I feel I must tell you; there are a great many things to jump off of in Mindo. I, the intrepid explorer, have done my best to bring documentation of said things to you, my wonderful readers. Behold.
Camera 1:
If you think that was stupid, check out Camera 2:
Ecuador rainstorms smell different. Rainstorms smell different this close to the ground. On angel wings, you don’t catch that smell of earth; of loam… but here we are. It is hard to find reliable weather information online, but tripadvisor.com, which is fast becoming one of my favorite sites, has a three day forecast on the review page for each listing on their pages. Tomorrow it looks like lightning.
I’m going ziplining and then tubing in the Mindo river.
Definitely a good day for lightning. Good thing the camera housing is shock-proof… isn’t that what it means?
Ecuador has a couple national beers, Pilsener being one of them. You can pick up a 750 ml bottle of it on just about every corner for a dollar and you get 15-25 cents when returning it, depending on how much you paid for it. A pretty good deal, except it seems that you can drink these till the cows come home and never catch a buzz.
Mindo is a pretty cool little town. As soon as I got off the bus, a local woman walked up to me and asked in English if I needed help. I gave her the name of my hostel and she gave me immediate and accurate direction on how to get there. I was flabbergasted.
Gareth gave me the name of the place I am staying at. He left Quito one morning, feeling not quite 100% and was deathly ill soon after arriving in Mindo. This family took care of him for nearly 6 days while he regained his strength. As soon as I tell the matriarch of the house that I am friends with the sickly English guy, she becomes excitedly chatty asking all about him and even taking 20% of the cost of the place. Not bad for 10 seconds of work.
My room is splendid. I have three beds, yet again, and a private bathroom with what appears to be hot water in the shower. I think I need some friends to travel with, because if I keep getting stellar deals on three bed habitaciones, I would rather split the cost three ways.
My ankles itch tremendously from all the little ankle-biter bugs that I encountered walking the canyon in Quito. I’m doing my best to just put Benadryl on them instead of scratch because each place that I scratch the skin is a place where flies or infected mosquitos can lay all manner of worms and parasites that will skip right past your skins protective layer and right into your body and potentially kill you. This is the reality of my life. These are the concerns that I have replaced traffic tickets and vehicle maintenance with.
The cloud forest above Mindo is breathtaking. And not just in that Audrey Hepburn way… I mean seriously… to get to the top of the Cascadas, a series of waterfalls running through the forest, it is about a 7 kilometer hike to the entrance. I was quite out of breath. A 7 kilometer hike sounded a lot better to me than paying $15 for a taxi ride up there. If you ask around, however, you will find a trolley of sorts that drives people up en masse for $1; I just didn’t bother to ask before I left.
I had gone up there mostly because I heard that it provided some good views of the forest, you could swim in the river, and I purchased a $10 ticket for a canopy zipline tour. If you come to Mindo, ask the locals which tour group to go with. One of them is local so do what you can to support them.
If you come to Ecuador, you must come to Mindo. This place is delightful after the metropolitan sprawl of Quito. Cooperativo Flor de Valles runs numerous daily buses here for $2.50 USD. You can afford it.
After you reach the park entrance and pay your $3 entrance fee (well worth it) you can hike down to a platform looking over this amazing view. And then you can jump off of it.
When I asked the guy in charge if I could jump with my camera in hand, he gave me a look that said, “We are jumping off cliffs with a string attached to some underwear on the outside of our pants. If you wanted to jump off with a kitchen sink, I wouldn’t stop you.”
Once you get tired of this… ah who am I kidding, no one in their right mind would ever get tired of this… but it costs $3 per round trip, so, once you run out of money you can continue hiking down to the floor of the canyon and the Cascadas. Take your time, look around, and bring a rain jacket. It isn’t called a cloud forest for nothing.
Once you have hiked another 2 kilometers or so, you will come to a fantastic sign standing next to a cement platform; which you can jump off of.
There is also a toboggan slide next to it, which, in a manner of speaking, you can jump off of.
A little farther down you will find some gentlemen talking, possibly grilling up some lunch at a small outpost next to the largest waterfall in the Cascadas. One of them will happily take you over to a small mirador set over the waterfall… by now I’m sure you know where this is going.
The rope in the video is so they can ensure you don’t get dragged underwater. It is quite common for Latin Americans to have no idea how to swim, and the rope has become something of a rule. The actual height of the jump is just under 40 feet. This jump is free, but I suggest you tip Xavier and his friends as they are honest and hard working. As well they should be; they are the highest paid people for miles around, making more than even the hotel owners. Remember to tip your guide, but don’t worry if you only have so much coin… they will get by.
Before I left for the mountain, the power went out in the whole city… around 8 a.m. At 5 p.m. when I return the power has not been restored. The story, however, has percolated to the town. Apparently a car was forced off the road by a bus and struck a power pole or line and took out the connection.
The whole ride back down the mountain on my newfound $1 shuttle bus, I spoke with a couple guys traveling from Korea. They know a guy who knows a guy and they are staying in the priests quarters at the local church. I’m off to find them.
As luck would have it, Mindo is small and en route from some delightful Ginger tea, I bump into the only two asians for maybe a hundred miles around. The Father has already fed my Eastern companions, so they come sit down and regale me with stories of their travels and homes and lives. Before long we are neck deep in questions like “Why am I traveling?” “What do I want to return to?” and “Why the hell does everyone need an iPod?”
This conversation is one of the reasons that I am on the road. Fresh perspectives, old questions, that sense of camaraderie that comes when someone else is asking themselves the same questions you are. I’m not sure if the answers we came up with are correct, but we all had stars in our eyes to accompany a renewed sense of purpose and connection. Hyoung and Puck, you guys really made my night. Thanks for investing the time in a stranger.
That looks like an absolute blast! I’m glad you’re having fun!
high five for the superman. add a cape and you’re golden.
keep hydrating w/ that ginger tea. it helps get rid of an oncoming cold, relieves nausea, and has magical warming and qi-moving properties. it will also improve your asian linguistic skills.