Mindo: Singing in the Rain

With all of the craziness of school and studying, sometimes it can be hard to take time off to travel and relax. With the often long bus rides, a day never seems like enough time to explore somewhere new. However, this past weekend, my friends and I decided to give it a go because we knew that we had to find time to visit Mindo, a quaint little town that we had heard so much about. We were determined to squeeze as many activities as we could into the one day that we had. So we did.

We started off the day early Saturday morning, waking up at 6:00 to make it to the bus terminal by 7:30. To get to Mindo, you first have to get to the terminal with the bus that will take you there. Terminal Ofelia is about 30 minutes outside of Quito norte so we needed to give ourselves time. One of my companion's sweet host moms offered to drive us and save us the trouble of finding and paying for a taxi. We got to the bus terminal, bought a ticket for $3.10 and hopped on the Flor de la Valle bus for a two hour trip to get to Mindo. It seemed like a lot less time because we were all exhausted and passed out the second the bus started moving. I will add that we wanted a jam packed day full of activities, and at this point had absolutely zero plan as to what we actually wanted to do. If you don't know what you want to do, it isn't the end of the world. However, if you're traveling with a group, you may want to get a general idea of the activities before you go so that you make sure that you can do everything that you want to do. If you really want to explore everything that Mindo has to offer, I would suggest staying the weekend.

We got to the bus stop, and headed to the tourist activities center which was right across the street to explore our options. We knew that we had limited time, so we had to make some quick decisions. There was rafting, zip lining, horse back riding and canyoning to name a few. We decided first that we would try out the six waterfall hike. To get there we had to pay $8 for both the taxi and the tarabita which is basically like a really sketchy gondola that flies over the rainforest. When I say sketchy I don't mean we looked at it and thought "this looks a little old but it'll be fine," I mean we looked at this tiny yellow cart speeding down a cable over a giant gap in the earth and thought "this might be the day that we die." Nonetheless, we had paid 8 whole dollars and we were not about to waste it. The little yellow cart took off like a rocket, and while I was sitting there taking in the scenery and laughing about my impending death, my friend Sydney was sitting next to me crying, which in all fairness was probably an appropriate response. Keep in mind, the girl crying was also the girl who had been trying to convince us two days earlier that we should go zip lining.

God must have been looking out for us because we made it to the other side alive, for the most part. Someone at the top explained the trail to us and we got going straight downhill, and like with any hike we were loving the downhill and forgetting entirely that on the way back it would be all uphill. The waterfalls were gorgeous but by the time we got to waterfall number 5 we were sweaty, out of breath, and not ready to take the uphill slope to get to waterfall number 6. So we decided 5 was good enough for the day and started the trek back up the way we came. And wow was it rough. In total, the hike only about an hour and a half, but we also didn't do the whole thing.

We thought we were used to the altitude in Quito and that our lungs were fully equipped for an uphill trek. We thought wrong. Ironically, my friend with asthma was in the front and kicking all of our asses hiking up this hill. When I said "jeez girl slow down, I feel like I'm dying but you might actually die" she promptly responded "my strategy is I go until I'm right about to pass out or need an inhaler (which she didn't bring), stop and rest and when you guys finally catch up, the cycle repeats." I proceeded to roll my eyes but I was really thinking "oh my god she's going to have an asthma attack and die and it's going to be all my fault and I'll have to call her mother and tell her she's dead." Thanks to our determination, and a couple of minutes singing "build me up buttercup" to help us forget our tired lungs, we all made it out of the forest healthy, sweaty, and tired. At this point it was about 12:30 in the afternoon and along with being tired and sweaty, we were ravenous with hunger.

We headed into the main part of town and bought a big lunch complete with potato soup, meat, rice, lentils and a small side salad for $3. I don't know how I'm ever going to come home and spend $13 on a meal ever again. There are restaurants all over the main plaza with cheap meals and I highly recommend the empanada shop as well. After our meal, we had full bellies and happy hearts, but there was one thing missing: dessert. As we were in a town famous for it's chocolate we really had no choice but to take a chocolate tour. We went up the street to El Quetzal which is a combined hostel, restaurant, and chocolate manufacturer. We each paid $10 a piece and it was worth every penny. First, we sat down with our guide as he talked us through the origin of the cocoa bean, and the different products that it can be used to make.

The tree grows natively in Central and South America and grows exceptionally well in the countries that house the Amazon: Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brasil and Venezuela. The fruit that grows in that particular region of Ecuador is characterized by the sour, sweet and well fruity taste of the seeds which gives the chocolate a unique flavor as cocoa beans from different regions have different flavor characteristics. He told us "and that is why it is the best chocolate in the world." He most definitely wasn't biased. The cocoa is then used to make numerous different things such as cocoa nibs, butter, paste, tea, wine and of course chocolate.

