Mindo

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Mindo is in the cloud forest two hours north west of Quito with a populaion of approximately 4,000. We arrived around lunch time and caught up with Kate (the Canadian we met in Sucre) in the afternoon for chocolate brownies at El Quetzal while the sky decided to open and pour with rain. We quickly learnt that this happened regularly in the afternoons.

The next morning we were up reasonably early to head to the waterfalls with Kate. We took a taxi to the cable car for our 530m long ride over the cloud forest and river Mindo. We decided to turn right and first head to Cascara Reina which was a forty minute walk each way. The path was very quiet as most people headed the other way. Just before the waterfall was a cool tree ladder.

When we arrived back at the cable car we carried on to the other waterfalls. The path was much busier with locals visiting for the weekend. Along this path there were five different waterfalls all smaller and less impressive than Cascara Reina, we visited Cascada Nambillo, the closest one last. It was around 15m high and the river opened out below it where there were lots of people along the banks and a few swimming.

Kate and I decided to sign up for a bird watching tour, Gary decided he would prefer to sleep. The guide met us at 6am with his binoculars and telescope. He was fantastic at spotting the birds and getting the telescope set up so we could see the birds. We saw an amazing variety of different birds including hummingbirds, vultures, hawks and a tucan.

Kate and I had hot chocolate at the Beehive café in memory of meeting at the Beehive hostel in Sucre.

While on our waterfalls walk Gary got bitten on the leg by something, it had swollen up so we headed for Quito and a doctor.

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Comments

[taracloud]

Cool tree ladder!
Mindo sounds so lovely--a great place to stay for awhile, I imagine. How wise to follow the trail that others were not taking! Also The Beehive in Sucre looks like a lovely place to stay/volunteer. Once again, thanks for the tips!