Mindo, Shopping and a New Puppy

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While the trip to Otovalo was postponed for another weekend, I spent Saturday in beautiful Mindo. We had stayed out until almost five a.m. the night before, but the trip was to beautiful to sleep in the car, as I had intended. At one point, we had to wait at the side of the road while they cleared a landslide.

When we arrived it was raining (as it does every day in Mindo) so we went to a somewhat sad little aquarium (one room with tanks mostly filled with goldfish), the highlight of which was a lone piranha. The aquarium was attached to a restaurant where we ate lunch (the first meal I´ve eaten outside of the house). I´ve had so much chicken since I´ve arrived that a plate of shrimp was a welcome change.

After lunch, we went to an Orchid garden, where a guide took us around with a magnifying glass to see the various types of orchids found in the cloud forest. We were on our way to see the butterfies (which are supposed to be amazing) when we were sidetracked by the opportunity to go tubing down the rapids.

I climbed through the missing rear window of an ancient Chevy Blazer with Alli and Carla (the daughter of one of Marianna´s friends) and we drove farthwer up the river with about ten Ecuadorian tourists and a few river guides. When we pulled over, they gave us life jackets and helmets and pointed us toward a group of inner tubes tied together with rope. We each climbed on top of an inner tube and a guide carried us out into the river and steered us downstream by periodically jumping off and pulling the group of us in one direction or another. It was awesome! We were soaking wet the whole way home, but totally worth it.

The next day we were all exhausted and opted for shopping instead, first at a flea market, then at an upscale mall called La Bosque (I think). Totally different, but both great for people watching.

The other excitement of the weekend was the addition of Mony to our household. She is a puppy and was a Valentine´s present to Marianna from one of her friends. She´s only two months old, completely untrained, and Johanna´s new best friend.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Looks like you are having too much fun!
- Mom

[anonymous]

Loved the photo of Johanna and the puppy. Can I send anything for them? Anything for the kids at the orphanage? Any teaching materials? Let me know! Mom - Mom