Our guide then took us through the area where they grew their beans, showed us the plant and explained to us how they grow. He showed us the area where the cocoa was stored, and dried, and the process from getting from mushy white seed, to hardened brown seed with 100% pure cocoa inside. At this cocoa factory they specifically mix their chocolate with four flavors to compliment it: coffee, ginger, ají picante(spicy pepper), or macadamia. We continued to walk through their small factory seeing where the seeds where shelled and then how the nibs were melted down into paste, and finally where they added the sugar, flavors and molded it into rich bars of dark chocolate (no they don't do milk chocolate because it ruins the true flavor of the cocoa).

And then came the best part of the tour: the chocolate tasting. We sat down as we were presented with all different types of chocolate. We started at the highest percentage of cocoa (about 90%), and moved down the list (85%, 77%, 65%). They were all delicious. This was followed by a taste of each chocolate with a complimentary flavor: ginger, macadamia, coffee and ají (coffee was my personal favorite). It didn't stop there. We were then brought a small brownie with a sample cup of 100% cocoa paste. We dipped our spoons in the cocoa paste (which as you can guess was bitter) and sampled it with miel de jengibre which is basically ginger honey. We then tried chocolate honey, and their special chocolate barbecue sauce. All were delicious, even the barbecue sauce which was surprising. We then drizzled our cocoa on our brownies, devoured them, and washed it all down with a bit of cocoa tea (which I later bought a giant bag of). After that we were truly satisfied, but the day wasn't quite over yet.

It had begun to drizzle but we still had a couple of hours before the last bus left and we were determined to squeeze every bit of fun in that we could before we had to leave. We decided a good way to finish off our day would be by heading to the butterfly garden (or mariposaria) in town. The weather changed more quickly than expected and as we left El Quetzal, the torrential downpour began. I, as you all know, am the responsible type and bring my rain jacket everywhere I go just in case. As many of you also know, I am also the forgetful type and on this particular occasion it would be just my luck that it was the one day that I had forgotten my raincoat. So in the true spirit of the northwest, I did what I know how to do best and I ran. A little water never hurt anybody, right? Luckily for me, the mariposaria was on the absolute opposite side of town and by the time we got there, I was soaked. But at that point, I wasn't even mad about it. I was loving it. I wasn't really cold at all because it's South America and we are on the equator and I hadn't seen rain like that since fall at home, so it was almost comforting. But if you aren't a weirdo like me, please remember that you are in the rainforest, and you will likely need a waterproof jacket.

We had decided to go to the smaller of the two mariposarias in town because the cost was something like $5 instead of $10. It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but when you're a broke college student, it really is. The smaller one is also a bit closer and if you don't want to hop in a taxi, it's the easier choice. We went in and were a bit confused because we didn't actually see any butterflies. What we did see was five hammocks on a small porch looking out into a garden where hummingbirds were fluttering EVERYWHERE. If you didn't know this about me I love hummingbirds, and I was in awe. We all just laid there in hammocks for about 30 minutes listening to the birds and drying off. When we finally got ready to up and leave we hadn't seen a single butterfly and on our way out we saw the sign "mariposaria." We had taken the path the wrong way and only seen half of what was there. Luckily, we still had a bit of time to spare so we rushed into the enclosure to look at the butterflies. There were tons of them and they were gorgeous. All different colors and sizes and patterns. Some with orange wings, some with purple wings, some with transparent wings and my personal favorite, the one the size of my hand with brown and gray wings when it was sitting there and when it finally spread it's wings and flew away, it revealed a gorgeous electric blue.

At this point it was just about time for our bus to leave. We had 30 minutes to spare so we ran into town, grabbed some homemade traditional Ecuadorian empanadas and snacks for the way home before hopping on the bus to make our journey back. After all, it was Saint Patrick's Day and we were not about to miss out on the festivities. We made it home in two hours and got ready just in time to hit the town, faces covered in green and gold glitter. All in all, what a day it was. Saint Patrick must have really been looking out for us because my goodness did I leave this day feeling lucky. My heart was as full of joy as my stomach was with chocolate, and I had absolutely fallen in love with Mindo. We didn't get to do all of the activities that the town had to offer, but I'm hoping to go back to relax a bit and maybe try a couple more new things. Overall, our jam packed day was just what I needed to escape the stress of school and allow myself to embrace Ecuador and travel with the joy and sense of adventure that I normally do. Forever grateful for this fin de semana of trying new things, and laughing in the rain. La vida es buena cuando estás divirtiendo.

Chao por ahora,

Claire