From One Extreme to Another I´m writing this update by candlelight in a fabulous cabin with extensive views of misty mountains, at Santa Lucia Cloudforest Reserve. We have just spent the last 2 days in noisy bustling Quito (capital of Ecuador) and I can´t quite believe that after a 1 1/2 hours bus trip that wound its way through the mountains, a very bumpy 4WD trip (30 mins) and then a 1 1/2 hour hike that climbed 400m in 2km that I´m sitting here and all I can hear is the rain on the roof and the crickets happily chirping [View Full Entry]

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The last week has been hectic... Spanish classes started Monday, so it was four hours of intense Spanish ever day. Did a number of cultural events during the week, including Salsa lessons, a cooking class, and a cultural dance performance. I feel like a down-right Ecuadorian! This weekend we took a trip out to Mindu, which is about 2 hours from Quito. We got there at about 9 Sat morning and checked into a hostal with a group of American girls we met on the bus. Anns, Man, and I then grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to a tour agency [View Full Entry]

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Once more this weary traveler delays sleep to broadcast her intrepid adventures.......geez I´m exhausted.... I left off just before we went to the ¨New Town¨for some shopping (me? shopping?). And once again I have made some fragile purchases......I knew I should have packed that bubble wrap! After a fairly non descript dinner, we headed back to "Old town" and on the way I saw the greatest sign.....I wish I could have gotten a picture; "Clinica Veterinaria Rottweiler".....seriously, who would take their beloved pet to Rottweiler Veterinary Clinic?? After an hour of mentally cursing myself [View Full Entry]

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Bellavista Cloud Forest is a charming place two hours drive from Quito on the Mindo road. Its worth taking the 1 or 2 day all inclusive package as they pick you up from your hotel which is a lot easier than getting the bus to Mindo and then arranging for further transport to the reserve. I took the 2 night 3 day trip and it was recommended by the Rough guide and a few trip reports on the South American Explorers club had said it was great. The reserve comprises 7 square kilometres of mountains, deep gorges, streams, waterfalls clothed in [View Full Entry]

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Seven Days in Ecuador - Part Three Fri 16/05 - Sun 18/05/08 The coach pulls into Mindo around 11am. Mindo is a small town with less than 3000 inhabitants. The high street extends a couple of hundred yards, consisting mainly of bars, restaurants and tour operators. Mindo thrives on ecotourism, pulling in the punters who come to see the diverse wildlife and to take part in outdoor activities among the lush jungle backgrounds. I booked myself into a place called the "Frog Hostel" online, and so set about trying to find it. No one in town seems to have heard of [View Full Entry]

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Ahoyhoy! This week has gone by quite quickly. We caught a bus at 6:00 on monday morning to take us back to Mindo and start our work for the week. We arrived right on time at 8:30 for breakfast, and started work very quickly. Our work this week has consisted mostly of planting more coffee trees. However, I made rather an unpleasant discovery in regards to the organization we are working for. The owners of the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation, who are Americans, have assigned us to the job of planting coffee with the intention to sell it and raise funds for [View Full Entry]

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He mates! After getting back in Quito from the Amazonas, I've been to school for 2 days before I went on my next 2 day trip to Mindo which is a tiny village just 2 hours from Quito.. So I didn't have to stay in the bus too long. I went to Mindo with Lars and his girlfriend Gabi and we had a wonderful and super relaxing time. We arrived around 11am and first we had put our luggage in one of the many hostels of which we could choose. Eventually when we got back in downtown Mindo (actually, Mindo exists [View Full Entry]

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A few more weeks in Las Tolas and I have to be the most relaxed I´ve ever been in my life. The school is closed and I spend my days helping Madge around the house, playing an addictive game called Damas with Magde and the kids. I also go horse riding on my own for hours with the most lazy horse you could imagine, Camilla, who likes to stop regularly for food and sugar breaks. That night I had a very very peculiar dream that I was travelling to Mexico in the back of a truck and trying to smuggle some [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Las Tolas at 8, the bus took three hours from Quito and it was a rough ride my back killed, most of the way was along bumpy gravel and roads full of pot holes. When the bus arrived Magdalena was there to meet me. We went into the house and I had to use the toilet desperately, the bathroom is outside with no running water and the bathing facility is a bucket, water is collect from a well outside which is filled with rainwater. The was also a collection of wildlife living in the bathroom including a giant [View Full Entry]

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The phrase cloud-forest conjures up an image of lush green vegetation covered in rolling mist, with an ever-present sound of running water in the background like something out a Livingston adventure. This is EXACTLY how it really is. Add in a crazy ride across a 1000ft tree-covered valley in an open cage suspended by wire (one of the least safe contraptions that we have ever seen), and it really felt like we were in an Indy movie. [img=http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v190/132/122/515535794/n515535794_956245_1097.jpg center] Not exactly the safest form of transpo [View Full Entry]

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