Every month we take a trip as a group with Xplorer. September it was TeleferiQo and this month (October for those of you who have forgotten) we went to Mindo.
Mindo is about an hour and a half drive out of Quito. We met at Xplorer and headed out around 9:30. The drive up was long, and by the time we got there I was glad we were there, but it was fun anyway. I sat in the middle of the van. Behind me was Claudio and Adam singing at the top of their lungs and in the front of me was Gabi, Emily and Brian who were having a conversation that I would add my two cents into every so often. When I wasn't getting a headache from the singing, I talked to Saara who was sitting next to me. It was a rather pleasant drive up.
We got to Mindo at around 11am. We changed into our swimsuits and hopped into the back of a pickup truck that was going to take us to the waterfall. Or at least that's what we thought. The pickup truck ride was really fun, we got to see some absolutely gorgeous scenery, but it was also a little painful. By the time we got off the pickup my back hurt and my leg was completely numb. We got to a clearing with cute little wooden hut and talked to this old woman for a while. She convinced us to stop at the zipline on our way down to the waterfall.
So the zipline wasn't too far down this gorgeous wooded path. So we stopped there. If you haven't seen the pictures on facebook, the zipline is these two metal cords and you put on harness and strap yourself to the cord and glide down to the other side. Then you walk to the other cord and glide back. Just looking at it I was terrified. Both Gabi and I decided that we valued our lives too much to actually go on the zipline, but everyone else went. Gabi and I became the official photographers, however I am not so sure how good a photographer I was though, because I was little busy trying to keep the mosquitoes away from my legs. I think I came home with about a zillion mosquito bites. And guess what, mosquito bites here don't just itch, they seriously bleed.
After the zipline we were all ready for some swimming. So we continued down the path... and although there were still a lot of trees on the path, it was super muddy. My shoes kept getting stuck in the mud (obviously flip flops weren't the best choice) so I walked barefoot most of the way. Feeling the mud between your toes is a really neat feeling, but I also had to keep my eye out for sharp rocks. The waterfall was a lot farther away than I thought it was, and as we walked I couldn't help but notice that when we were done swimming we would have to walk all the way uphill to get to the place the pickup could meet us.
Well, the water at the waterfall was really cold. So I didn't actually swim all that much, but it was really beautiful. The air was a lot more humid in that part, probably because we were in the jungle. But even though I was really hot and muddy, I really enjoyed our trip.
We took the pickup truck back to where we parked the van and we ate lunch at this cute little restaurant. Then we got ice cream and headed home. We drove through rain and fog to come home so it was truly a day of beauty. I have included some pictures on this post but I don't think any of them truly captures how beautiful it was.
Hasta Luego,
Zoe
P.S. The pictures seem to be having difficulty uploading, so I will work on that and get back to you. But if you are my friend on Facebook you are welcome to look at those.
P.P.S. There will probably be a rest of the week post sometime today too, seeing as I haven't written in a week the least I can do is two posts today.
1 comment:
You enjoy redecorating don't you? I like it though.
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