Last weekend Liz and I took a quick trip to Mindo to play in the cloud forest. The last bus leaves Quito at 4pm on Friday so I had to go straight to the bus station (La Ofelia) from work and meet Liz there. I got there at 3:30pm thinking that I arrived in plenty of time to buy tickets. I was wrong but luckily I bought the last 2 tickets! When it came time to get on the bus I couldn't find my seat (Liz and I were separated) and the bus attendant showed me to my seat, which was literally a jump seat behind the bus driver. And there were people without tickets who stood.
 |
| the main street in Mindo |
It was a scenic 2 hour bus ride to Mindo but nothing too spectacular. When we pulled up to Mindo, we could pretty much see the entire town. It is basically 1 main street lined with stores and some dirt side streets. Not much to it. The guidebook says a population of 1,000. The night before, I had made a reservation at the Dragonfly Inn, which is owned by a counselor at my school and a favorite of the teachers. Being a small town we found our hotel quickly and checked in. It was a pretty nice place, located on a small creek and mostly made of wood. Its a small inn with about 10 rooms or so and a restaurant. Our room had a small balcony with a hanging chair overlooking the town which was nice. We paid $46/night which is actually a bit high for Ecuador. We usually spend about $20-$30. We spent our Friday night having dinner at a local taco place (Taco Loco) and called it an early night.
 |
| Dragonfly Inn |
woof-woof, woof-woof.
We were awoken in the middle of the night by barking dogs. This is something we have started to become accustom to in Quito but this was loud. I looked out the window and saw about 5 stray dogs standing on the street right outside our balcony barking at each other. They got in a little tussle but then dispersed. But then this riled up the dogs in the homes and they all started barking as well. It was like a chorus. This continued on for what seemed like all night, right when I was about to fall asleep again the canine chorus started up again. I had a horrible night of sleep.
Liz was a trooper and got up early and did a long run up the road as she is training for a half marathon and scoped out the town for us. After breakfast (in our hotel which was good) we decided to hike up to the cable car and the waterfalls. We could have taken a taxi but decided to hike up the dirt road up there. I would guess that it was about a 3 mile walk up there as it took us about an hour. Along the way, we were looking for birds but didn't see any since it was probably too late in the day. This place is known for birds and popular for birdwatching in the early morning (Liz saw the birdwatchers on her early morning run).
When we arrived at the "Taribita" (cable car) we paid our $5 and got into the little 4 person basket. One of the workers stood on a ledge off the cart, hanging on without security. The other worker fired up the gas engine, stepped on the gas and off we went, zooming across this valley at 150 feet or so above the trees. It is a 530 meter (1,740 feet) cable and you get whisked across in a brisk minute or so.
 |
| I hope the cable doesn't break! |
 |
| This is the guy that drives the cable car across |
 |
we climbed up the ladder only to be told
to climb back down |
After we got to the other side, we hiked to some waterfalls. The 1st one was about a 15 minute downhill hike. When we arrived, we saw some people cliff jumping about 30 feet high. Liz and I risked our lives to hike up this sketchy ladder to the top of the cliff only to be greeted by a man up top who told us that this was owned by a different property (with a separate entrance fee) and that we had to go back down the ladder. Bummer. I went for a brisk swim at the bottom but the water was a bit chilly so we didn't hang out for long. We hiked along the trail to a few other waterfalls, there were 5 in total and we hiked to 3 of them. We hiked back up to the cable car and returned back to the other side. We were hot and hungry by this point so we paid $5 for a taxi ride (pick up truck) back into town.
 |
| this ladder was sketchy |
When we returned to the Dragonfly, we ran into 3 co-workers of mine. We knew they were coming that day so we were expecting them. They tried to come earlier that morning but the buses were full so they had to take a later bus. They told us about a hotel in town they had just visited that made their own chocolate and beer. So off we went! We were a bit disappointed when they told us that they didn't have beer at the moment but we did buy a brownie and a candy bar. That night we had dinner with my co-workers and walked around the town a bit. There are a few bars but this is a small town. Exhausted from the lack of sleep from the night before we went to bed early. The barking wasn't as bad this night but it still interupted our sleep, I think next time we will stay away from hotels right in town as there are others on the edge of the town that looked much quieter.
We spent sunday by visiting the butterfly garden which was about a 45 minute walk (we could have taken a taxi). There is a butterfly/hummingbird garden right in town but this one was out of town. It was a pretty fun visit and we saw a butterfly hatch out of its chrysalis and fed butterflies from our hands. We returned back to the Dragonfly at about noon and spent the next few hours hanging out till our bus left at 3pm. The buses return back to Quito on sundays at 6:30am, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm and 6pm. We bought our bus tickets that morning (around 7am) and when we returned from our butterfly garden tour (at noon) we tried to change our tickets to the earlier 2pm bus but the buses were full. Good thing we bought tickets that morning because our bus back to Quito was completely packed with people standing in the aisles as well. On the way back we saw the "Mitad del Mundo" (the equator) which we have been planning to visit so we will do that soon.
 |
after they hatch ouf of their chrysalis, they have to hang like
this for a few hours for its wings to try |
One last thing about Mindo, there are 2 canopy tour companies in town. We thought about doing it (only $15) but one of the companies was shut down due to a fatal accident in May. The cable broke killing a tourist and leaving the guide in a coma (I think). Even though the other company in town advertises having international certification and being built by Costa Rican experts with experience, we decided against it.
 |
| a popular juice bar in town, the swings are not that comfortable actually |
 |
| I used this leaf for shade |
 |
| I think this was someone's traveling RV, what a tough truck! |
 |
I don't know if the canopy companies use this but this was just
in the open next to the road
 |
When we arrived at the "Taribita" (cable car) we paid our $5 and got into the little 4 person basket. One of the workers stood on a ledge off the cart, hanging on without security. The other worker fired up the gas engine, stepped on the gas and off we went, zooming across this valley at 150 feet or so above the trees. It is a 530 meter (1,740 feet) cable and you get whisked across in a brisk minute or so. 
We spent sunday by visiting the butterfly garden which was about a 45 minute walk (we could have taken a taxi). There is a butterfly/hummingbird garden right in town but this one was out of town. It was a pretty fun visit and we saw a butterfly hatch out of its chrysalis and fed butterflies from our hands. We returned back to the Dragonfly at about noon and spent the next few hours hanging out till our bus left at 3pm. The buses return back to Quito on sundays at 6:30am, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm and 6pm. We bought our bus tickets that morning (around 7am) and when we returned from our butterfly garden tour (at noon) we tried to change our tickets to the earlier 2pm bus but the buses were full. Good thing we bought tickets that morning because our bus back to Quito was completely packed with people standing in the aisles as well. On the way back we saw the "Mitad del Mundo" (the equator) which we have been planning to visit so we will do that soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment