Mindo - Falling in Love All Over Again

Javier and I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Mindo.  We had gone just the two of us on our first overnight trip out of Quito last year, but we also took the Bottoms and Dave and Alex for a quick day trip when they came to visit.  While all of our visits have been fun-filled and adventurous, I think the hurried pace of our last two day trips clouded the tranquility and beauty of the small town in my mind a bit.  This past week reminded me how much Mindo has to offer in not only adventurous activities, but quiet and natural wonder.

This is the Dragonfly where we stayed for the weekend.  It's an adorable B&B right on the river.  Ours was the middle balcony you see on the second floor which was great.  We've heard that the attic can be hot and front rooms a bit noisy, but we definitely enjoyed and would recommend the inn.  The restaurant also serves lunch and dinner and smelled delicious each time we were in and out.  We will definitely have another meal here the next time we are in Mindo.

Cleaning potatoes

We hopped in the car right after school Thursday afternoon (having Friday off for Guayaquil Day) to arrive in Mindo for dinner.  We spent our evening at a new restaurant: Taco Loco, watching the Ecuador v. Argentina (at Argentina) World Cup qualifier.  We were pleasantly surprised to start our fun weekend off with a WIN by Ecuador 2-0!

We had planned to hike to the large waterfall that we had never been to in person but learned Friday morning that the tarabita was temporarily closed, making a hike to the waterfall impossible.  So instead we ventured to the trail behind the Yellow House which had also been recommended.  We started our hike up the road to the trail and found these cows hanging out with what appeared to me to be egrets.  I wonder what the symbiotic relationship is here?

along the road we also found some baby cows

We were on a bit of a mission to find some monkeys and/or the Andean bear as both had been seen recently along the trails.  I'll end the suspense and tell you that we were not successful regarding the monkeys or bear, but we did see some pretty awesome flora along the way.  Doesn't this leaf look like it's having its nails painted?

interesting fruit? hanging from a tree (looked like little green bell peppers to me)

look good (Javier and I agreed that we'd swiftly poison ourselves on good looking fruit like this if we were forced to survive in the jungle on our own....)

braided branch

On one trail we had a gorgeous view of Mindo in the valley below

Cabezas and far away Mindo

huge (and random) patch of these gorgeous orange flowers

hard to see in my photo, but these were bright red bunches hanging from this (what we thought was a) palm tree

my attempt to capture the cool vines that hang down from so many trees

we were looking for the native orchids that pepper the Ecuadorian landscape...not sure if these are they, but very pretty

jungle flowers

white butterflies hiding under leaves (butterflies were everywhere!!)

Javier and I thought this guy reminded us of the Birds of Paradise guy

After our hike we went back into town and grabbed a pizza to go to eat at El Descanso.  We took both the Bottoms and Dave and Alex here on their visit.  The hostel includes a big back deck that looks out on many bird feeders.  The hostel is known by bird watchers and has become a favorite spot to lunch for the Cabezas.  It once again did not disappoint. 

We actually stayed watching the hummingbirds and finches (hoping for a toucan sighting) for a few hours.  Then napped and went to dinner with some friends that were also spending the weekend in Mindo.  We had an early night in preparation for our early morning; we had scheduled a bird guide to take us to see the famous Cock of the Rock at sunrise the next morning.

We drove about 25 minutes outside of Mindo to this little perch to look for the Cock of the Rock.  (Javier joked as we huddled under the shelter...'two of these things are not like the other...' as we brought the average age of the bird watching crowd down pretty significantly).  We were also the most ill-prepared and were happy to be paying our guide handsomely after she supplied us with fine binoculars and an awesome telescope we could use to watch and take pictures.

The Cock of the Rock was pretty cool.  I was expecting more of a mating dance, but mostly they flew around and squawked at each other.  Mostly, I was impressed with their bright red color and totally rad hairdo.

Unfortunately for me, I was suffering from some tummy trouble and needed to return to bed after our Cock of the Rock sighting.  We had booked our guide Julia for the morning, so I convinced Javier to press on and take some cool bird pictures for me to view later.

and he accomplished my request completely, seeing and documenting multiple toucans

including this green guy that I mistook for a leaf earlier

this guy is nocturnal and hiding a newly hatched chick (you can see the egg shell still sitting in front)

all Javier's pics were taken using Julia's awesome telescope!

Here she is notifying a fellow bird watcher of the next bird pictured 

This is a male trogon.

After Javier returned and we enjoyed breakfast (I was feeling better after several more hours of sleep), we headed to El Quetzal for a chocolate tour.  While we had patroned the chocolate shop for their famous brownies and cocktails, we had yet to take the actual tour.  It seemed like the perfect addition to our little visit to town this weekend.

cacao beans still covered in the white mucus found inside the cacao pod

raw cacao  

beans are kept warm while they drain/dry out

cacao beans being dried around the back of the chocolate shop

dried cacao lined up on the back patio of the shop

The tour was quite interesting and ended with some tastings (my fav part).  The paste on the right is pure cacao and very bitter without sugar.  We tried it in combination with different spices and honeys before enjoying our brownie!!

It was a truly lovely weekend filled with the finest Mindo has to offer.  It put the little town back on my top list of Ecuadorian spots to visit.  I told Javier as we were leaving that I couldn't stand for this to be our list time seeing it, so I know we'll return before we head out of Ecuador.  It was a great first getaway to start the year.

Dave and Alex Came to Visit!

DAVE AND ALEX CAME TO VISIT!!  On the eve of our February break at school, Dave and Alex hailed from snowy Chicago to rainy Quito for some amazing friend time and touring.  Javier and I were so excited to have another round of visitors come see our fun little spot and beautiful country.  We're starting to get in a bit of a routine with visitors: make lots of fresh juice and take them to Mindo.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate as much as we wanted, but Dave and Alex were the most amazing troopers about it.  Actually, they were probably the best visitors ever.  They were so positive about everything and extremely complimentary of this place we've come to love.  It was so easy and wonderful to have them....more of you should take their lead and come see us :)

They arrived super late Friday night, so we thought a more relaxed day at the Otavalo market would be best for Saturday.  It was a bit of a grey day, but the market was hopping.  Javier and I had only been there one time before, so it was nice to return with a bit more knowledge of the food we saw and goods that were sold.  It seemed that everyone was able to find some treasures: alpaca sweaters, hats, Ecuapants and a new rug for the Cabezas house!  I think Dave and Alex also really enjoyed the atmosphere and walking around the food vendors to check out local cuisine and fruits and veggies.  I was happy cause we made a stop at The Pie Shop for some pre-lunch dessert.  We had maracuya (passion fruit) and tried a new fruit pie called babaco.  All were happy with the choices and I particularly liked the babaco that tasted somewhat like a pear custard.  Delicious.

here we are mid-market

After our market fun and lunch, we headed just outside of Otavalo to check out some volcano lakes that we had heard were quite beautiful.  We were traveling up in altitude and the weather grew cold and somewhat misty.  Our first stop was Laguna Cuicocha.  The mist cut down on our visibility, but made the lake and little hostel look somewhat dreamy.

Alex and Dave at Cuicocha

We decided to sit and have some canelazo (to warm up) and enjoy the view
This was not the best canelazo we had, but it worked for the warming up!

There was a little boat that would take you around the lake, but we had a few other places to see and decided to bypass the misty ride.

Then we headed further 'up' to Laguna de Mojanda.  Our LonelyPlanet Ecuatravel book described the trip this way: 'A crumbling cobbled road that seems almost to defy gravity leads high into the paramo to three turquoise lakes set like gemstones into the hills.'  Accurate all around.  The road was nothing short of terrifying, but the lakes were so pretty that I really would like to return for some more serious hiking on a nice day.  Unfortunately, I think the clouds and mist hindered our view a bit.  We also had not worn the proper attire or shoes for any real hiking.  Instead we walked around a bit and took some pictures with the mystical lakes and mountains.

as always...photos just don't do it justice

whole place was simply gorgeous

not sure that we add to the scenery, but proof that we made it up that cobblestone road!

the water in the lake was SO clear, I was tempted to jump in (even though it was freezing!)

crawling mountains in the back

It was still a tiring day, but Dave and Alex agreed to head out to La Ronda for some traditional (aka better) canelazo after dinner.  (Have I said yet how amazingly up for anything and terribly enthusiastic Dave and Alex were?  It made their visit just tons of fun, even though we crammed so much in!)  We had a delicious dinner at Ananke and then took a cab downtown to La Ronda.  We showed Dave and Alex the busy street and bars and the children that always seem to be out with their parents (regardless of the hour!) and then sat down for a pitcher of warm deliciousness.  Dave and Alex seemed to like the traditional Quito drink and the little glass mugs it was served in.  But we didn't stay out long, because there was another full day planned for Sunday!

On Sunday, we headed to Mindo.  The weather, again, was not cooperating, but Dave and Alex still enjoyed the drive.  It's amazing to see the scenery go from the dry dirt and shrubbery just outside of Quito to the lush cloud forest of the amazon.   The rain wasn't too bad, so we decided to start with a ziplining adventure.  Our guests were most impressed that the adventure would include 10 different lines that crossed the canopies of the cloud forest.  

ready to go!

Alex flying through the trees

Dave coming in for a landing!

Luckily the rain held out long enough that we could see some really good views as we sailed through the air.  Even though Javier and I had gone through the route a couple of times before, it seems that there is always something new that I notice or see.  By the end it was coming down pretty hard, so we took a lunch break at the hummingbird hostel to have some entertainment while we ate.  It was a genius idea (my husband's) and apparently the rain doesn't bother the birds at all because there were just as many as usual.  In fact, in addition to the hummingbirds we saw two toucans and a parrot before leaving.

so many birds feeding behind us!

After lunch, Dave and Alex took a quick turn through the Mariposa house before it closed.  Javs and I decided to skip it since we'd been before.  Apparently Alex is not a huge fan of insects (even butterflies) so they didn't spend too much time inside, but said it was cool!  It was getting late, but we thought there was just enough time for a little hike to one of the many waterfalls around Mindo.  The rain was coming down, but slowed a bit under the cover of all the trees.  We did our best to bundle up and walked the muddy trail to the falls.  Javier and I had walked the trail on our first trip to Mindo, but all the rain had made the river so much stronger!  It was really neat to see how the falls had changed with the added water.  There's really no other way to put it....they were beautiful.

we made it! rain and all :)

After such a wet and cold walk, a hot chocolate seemed to be a must so we stopped for some brownies and hot stuff at El Quetzal de Mindo on our way out of town.  You can see Ivan in the picture below.  He drove us around all weekend and was such a trooper about everything (even coming on the rainy hike with us!).  It was a super busy day, but great to be able to fit so much in with these fun folks.

We had to head to work on Monday, but Javier snuck out early (we didn't have kids and were just wrapping up the grades for first semester) to join Dave and Alex in Centro Historico.  They went up the Teleferiqo in the morning, but had a lot of clouds blocking their view :(  After Javier joined them for lunch, they were able to go to Iglesia de Compania, Iglesia de San Francisco, walk through Plaza de la Independencia and the Basilica before meeting me for dinner.  It was raining (again) but Dave and Alex had decided they (and their stomachs) were brave enough to try some Ecuamarket food.  We headed to the Floresta food market (same one Anthony Bourdain goes to in his episode of No Reservations) for some dinner.  We got empanadas with morocho and fritada, but brought them back to the apartment so we could eat out of the rain.  I think both were a hit with our guests and neither was too sick afterwards so we'll call that a WIN.  On Tuesday Dave and Alex had enough time to check out Mitad del Mundo before heading to the airport and their next adventure in Peru.  It was just SO much fun to see them and show them some of Ecuador.  It seemed like they enjoyed the time too (even with all the rain)!

