A Weekend Away in the Cloud Forest

For the first time in our time in Ecuador, our school gave us a 3-day weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. We worked a half-day on Thanksgiving and then had a small “Friendsgiving” with about 10 of our work pals. Then the next morning we drove the two hours down to Mindo with our friends Brian and Delaney for the weekend.

Not a bad weekend

We checked into Sisakuna lodge where we had each reserved a cabin and were pleased to find that at least for the first night, we had the place to ourselves!

Justin and I have only been to Mindo on one other occasion when my family was visiting for Christmas two years ago. Seeing as how it was a Thursday and Thanksgiving is not a real holiday in Ecuador, we seemed to be the only visitors in the small town this evening. It was nice to see the sleepy town as it must be on a normal weekday evening. Brian and Delaney recommended a little restaurant that specializes in quinoa dishes, and that is where we went for a late lunch. I had a quinoa burger and it was delicious!The rest of the afternoon was spent back at the cabins, swinging in hammocks, snoozing and reading.

We also learned how to play Cuarenta, a Quiteño card game popular during Fiestas de Quito, which was happening the following weekend. Brian taught the 3 of us the rules of the game, which is played in pairs to get a total of 40 (cuarenta) points. We drank warm red wine on the open air deck and played until about midnight.

Yeah...that's probably safe...

The next day we had hiking on the menu. Again, we seemed to be the only tourists in town so when we drove up to the Tarabita (which is essentially a jungle teleferico) we were able to get right on and ride over the canopy. There are 2 main hiking trails on this side, one that leads to a large waterfall, La Reina, and the other trail that leads to about 5-6 smaller waterfalls. We started out at about 9:30 on the first trail to the bigger waterfall. We were the only hikers on the trail and I walked in front. This allowed me to see some really cool wildlife. First, something that looked like a large cat with a long tail dashed out from the bushes and ran right across the trail. We never really found out what the animal was. Bobcat maybe? Later, a bird flew out of the leafy cliff to the left of where we were walking and came close enough to almost brush my hair. As the bird seemed to have flown out of the side of the cliff, we took a closer look and discovered a little nest hidden behind the foliage with 3 tiny pink eggs inside! After about an hour we reached the big waterfall and unlaced our hiking boots to wade in the clear, crisp water.

Snack break

Then, we walked back down the trail and went in the other direction to reach the trail of smaller waterfalls. The hike down this trail took about 40 minutes and then we stopped to eat some snacks and rest our feet. I was just about ready to call it a day when our friends suggested we try to reach one more waterfall so we ventured out again. And I am glad we did. When we reached the next waterfall we saw that it was surrounded by a cave and poured into a charming little lagoon about 10 feet deep. Justin said we should all jump in! Delaney and I sat on the rocks while the boys took off their boots and waded into the water. We could tell right away it must have been really cold water based on their whooping and shouting. Not to be outdone, I also unstrapped my boots and started wading into the water. I dared the boys to swim across the lagoon and touch the rock wall on the opposite side where the waterfall was coming from. But before anyone had a chance to accept my dare, I dove into the water and made a swim for it!

Justin came swimming after me and we were the first to touch the wall. Then Delaney jumped in and we all enjoyed several minutes of youthful spontaneous frolicking. But man, was that water cold!

We found ourselves vibrant and refreshed after our dip and happily hiked back up the trail to the tarabita. Then we went back to the quinoa restaurant for more quinoa burgers and milkshakes and another evening of playing cuarenta.

Nice bike ride through the cloud forest

Sunday was our last day in town and we wanted to visit the famous butterfly farm. We rented bicycles in town and pedaled up the 3 kilometer trail to the mariposario. I’ve never been to a butterfly farm before so this was a really cool experience for me. Once we stepped into the garden it was like a scene from a fantasy movie. Hundreds of colorful butterflies fluttered through the air and perched on every flower and sugar feeder. Almost immediately a butterfly with wings that looked like the eyes of an owl perched on Brian’s shoulder and remained there the whole time. We got to see rows and rows of pupa in various stages of unfurling. These were amazing. Some of them were in a milky jade green color that looked like jewelry. Others were completely transparent where you could see the colors of the butterfly wings inside.

Slowly waking up

In the garden they had trays of smashed ripe bananas to feed the butterflies. You could smear a little banana on your finger and hold it out for a butterfly to land on. It was so cool to see their little face straws uncurling to reach down and probe the banana goop. Cool stuff!

Cool stuff indeed...

We pedaled back into town and made one final trip back to the quinoa restaurant and in addition to our usual quinoa burgers we loaded up on quinoa cookies for the road. It was a lovely weekend and it was great to be able to relax with friends and be in nature for a respite.