ago
  We do not tip. By law, a 10% is added to hotel and retaurant bills, which is then split among all employees. However, tips from tourists are common so go ahead and do it if the service was worth it. Backpackers will miss cheap food and rooms found while touring our neighbours. A booming decade has increased purchasing power for most ecuadoreans, naturally, that's made everything more expensive to buy, in particular restaurants and hotels. For instance, I just booked Airbnb in Prague for less of what I paid (per nite) for a room in Puerto López (awesome beach town) during our past holiday. A couple of weeks ago on a road trip to Riobamba I paid $10 for a fritada (a local dish made of fried pork and sides) and a glass of fruit juice. I still remember paying $3-$4 for the same meal not many years ago! Tickets for local flights are super expensive. Booking a flight from the capital Quito to any other city will cost from $150 to $300 round trip. On the bright side, we have good roads and plenty of bus routes. As far as places to visit, thing to do, let me put it this way: the place is so diverse and so small, that on a week-long trip you can do a lot of stuff except snow skiing.

diego_moita 9y ago

Guayacan (Tabebuia) is a family of trees very common all over South America. In Brazil it is called Ipê Amarelo and is the national flower of the country. In Brazil, there is also another variety in purple, called Ipê Roxo, just as striking. The flowering of the Ipês/Guayacanes is one of those things that mesmerize foreigners but Latin Americans are too used to it to pay attention.