Mindo es lindo

Mindo is beautiful indeed. We left the city last weekend and headed to the cloud forest. After a two hour drive we arrived at El Monte Sustainable Lodge (http://www.ecuadorcloudforest.com/). The place is just stunning. We had our own cabin, which was huge just for the two of us, but I loved the high ceiling and the rustic look. If you dislike bugs, don't go there - but that is about the only downside I can think about. Then again you cannot expect not finding bugs in the forest!

After dropping our stuff in the cabin we decided to go for a hike. Hummm, not sure that after a 6.00am wake up call, I had enough energy, but it was well worth it. Our walking guide, admitted to having a "chuchaqui" (i.e. "resaca" or hangover) as last week's was Mindo's fiestas, but he still climbed the mountain in no time, whist Stu and I struggled behind. The cool stuff we saw along the way: toucans, butterflies, orchids, etc, made up for the exhaustion. The destination was a place to do canopying. Lots of fun! It was incredible to, literally, be sitting on top of the forest. Towards the end the clouds started to descend and it was only during the last descend that we really couldn't see anything.  

Back at the lodge we met a group of young Ecuadorians who were there for the weekend. They were all ecology graduates and a funny bunch. We shared quite a few meals with them, but they seemed to take it easy whilst Stu and I were mad enough to pack as many activities as we could ...

The next morning we woke up at 4.30am to go and see the display of the "cock of the rock" (the funny looking bird below for those of you who like me are not bird experts...). I was very tempted to stay in bed, but once we had climbed another hill and we were "sitting" in the hide, I was pleased to watch and listen how the male cock woes the female. Bird-watching... never thought I could give up my sleep for it!

Not sure how many kilos we lost last weekend, but all our clothes were soaking by the time we had to pack. We were sad to leave Mindo, and if it wasn't for the fact that there are so many other places we want to visit, we would be back there every weekend. Now, the mosquito bites were a souvenir I could have done without....