Two Weeks Left: Cloud Forest-- No lights, No water, No problem

A couple of weeks ago the NILIs decided to take a weekend trip to Mindo a small tourist town in a cloud forest, known for its bird watching and activities like tubing, hiking, and zip lining. A number of people had told us that we needed to go there before for we left, so we decided to squeeze into one of our last free weekends in Ecuador. I was extra excited for this trip because it was the first weekend outing that my roommate, Carmita, was able to join us.  

As always we took a bus to Mindo. Shortly before arriving in Mindo, we heard a huge thud as the bus came to a sudden stop…our bus driver had tried to run over a tree that was blocking the road…obviously he was unsuccessful. After unwedging and dragging it off the road, we were back on our way. By the time we got to Mindo it was dark. In fact, it was unusually dark; there wasn’t a light on in the entire city. Turns out that about an hour before we arrived, a huge storm had hit Mindo. It was the worst storm they had seen in thirty years. There was no power, no running water, and trees were down all over the city…some of the locals were comparing it to a hurricane. We weren’t entirely sure how bad the damage was since it was so dark nor were we sure if we’d be to do any of the activities that we were planning on doing that morning. It wasn't likely that the power was going to come on any time soon.  So, we went hunting through the pitch-black city for something to eat and we spent the rest of the night playing mafia by candle light. Afterwards, we all went to our rooms to try to figure out how to work the mosquito nets before dropping off to sleep.

The next morning it was clear that the storm had wreaked havoc on the city.  There were trees and power lines down everywhere.  Zip lining through the forest was definitely out of the question. We ate breakfast in a picnic area next to river while watching a number of different kinds of hummingbirds. Then we went on hike through the forest the forest.  A couple of people in group had to use machetes to clear the path since there were so many trees down. We ended the hike with coffee and tea, while we watched 50-some hummingbirds from our trail guide's back porch.  That afternoon we went to a chocolate factory and I ate the best brownie I’ve probably ever eaten in my life.  There aren’t many foods that I miss from the States but brownies are definitely one of them.

Later, our group decided split up.  Part of the group went to a butterfly garden and the rest of us decided to go tubing…and by tubing I mean like white water tubing. It was crazy! We had 5 tubes tied together, we sat on top, and hung on to the ropes. In order to steer, our guides would jump into to the water and try to push us off the incoming rocks. The water was freezing and we got soaked but it was amazing! Before going we had to wait next to the river for our guides. There was a swarm of bugs and within about 20 minutes I got over 100 bug bites…oops, I guess I won’t be forgetting the bug spray next time.

For dinner we ate BBQ!…I think the only food I miss more than brownies is BBQ (yes, I am from Kansas City). We were planning on having a bonfire and making s’mores ‘Ecuadorian style’ (which means using flavored marshmallows and the closest thing we can find to graham crackers) However, when we got back to the hostal the owners told us that there was a gas leak somewhere near by so starting a fire probably wasn’t a good idea. So instead we decided to all pool the snacks we had stashed away for the trip and tell stories. We huddled in one of the rooms dumped all our junk food on one of the beds and spent the night laughing about all the stupid stuff we did as kids…it felt just like camp.

The next morning we decided to hike down to a waterfall were we could all go swimming.  At one point on the hike we had repel down a muddy slope, some of us were more or less sliding down. I made it all the way to the bottom and starting celebrating my success just as I stepped back, tripped over the stake that was holding the rope, flipped over onto my butt and started sliding the rest of the way down the trail. The 20 people watching thought it was hilarious…there were even a couple taking video. 

The river/swimming spot had a huge water slide with a good 10 foot drop into the river. We needed some instruction before trying it out because there was a Gigantic waterfall a little ways down stream and the current was really fast that day, but no worries the was a proven safety system in place...all you needed to do was simply grab the close line that was strung across the river before going over the edge, no problem. Okay so there were some guys that would jump into help if it looked like someone wasn’t going to make it…lol. I hope my mom isn’t reading this. Well, the slide was amazing and the water was freezing! 

After the slide we decided to jump off a 30 foot cliff into the river. The trick was to not jump too far out because you didn’t want to hit the slope on the other side. I’ve jumped from that high up before, but I had a friend that wanted to try it for the first time.  Being a former diver, she asked me for a little advice. As soon as she jumped off I realized that I forgot to mention that it really hurts if you accidently sit down…when she hit the whole crowd grimaced at the sound. Having smacked a time or two myself, all I could think was, “yep, that hurt” Luckily, she’s tough and she got some really cool bruises out of the deal. (and by that I mean the back of her legs were entirely black and blue)

On the way back to the hostal, we rode on top of a “chiva”—which is an open air van with benches welded to the top.  We kept having to duck in order to avoid getting hit in the face by branches. Before we got into town we had to hop down and get inside because riding on top is technically illegal…um, the van has benches welded on top…clearly people sit up there… 

We grabbed lunch from a street vender and headed home. I did manage to squeeze one more mishap before we officially made it home. As I getting off the bus, I totally slipped down the stairs.  I'm way clumsier here…since we're at 9,000ft, I’ve just been saying that it’s the lack of oxygen to my brain.