Mindo.

It's been a while since my last blog so thanks for sticking with me! School has been going well, this is week three already and I'm starting to get into a routine. The days are really long and teaching so many classes is a lot of hard work but the good times have been outweighing the bad so I'm happy. 

(Having fun at recess)

This weekend, seven of us took a trip to Mindo. The Mindo Valley is among the most heavily visited locations in Ecuador. Nearly 200,000 tourists visit the area annually to enjoy activities such as rafting, tubing, trekking, mountain biking, canyoning, horseback riding, and birdwatching. **Thanks, Wikipedia!

We had so much fun and everything was really inexpensive so it would be great to go back with more friends. We woke up early Saturday morning and took a two hour bus ride through the mountains ($3.10). When we arrived, the weather was sunny and beautiful. We could walk across the main part of town in less than 10 minutes and we were surrounded by shops dedicated to tourist activities. We found our hostel ($13) and settled in. The hostel was owned by a nice family who lived there year round. The building reminded me a lot of a treehouse. Five hammocks hung from the balcony giving us a beautiful view of the mountains and a perfect spot to relax. 

 (Michael relaxing at the hostel)

(A view of town)

We ended up booking all of our adventures through one family business so they gave us a few discounts throughout the weekend. Our first activity was tubing ($5)! We rode in the back of a pickup truck through town and up the mountain until we reached the river. There were a few guides from different companies waiting for their groups, this was clearly the spot to launch. Our guide's name was Jefferson and while I swear he looked 16, everyone else thought he was older than that. I'm still not convinced.We suited up with helmets and lifejackets and jumped in seven rubber tubes that were tied together with rope. The water wasn't too cold and we spent the next hour laughing and screaming as we made our way down the river. If there was a rock within ten miles, my side of the tube found it. Our solution to getting stuck on a rock was rocking back and forth while Jefferson jumped out and pushed. Ohh, Jefferson!

(Tubing with Jefferson - not pictured - not because he drowned)

After we finished tubing we drove back into town and had lunch ($3.50). Next, we drove to another part of the mountain ($3) and hiked through the forest to some waterfalls. There was a waterslide coming off the side of the mountain which ended up being a lot of fun until Sean took a turn a little too fast and ended up scraping his arm and back pretty badly. He was a trooper but it looked really painful. After a few rides down the waterslide we found a place to cliff jump. "When in Ecuador." Three of us were brave stupid enough try it out, I was first. 

The cliff was next to a waterfall and I later confirmed the jumping point was 26 feet above the water. My harness and lifejacket were tied to a rope and I tried not to vomit as the lifeguard man holding the rope instructed me to "stay straight as a pencil" and some other things I can't remember. Safety first :) He threw a handful of dirt into the swirling water below and pointed..."that's where you want to land." PERFECT. What a perfectly antiquated rescue system, we all feel much safer. I took about 30 seconds to psych myself up, reconfirmed that the rope holder was ready, and jumped into the freezing cold water. After a quick inventory for any missing limbs, I was so happy I jumped! What a rush. Shemesh was next but after a few minutes of inner turmoil, he decided to pass. Robby was last and landed like an idiot (sorry, Robby). The guy with the rope pointed at me and said "you did great...him...not so much.) Luckily, Robby survived and we all had a good laugh. 

(Water...fall?)

 (Post jump)

 (1,000 photo credits to Michael for bringing his camera, and for guilting me into never giving him photo credits)

 (Hiking down to the water)

(Suit up!)

We had pizza and beers for dinner ($10) and played cards at the hostel until the rest of the group went on a "night walk" into the woods. The night walk was led by some Canadian guides and they looked for spiders, snakes, bats, etc. Not my idea of a fun time. I ended up hanging out at the hostel with a girl named Anna from Germany. We talked in the hammocks for a while and then walked down the street where an impromptu drum circle was happening (wow, that's the most hipster sentence I have ever written, I apologize). Once everyone returned from the hike, we went out to the two local bars and met two girls who were halfway through their Peace Corps contract. They were super nice and fun to hang out with. We also made friends with a stray dog someone named "Nicely". 

(Drum circle)

The next day, we ate breakfast and went ziplining ($21). There were ten ziplines and we were grouped with a mom and her two young sons. This was my first time ziplining and it was fun but I'm not sure I would want to do it again. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun but I feel like I get the gist. The bugs were horrible as we hiked through the woods and my legs are covered in what feels like 100 mosquito bites. Lesson learned, wear pants. I made it through the first nine ziplines no problem but on the last and fastest one, I lost control and ended up spinning around and scraping my neck against the wire. I didn't cry but it hurt a lot and I was super embarrassed. I was the second to last person to go and apparently, when he saw I had lost hold of the wire, the guide at the top radio'd down and told the guide at the bottom to catch me. Luckily, Michael was standing by with his gloves and the guide was able to stop me with no broken bones. Winning! 

(Ziplining)

(Winning at life)

(ALL the mosquito bites and rope burn)

Our bus was leaving at 4:00 pm so we had time for lunch and one more activity. We had lunch on a cute little street with a bunch of gourmet restaurants. I had spaghetti bolognese, lemonade, a bottle of water, and fried ice cream ($10) and it was amazing. Our last stop was to the butterfly garden ($4). It wasn't very impressive but it was still interesting. We saw some butterflies, a sad looking Koi pond, some very angry geese, and a garden filled with hummingbirds. Attached to the hummingbird garden was a nice porch with hammocks so we relaxed there until it was time to leave. 

 (Flowers in the butterfly garden)

 (Eye spy)

 (Flower canopy)

(The saddest Koi pond ever)

All-in-all I thought Mido was amazing and I would definitely go back again! It was nice to forget about school for a while and just explore.