Bottoms in Ecuador (Our FIRST Visitors!) - Mitad del Mundo and MINDO

Christmas was great, but this year's December 26th brought a special treat that would top any gift from Santa....our first visitors: Scott and Kelsey!!!  We know it made for a bit of a stressful holiday for them, but having my sis and bro-in-law so quickly after Xmas day certainly made for an exciting holiday.

Don't we look excited?

While our Galapagos adventure was certainly the main event, we also wanted to cram as much of Ecuador into their two days prior to the boat trip as we could.  Which meant an early morning after their midnight arrival in Quito so that we could start where all journeys should...the center of the world! Or Mitad del Mundo!!  Even though the equator is only 25 minutes outside of Quito, Javier and I had yet to make the trip and therefore joined the Bottomses in their touristy joy at discovering the wonders of the invisible line...

We started with some standard Cabezas in the southern hemisphere, Bottomses in the northern hemisphere shots

The picture above is at the grand monument built roughly 30 years ago to mark the invisible line, but more recent measurements seem to indicate that this line is actually off.  But it's quite beautiful and picturesque so we joined the crowd in taking the standard straddle the line picture.

Just 200 or so meters away, another museum commemorates the sacred line down the center of the world.  Not wanting to miss out on all the center of the world has to offer, we also attended this attraction.  While it didn't include a flashy monument, our tour did walk us through several tests to prove the gravitational pull from one side of the line to the other.

Like balancing a fresh egg on the head of nail - possible on the equator.

a demonstration of how the pull effects your strength and resistance on the line.

an attempt by Scottee to walk the line with his eyes closed and arms out (a surprisingly difficult task...)

And another split-by-hemisphere picture just incase this location is actually more accurate.

After some touristy fun, we jumped in the car to head to Mindo for a day of further adventure.  As you read, we were big fans of Mindo and looked forward to sharing some of its beauty with the Bottoms.  But first...we were hungry and wanted the Bottoms to try some authentic Ecuadorian cuisine.  This required a stop along the way to try some fritada, empandas, and bolones de verde.

Kelsey was trying to capture the atmosphere of the restaurant.  It was packed and, as usual in Ecuador, open to the air (you can see the bright sun shining in from the front wall that was completely open to the street)

And here is our fritada....it's not necessarily good to look at, but it's delicious and salty and goes perfectly with that roasted plantain you see in the bottom there.

After some twists and turns we arrived in Mindo.  Remember, Mindo is a cloud forest which means lots of lush scenery, beautiful flowers and wildlife!

We spent the first hour or so in Mindo watching hummingbirds and drinking beers.

I attempted about a million pictures, but none seem to capture the multitude of birds that we were watching.  Here I managed to catch two hummingbirds (left: you can see how different their coloring is...) and a finch (right: that, though beautiful, seemed to be the bully of the bird feeder)

After some relaxing we decided it was time for a more active look at Mindo.  Since Scottee and Kelsey were less than 24 hours into their altitude ascent, we decided that hiking might not be the best option.  Instead, we opted for a ziplining adventure that would allow us all to enjoy the scenery from the air :)

Here we are all helmeted up and ready for ziplining.

Here is Kelsey trying the mariposa (butterfly) position on the zipline

And Scottee coming in quick!   (Can you see the spray of water from his line? It started raining and everything...everything was a little wet.)

Here we are a little wet and a little dirty after flying through the air in the rain.  (PS I still haven't gotten all of the mud out of that pink jacket...)

We tried to go see the butterflies, but the exhibit was closed so we headed to the chocolate factory to get a hot beverage and warm ourselves up.  The chocolate is delicious so we ordered a brownie to split too!

It was a rainy trip home, but we had packed a lot into the first day so naps seemed warranted.  As much fun as the day was, we kept reminding ourselves that everything pre-galapagos was gravy!