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Published: August 13th 2007
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Flower - 1
Don't know what this was called... flowers were in great abundance and variety in Mindo. As part of my trip to Ecuador, I was taking 20 hours of one-on-one Spanish lessons. During one of the lessons, my instructor, Santi (same instructor as I had during my last trip to Ecuador), mentioned that he and some other people from the hostel were going to Mindo for the weekend and staying at the hostel that he is currently building (his main expertise is in tourism) and he invited me along.
We left Friday afternoon... me, Santi, Ralph, Rene, and Allison. Ralph and Rene were from Germany and Allison from Canada. We were going to take the trolley bus to the bus station, but it was too crowded (literally, we couldn't fit on the bus), so we took two cabs. At the bus station, we found out that the Quito-Mindo bus was sold-out... on seats, not space... and in Ecuador space is also for sale. So we crammed in at the front of the bus. Santi and Ralph stood up most of the way... Allison and I set next to each other at the front of the bus on a padded area... but facing towards the back of the bus... and Rene was lucky enough to have a
Flower - 2
These were often lining the roadsides... much better than the ragweed lining roads here in Missouri! :) seat (still don't know how he got it).
Riding backwards for 2.5 hours was not pleasant at all. Plus the ride to Mindo is very hilly. But it did give me time to get to know Allison a little bit and also an English girl in a seat next to me.
We arrived in Mindo at dusk and went first to buy food for the weekend at a little grocery shop across the street from the bus station. We then hired a taxi... which in Mindo is a truck with bars framing the edges of the truck-bed for passengers to hold on to. I stood up front and center holding on with both hands... the ride was bumpy through bug filled and cool air... and it was great... I loved being out of Quito... away from the smog... and into the Cloud Forest... and I was also thrilled to be out of the bus. I smiled brightly and immensely enjoyed the two or three mile drive out to hostel.
At the hostel, we got set up in one of the bamboo houses... we were all sleeping on the floor since Santi hadn't yet purchased the beds... I
Flower - 3
Really... flowers are all over the place in Mindo. didn't have a pad so it was just a sleeping bag and a hardwood floor (with clothes for a pillow). After getting set up, we had dinner in a patio area in front of the kitchen at one of the other bamboo houses. We talked (Spanish and English) for a few hours, ate, sipped on Coke with Scottish Whiskey, listened to the nearby stream and took in the atmosphere. It was Santi's goal that we talk solely in Spanish, which we did a LOT, but sometimes it was a lot quicker and easier to just talk in English.
The next morning, we set off around 7 AM and walked for about an hour on dirt roads up to the little gondola to take us across the valley. We then hiked to four or five waterfalls. All of the waterfalls were beautiful... some even had multiple (as in three or four) waterfalls one after the other. At one of them, everyone but Santi went swimming around in the pool in front of the waterfall... surrounded by wet and slick algae covered high rock walls on three sides. The water was very cold but the swim well worth it.
Cloud Forest
Mindo is in the Cloud Forest... as is evident here. :) Though not recommended for sundry and numerous reasons, we drank out of the river. 😊 I cupped my hands and drank in some of the cool water. So far, I'm still alive. Though, the digestive track was a little off for a day and half following (but this could have been due to something else, or a combination of things... I also bought food from street vendors 😊.
Later on we reached a series of waterfalls and climbed up one (using part of big piece of wood with a rope attached and leaning on one of the waterfalls). We waded around and stood in the waterfall (which kinda hurt... for some reason I imagined something much softer flowing over me).
Along the hike there were scores of different types of ferns, flowers, and other plants... along with a lot of butterflies... some of which rested upon us. The path was often windy and steep and passed over a number of little bridges.
We then headed back over the valley via the gondola, ate some choclo (corn on the cob... with some sort of mayo sauce and covered in cheese) and fried bananas filled with cheese, and began
Butterfly
Lots of different species of butterflies, too. With a little patience (or a swarm of them) you can find one to sit on your finger. walking back
Lots of different species of butterflies, too. With a little patience (or a swarm of them) you can find one to sit on your finger. During the walk, a taxi (i.e. truck) gave us a free lift for about a mile of the way before dropping us off at an intersection. After walking a little further, we reached Mariposa Gardens, where I decided to take a tour (the others went back to the hostel).
Mariposa Gardens (http://www.mariposasdemindo.com/english/) is an eco-tourism lodge that works on investigating and conserving butterflies in the Mindo area. The tour began with the guide showing me some boxes that they use to kind of "grow" butterflies... from egg to larva to pupa to adult. The process is quite amazing. After that she took me into the netted garden area where we could, um, chase around butterflies and enjoy the garden. She showed me how to catch the big Morpho Peleides butterfly... which resulted in me failing for half an hour before I flagged her down again for further and more detailed instruction. The best way seemed to be to go straight underneath the front of them with my pinky finger.
After
Spider
Ah, yes, the diversity doesn't end at everything the average person considers beautiful. awhile I did succeed. And then after the butterfly sat on my finger for awhile, I offered for another person to try to take him off my finger... instead of going to the other person, the butterfly flew on top of my hat... where he stayed for about ten minutes. It was pretty cool because he has dead center and facing in... it was like I had a kind of butterfly hood ornament on my hat.
Later, I went back to the hostel where we played some card games, ate, talked for hours, drank some more whiskey, and called it a night. Ralph had a hammock set up so I tried that out... but sleeping in a hammock is not my thing... I actually went back to sleeping on the hard floor (both sides of my hips were slightly bruised because of it 😊.
A side note... each morning around 4 AM a rooster started crowing very near the bamboo building we slept in... and then kept it up intermittently for the next three hours. 😊
In the morning, we headed down to the tubing place across from Mariposa Gardens. It cost $4 per person, which covered
the ride, a helmet, a life-jacket, and a return trip in the back of a truck (and underneath a mountain of tubes). The tubes are from, I think, old tractor tires... seven of them are tied together with ropes. Each person sits on top of one of the exterior tubes (so six people), one of which works for the tubing place and helps keep the tubes from hitting the banks or getting stuck between boulders.
The water was very chilly and the sky was overcast... so by the end of it I was shivering. The ride down the river was terrific, though. Lots of getting bumped around and splashed... the river was very rough (though shallow). I spent most of it smiling and laughing (as did most everyone else... though the staff person was quite serious). During the ride down the river, Ralph's tube deflated so we crammed around a bit more.
We then headed back to the hostel... dried off a bit... relaxed... packed... and took a bus back to Quito... except this time we had seats. 😊
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Patt
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Flower-2 looks like impatients, flower-3 like hibiscus. We all have those in southeast Texas! Could be the same heat and humidity factor ! Am in the Yucatan now and hibiscus are everywhere. All your pictures are pretty and you have a great blog. Patt aka pattusa