Pick-up at 7:00 am. Some 55 km (41 miles) East of Quito the road brings us into the high elevation paramo at Papallacta, a very tundra-like habitat. On clear days the views of the surroundings and various volcanoes are breath-taking; a stop right up at the pass is one of the best spots  to photograph the snow-capped Antisana Volcano as it towers over the mountains below.
If weather allows, from this point on you should start scanning the sky from time to time for the Andean Condor,  Variable Hawk,  Carunculated  Caracara  and Black-chested  Buzzard-Eagle, that may soar overhead.We’ll check stands of Polylepis woodland for Giant Conebill , Black-backed Bush Tanager, White-chinned Thistletail, Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanager, Pearled Treerunner, Golden-crowned Tanager, Pale-naped Brush-Finch and the scarce Red-rumped Bush-Tyrant. At the highest elevations we’ll seek out  the secretive and cryptic  Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe. 

The surroundings of Quito provide different opportunities to find wild bears and other emblematic fauna with good chances of close encounters. Bears can be found in the cloud forests and paramos (highlands) around the District of Quito.It is  in the paramo, north east of Quito where, in few days, you can increase your probabilities of a great encounter with bears and other Andean wildlife, sometimes close enough to have wonderful views and photographs. The area to visit covers the surroundings of two national parks with special natural feeding sites where the presence of bears is frequent all year round.