mindo, ecuador

My Ecuadorian student recommended I visit several places in her country, one of them being Mindo. It's known as a place for nature lovers, and it's popular especially for bird watching.

I found out that my bus doesn't actually take me directly to Mindo, but rather it drops you off by the 'Mindo' sign beside the highway. It was nice that I arrived when it was still light out, in the early evening. I took my bag and started walking down the road. There were signs along the way describing guesthouses 4km away, and restaurants still further.

After a few minutes of walking a pick up truck pulled over and the driver motioned for me to hop in the back. Gladly. It was raining lightly by then. Apparently there are about 7km to the town, and it would have taken me about an hour to walk it.

My first impression of Mindo was a good one as the townspeople were smiling at me as I passed them in the rain from the back of the truck.

View from my hostel. It was weird, the owner overcharged me a few dollars but I didn't care, I just wanted a place for the night. An older woman at the hostel confirmed my suspicion that I'd been overcharged. Apparently she's also an owner there? I don't know, it was a slightly confusing hostel experience for me.

Some hippies were playing thunderous drums for 3 hours at night next door and then there was pounding rain at night. I'm ready for a different place to sleep!

Being a traveler of one, I wasn't able to book a birdwatching tour, but I wasn't too worried as sightings on tours are never a guarantee anyway. Plus, as soon as you arrive in the cloud forest that is Mindo, you can hear birds a singing and you already feel like you're in a bird paradise.

It's also an insect paradise. I got so many mosquito bites because I wasn't being careful and because you're not supposed to wear repellant when going to mariposarios. The thing about the mosquitos here is that they're so tiny, you don't see or hear them. Then you feel the urge to scratch and the red bumps appear.

The first of 2 mariposarios.

I started walking to the mariposario since the tour agent I spoke with said it's an easy 2-3km walk. Not long after I started walking when a truck pulled over and offered me a ride. I automatically went to jump into the back, but they motioned for me to sit in the cab as there was space. I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with this friendly Ecuadorian family from Quito. The parents and two teenage daughters were in Mindo just for the day. They were also with another family of 4.

All the butterfly species here only live for one month. Cliche question time. How would you live your life if you had one month left?

The 89/98 butterfly:

Next, we went zip lining. Just two lines, which was the perfect amount to sample the flavour yet not get bored.

They got us into harnesses, gave us gloves and helmets to everybody except for me. They forgot to give me a helmet. Great, thank you.

We went for a short drive around the area, but in a truck.

Then we hiked up this mountain for about an hour. It was really hot out at that point so it was more tiring.

This small tree nearly fell on some of us.

Back in Mindo, we went our separate ways.

Mariposario #2

Mariposario Nathaly

Here you can find many varieties of orchids, buzzing hummingbirds, and of course, butterflies.