Mindo!

This weekend I went with my friend Ellen to Mindo, a small touristy/outdoorsy town surrounded by mountains and the cloud forest. It was remarkable! We had Friday off, so we left eearrrlly in the morning and arrived in Mindo via bus a little before 10am. We had made reservations at La Casa de Cecelia, a hostel, but typical Ecuadorian life, somehow we didn’t have a room once we got there. Everything worked out, though, and we stayed in a quaint room with 3 single beds (we never did end up getting a roommate) that looked out over a river and mountains.

I think the theme of our weekend was walking and re-walking (we got lost numerous times or just ended up taking the same routes over and over again, which wasn’t hard to do because Mindo is not very big). Friday we explored the area all around Mindo, walking out of town a ways towards the butterfly gardens and water falls that Mindo is known for. We took a hike through the woods, got completely turned around on some of the paths, sweat off about 5 pounds, gained it back in the dirt that stuck to our skin, and ended up at the entrance to the falls. We paid $3 to enter and descended for about 20 minutes before reaching the falls. It was pretty cool, but it was packed with people! (holiday weekend) Here you can jump off the waterfalls and swim around, but we just walked around and put our feet in—the sky had become pretty overcast and the water was freezing! We hiked our way back to town (taking a magillion pictures) and stopped for a fresh fruit juice at a fabulous little shop where we soon became regulars. I tried everything from banana to wild blackberry to exotic fruits that I’m not even sure how to explain. (fresh fruit on ice cream was also amazing). By the time we reached our hostel I was exhausted. Not only did we walk for hours, but if it was Oregon Trail, we would definitely be on the “grueling pace” setting. Remember how long that lasted before everyone went kaput? But, I recovered with a hot shower, a delicious vegetable pasta dish at a “bio foods” restaurant next to our hostel and a delectable cookie from ChocolArte (where we also became known by name). We crawled into bed pretty early, and soon I was sawing logs, dreaming about waterfalls made of fruit juice.

Saturday we woke up early and headed off for the zip lines through the canopies. This was definitely my favorite activity of the weekend. We slid down 13 cables (3500 meters) of forest for 2 hours, flying in positions from the butterfly (upside down, spread eagle) to superwoman. It was exhilarating. We had some pretty funny guides and a good group as well (a couple guys from England- haa love the accents). After the zip lining we took a tour of a small coffee plantation right on the edge of Mindo. I don’t like coffee, but oh how I love the smell! We (surprisingly) walked quite a bit more and delighted our taste buds with another juice. We had plans to rent bicycles, but the rain and language confusion foiled these plans. Some time later we found ourselves in the deserted streets while the town was huddled around every tv in the country watching the Ecuador vs Uruguay soccer game. We ate at El Nomad, a pizzeria with very good pizza/pasta. After another desert at ChocolArte we ended up back at the hostel.

Sunday morning we went to “Nathaly (pronounced like my name) butterfly, hummingbird, and orchid garden. This was so cool! The hummingbirds were so quick, and noisy! There were hammocks and we relaxed to the dull humming, watching these beautiful creatures dart around. The butterflies were also a sight to see. They were so pretty! And so many of them. This was definitely worth the $3. We did more exploring outside of Mindo and then caught the bus back to Quito.

The whole town promoted “green” and “environmentally sustainable” activities—it was quite hippyish (in an Ecuadorian sense). There were hostels all over, and they all seemed to be pretty nice and unique. I loved Mindo and I would definitely like to return before I leave! (Mom & Kursten- Michael- who’s it going to be?? :)