Ecuador - Mindo

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Suzanne here...

Mindo was a bit of a last minute decision. We'd done cities and beaches. So when we read about a small town in a cloud forest two hours from Quito, it sounded an ideal finish to Ecuador. We arrived at 11.30am, a bit early to check in. We'd not eaten so found Mindo Bio cafe and had a hearty breakfast. It was still early so we sat in the square for a while. It was hotter than Quito, but not unbearable.

Our hotel was about ten minutes walk from town. We had to cross a river via a narrow rickety bridge, which added to the fun. We arrived at where we thought the hotel was, only to be faced with a locked gate. So near yet so far. Neither of us fancied trailing back into town to the other route. So we squeezed through the railings and passed our backpacks over the gate. Luckily it was indeed our hotel, so nobody set the dogs on us. Although they did point out a short-cut.

Mindo Coffee Spa Lodge was twice the price of our Quito hotel. But it was our last stop in South America so we allowed ourselves a little luxury. The room was simple but clean , modern and comfortable. Best of all was the king-size bed. A lot of beds in Ecuador are tiny and not that suitable for two hulking great Europeans.

We didn't do much that day, bar go out to dinner. El Cheff was good, reasonably priced with big steaks served on a hot stone. Even better, a large beer was $1.50, beating even rock bar prices (usually the cheapest places to drink).

The next day began with breakfast on the terrace, overlooking the cloud forest. We both agreed that it was possibly the nicest breakfast view of the entire trip. Then we made our way to the Mariposa (butterfly) garden. It was only about 3km from town but everyone else turned up in a van or taxi. Madness, as the lovely walk there was part of the fun. We saw loads of butterflies and spent quite a while there before walking back into town.

We had a couple of coffee's in Mindo Cafe and just generally wandered around. Mindo is rather touristy but still has a nice laid-back feel about it. It was at this point that I noticed that my legs were covered in dozens of insect bites. Actually I was a bit of a mess, the bites were bloody and suddenly painful. I'd purposely not used insect repellent as I'd read it could harm the butterflies. But with hindsight, the dress was an error. As the day went on they rose into painful welts. I've never had bites like them. Later I read that this was probably an allergic reaction to the insects saliva, and I should have washed them with soap and water as soon as possible.

The hotel owners were lovely people (with excellent English) so we'd promised to have dinner at the hotel the second night. It was pretty good. Not cheap, but not a total rip-off either. The cocktails were a good price and we had a couple of caipirinha's each. To finish we ordered a beer each. At $3 we presumed they were large bottles but they were not. No huge deal, we were just a little disapointed that they were charging such an inflated price. But, we agreed that if this was our biggest complaint we were not so very hard done by.

The following day we walked the 5km or so (uphill) to the Tarabita Cascadas (waterfalls). It looked like we were the only ones walking, everyone else passed us in a taxi. Well, each to their own. To us, it would have felt like cheating. But then again I'm sure they arrived at the start of the waterfall hike much fresher than we did. Once at the top we paid the $5 each for the cable car. Although a short ride, it was one of the best cable cars I've ever been on. Open air, fast, and a great view of the cloud forest canopy.

The waterfall hike was much like any waterfall hike we've ever been on. Up, down, up again, down again... full of rocks, roots and eroded steps. It was hard work but good fun. We went to five of the seven waterfalls. I won't pretend that they were spectacular, but it was an enjoyable day and just nice to be hiking in the cloud forest. We finally caught the cable car back and walked back into town to buy bus tickets for the next day. By the time we got back to the hotel I reckon we'd walked about 14km, most of it hilly. We were very glad just to sit and rest for a couple of hours.

For dinner we returned to El Cheff, too lazy to find anywhere new and knowing it was good value. We had our last Pilsener and toasted Ecuador. I can't claim that it's the best beer ever. But it is refreshing and it was sad to think it was our last beer not only in Ecuador but in South America.

The next morning we enjoyed one last breakfast, enjoying our cloud forest view. We even got to try a new traditional Ecuadorian dish - Tigrillo. It's a traditional Ecuadorian breakfast dish of mashed plantains, and it was very nice, especially with hot sauce. The hotel owners were kind enough to let us check-out late, which was much appreciated.

We caught the 1.45pm bus back to Terminal Ofelia in Quito (see photo below for all bus times). We'd planned to get a taxi, but had read that the airport is the one route where taxi drivers don't have to use the meter. Instead there's a set tariff from each district, of between $25 - $30. This seemed quite steep to us. We might have paid up for convenience, but it was still hours until our flight.

Instead, we caught the C2 Metrobus to the Aeropuerto stop. This is not in fact Mariscal Sucre, but the site of the old airport. I'd read that this was where the airport shuttle bus left from. It looked unlikely to be honest, but sure enough there it was, along with a nice waiting room. The fare was $8 each, or $14 for two. Not so much of a faff in the end, and it saved us over $10.

We arrived at the airport very early, before check-in opened. Once it did open we were (nearly) front of the queue. Just as well as it took ages. Mainly as JetBlue had screwed up and not given me a bag allowance (long boring story). They wanted to charge me an extra $25. Given past troubles with JetBlue this really wound me up. Luckily the supervisor showed some sense and sympathy, listened to and believed my argument, and waived the fee. Once we were final through we had a quick meal at Johnny Rocket's (tasty but very expensive for Ecuador).

So, that was South America. We felt incredibly sad to be leaving. After all, this was the driving force behind embarking on another RTW trip, as we'd not had time for it on the first trip. Leaving seems like the beginning of the end of our trip. But it's not over yet. Looking forward to discovering some new areas of the USA. I'm also looking forward to NOT being the subject of stares of amazement everywhere we go (although that is mainly David). It's also going to be nice not to struggle with the language.

Ecuador is lovely, a real highlight. In fact the whole of South America has been fantastic - the food, the people, the history, the scenery. Amazing. Although there are similarities across South America, every country has it's own unique identity. We have enjoyed every one of them. I hope we are lucky enough to return one day. Hasta luego.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Beautiful
Mother Nature at its best