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Published: February 1st 2011
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Sorry for the long silence! It’s been a boring last week and a half, no excursions just a lot of class time and time spent in my room…
Before I get into my journal entry here I’d like to congratulate my girlfriend for getting accepted as a flight attendant out of 12,000 applicants! I’m so proud of her and know that this is something she’s really looked forward to! (Plus I get to fly anywhere in the U.S. for free if I’m nice to her…)
My life got a lot more exciting this weekend. We (nine of us) traveled to Mindo, aka the town out in the Cloud Forest. The Cloud Forest is a mountainous rainforest which happens to be in the clouds most of the time hence the name. After a two hour bus ride through some of the most gorgeous terrain I have ever seen I get off the bus when they say it’s our stop. As I step of I am immediately greeted by a shack, fog (low cloud cover) and mountain jungle… Everyone gets off and no one can see any sign of the place we want to be. As the bus pulls out we turn
Amy, Jake and Dalita
Our truck ride to Mindo (after Jake lost his hat) around to see some trucks, a man yells “Taxi?” and we head over as there is a sign next to him for Mindo. We debated about walking to town and I must say I was a proponent at first. I was out voted and thus climbed into the bed of this truck which proceeds to speed down the mountain rode with a canopy of jungle trees. Once we make it into the very small town we seek out a place to eat. We sat down just as it began to rain (rainforest in the wet season has a new definition to me now). The place we found was an Italian restaurant with some great pizza! They let some of us back to see the clay oven and all in all it was a nice lunch. After we ate we ask for directions and set out to go zip-lining through the canopy.
About an hour later we made it up the mountain in the pouring rain, had we known it was a walk of that distance in the rain we would have hailed another cab/truck-thing. To say the least however it was worth it. For thirteen dollars we got thirteen different
zip-lines. Some of the distances were probably 2,000 feet across? Some with a 400 foot drop. Granted it is still raining and we are soaked head to toe. I honestly don’t think my words can do the experience justice so I’ll let the few pictures I have do the talking there.
We taxi back down the hill to find somewhere to stay the night. We find a hostel which was… interesting. Once we have all dried off (to the best of our ability) we relax and head out to dinner. We find a small place on Main Street with no one in it and decide to give it a try. Inside we are met by a super friendly man and women and I decide to be adventurous again. Everyone but two people got the chicken rotisserie special while I decided to try Trucha a la Plancha. I had no idea what kind of fish it was at the time but holy smoke it was one of the best thing’s I have ever consumed. I let everyone else try it if they desired and everyone adored it! After some beers and a good meal we head back and I try
to sleep. Try being the most important word of that sentence. Jake and Lameesha head out for some drinks and I go to bed at 9:40ish. They get back at 10:30 and I wake up, no problem, fall right back asleep. I wake up again at 12:00 because I rolled over and my bed creaked. Same thing at 12:45… and 1… and 1:30 and then at 2:30 AM the rooster chorus opened up. First one would crow and then about fifty more would join in. It was as if someone was going around every twenty minutes and setting them off again like some unholy pollo chorus from hell. After 2:30 I maybe got 10 minutes of sleep here and there. O and I didn’t mention it but I had already moved my mattress to the floor at this point to avoid the creaking. Good night indeed.
We all get up and eat breakfast and decide to head out and try the cable car to some paths to waterfalls since it wasn’t raining. Best idea ever (really, no sarcasm there at all). We took a taxi up the mountain this time which I must say: standing in a taxi climbing
The Path Up the Mountain
Very long trek... but fun! a mountain in a rainforest is something out of a videogame that I never thought I would ever experience. Absolutely cool despite occasionally miss-timing a duck and getting hit in the face with a leaf as big as me.
We get to the cable car and it runs for two minutes across a valley in the mountains of pure forest. We have two options, take a path for an hour one way and see five smaller waterfalls or take a path for an hour one way and see one but it being the biggest. Since our bus left at four we decided to see more waterfalls to be safe as we already planned to come back to Mindo. Again I can’t do it justice. These are things out of a movie and I still can’t believe I got to see firsthand. Some of the wooden bridges were… off-putting as you can see in the pictures but screw safety! I’m in the jungle! My friends told me I was beaming like a kid on Christmas morning. We make the trek in a really short time, we enjoyed it but we must have hauled some serious rear to clear the distances
we did. We make it back and decide we have so much time we can try for the big one. We set off and immediately realize that it’s the path less traveled. I assume most people look at the time to waterfall ratio and decide 5 is better than one. They would be mistaken. After climbing over two debris piles and cross a stream of slippery rocks where we could have literally fallen to our deaths with one mistake we make it out to the waterfall in 40 minutes, again, hauling it! All I can say is it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had reaching that place. Words can’t describe it. The waterfall was fifty feet itself but to get to it you have to wade into the stream and climb a fallen tree with stairs cut into it (with no handrails) once you read the top you have to have sure footing as the water is moving quickly. Despite all the hurdles and potential fatal areas I have to say it was worth it ten times over.
Once we get back in town we still had time to eat, we went to the same
place and everyone ordered the fish I had (as did I… again). Once we finished eating I was accosted by a drunken bum and faked that I didn’t speak any Spanish what-so-ever till he left me alone. Got on the bus and then sat in traffic for three hours. Good times. That’s about all I can think of at the moment and I’ll let my photos do the talking now. Miss you all and thanks for all the support!
Love,
Evan
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Beverly Brown
non-member comment
Wow! You are having the trip of a life time. I was jealous until you got to the wooden bridges and the tree steps with no hand rail. Oh, and the part about possibly plunging to your death. Other than that...glad to hear you are doing well and having a great time.