Mindo, Ecuador

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A couple months after I arrived to Quito, I took my first trip to a different city.

My boyfriend and I decided to take short trip to a town called "Mindo."

Mindo is a 45 minute drive from Quito along winding, and twisting roads. We didn't take a car though, we took a bus.

To get to Mindo you don't use the main bus terminal, which is in the south of Quito (Quitumbe Terminal.) Mindo is in the other direction, so we took the metro to the north bus terminal, "Terminal Terrestre Norte." The metro runs along Avenida America, a main street in Quito, and is fairly easy to use (it's only 25 cents). We got off at a stop called "La Ofelia," and bought our tickets at a window. Buying tickets at the station is very easy to do, and not at all complicated.

Fortunately, Javier (my boyfriend) and I had bought some bubble tape bubblegum, and some kind of fizzy wine cooler drinks. We waited for the bus to depart, in a small waiting area. We opened our drinks, which subsequently exploded everywhere but were very tasty.

The bus ride is about 2 hours. Bus rides in Ecuador are always double the time it would take in a car. Not just for how much slower buses have to go, but also because they stop and pick people up on the side of the road. This was our first trip together, so were like a couple lovestruck teenagers, chatting, and competing to see who could blow the biggest bubblegum bubble.

When we arrived to Mindo we didn't have any reservations for a hostal. They are very easy to find since the town is only one road long!

Fortunately, when we stepped off a bus, there was a man standing there who told us about a hostal he could take us too, and he also offered us his services for the time we were there. He owned a truck and for the small sum of 20$ took us everywhere we wanted to go for the two days we spent there. He had a business card, and judging by how many people he knew, I'm fairly certain he was the unofficial mayor of the town.

We arrived to the hostal fairly late in the evening. It was a nice place, on a side road out of the town. My only complaint was that there was no mirror in the room! Javier and I had just started dating only a couple months ago and I didn't want him to see me without makeup (and I have no embarrassment about how shallow that probably makes me seem!).

After getting settled in we went to the only bar in town (actually more like a place the size of a bedroom) to meet my friend Jen and her boyfriend Ross who were also visiting Mindo.

The bar owner was a fairly odd guy and if I were alone I would have felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.

Javier and Ross were smart and got beer, but Jen and I decided to be daring and got Cosmopolitans. What were we thinking!? They were horrid, and tasted like they had been made with Tequila and Hawaiian Punch.

The next day, our unofficial mayor picked us up from our hostal and took us to our first excursion, Zip Lining!

Zip lining is the most popular attraction in Mindo, and for good reason. We had a fantastic time hiking through the "cloud forest" and flying down the zip lines. We went with another couple who is staying at our hostal, and going in a group made it more fun.

The first line I went down I felt so terrified; but being up there, flying above the jungle by myself, I felt so free and I was proud of myself for doing it alone!

On the last couple lines you have the option to go upside down and hang there like Spider-Man, and go with someone else.

Later on, we went to a place with Jen and Ross where we were supposed to hear a "Frog Concert." Benches are set up above a lake and you can listen to about 50 different species of frogs croaking. It was actually very intersting and the lake was pretty, but not something that lasts for more than about 15 minutes.

We took a walk into town, and realized there was some sort of religious holiday going on. We knew something was happening when we came in on the bus the day before, and we got stuck behind a religious procession. It's a very unique thing to witness, and I love the rose petals that they always throw along the road.

There was big group of people saying prayers on the main road in front of the town church, and afterwards they set up fireworks. These are not the kinds of fireworks we see in the U.S. They had this big wood tower built with all sorts of shapes sticking out of it. Another huge difference, is that right next to this tower a man was grilling meat to sell using a propane gas tank!(The American in me was terrified of this fire hazard.)

They lit the bottom of the tower and all the windmill shapes started spinning and the fire moved upwards creating all kinds of beautiful fireworks.

We ate a pizza at a decent little place that was just walls and no windows. I'm not a big fan of Ecuadorian food so pizza was the only thing I could find that seemed up to my American standards.

The next day, the unofficial mayor took us down to a river where we could go tubing. It was actually more like white water rafting, with all the tubes tied together. The river was fast, and cold, and we had a lot of fun.

Later that day, we hiked down to a waterfall and a lake where can swim. The water was ice cold so I only went in to my waist, but Javier jumped off a cliff right in to the waterfall!

We had a great trip to Mindo, and we've been back a couple of times since. It's a fantastic little town to visit and highly recommended.



Tips:

• Wear casual clothes that you don't mind getting dirty, the whole town is dirt roads and it can get dusty
• Bring bug spray!
• Don't worry about making hotel reservations, the town is so small and you can find a hostal easily when you get there


Below is a video of the zip lining in Mindo:

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