Mindo, Ecuador

First trek...done! Hardest thing: Having a cold shower afterwards (!)

So...Mindo is a small town located in the rainforest (cloud forest) Was a very cool weekend...lots of action and adventure (compared to an average Saturday afternoon for me in London!!)

After a 4 hour bus ride through windy roads (urgh) on Friday afternoon, I arrived in Mindo...was pitch black and so foggy I couldnt see a thing, but ended up at this Ecuadorian family´s house that I was gonna be staying with. The house was very cool...itwas a wooden cabin type thing...rustic....so ´rustic´ in fact that there was a massive hole in the wall of my room...which led straight out into this thick bush!!hmm... Anyway, had a bit of dinner that eve and kicked back on the verandah (with the trillion species of flying insects that were about!!)

The next morning, I woke up and looked out my window and had the most incredible view of these huge mountains...its all rainforest...so it was noisy as hell (or maybe thats cos I had a hole in my wall!!) but it was incredible, clear blue skies and this massive layer of mist that was slowly rising out of the forest (hence´the name ´cloud forest')...photos def wont do it justice!!

Anyway set off for a ´walk´ in search of a waterfall. Made our way up this dirt track for a couple of kms and got to this really cool cable car system across the River Mindo..consisted of a teeny, wooden box that one climbed into and then was kinda pushed across the river...i thought that the waterfall would be just around the corner....hadnt realised that I had to climb about a km up a mountain through heavy forest (was so much fun...), down the other side for another km and after crossing the River Nambillo....came to the waterfall....it wasnt exactly the Angel Falls (after all that!!) but it was incredible nonetheless!! Anyway, made our way back up the mountain, down the other sde and hitched a ride on the back of a pick up to avoid the long dirt track!!

Was quite lucky as we had amazing weather and about 30mins after we got back it started raining...real, heavy tropical type rain...lasted about 16hours!!! I hung out on the verandah with La Abuelita (grandmother) -she was cool...she was so mini and smiley...we didnt really communicate much as I didnt have a clue what she was saying (and vice versa), but she was cool!

Anyway, on Sunday, I just chilled in the little town...it was quite cool. Only had the morning to kill as caught an afternoon bus back to Quito. There was enough time for the great Ecuadorian sport of´tubing´ which basically consists of heading down a river on a boat/raft type contraption made of 7 inner tubes of truck tyres which have been inflated and strung together. The River Mindo is quite shallow, so it is fast moving and has tons of rocks that need avoiding!! I have to admit that I didnt actually partake in the activity as I couldnt be bothered to get cold and wet!! But it seemed pretty good fun!!

I shall leave off here....have got to get my stuff together as Im off to Cotapaxi tomorrow at 8am...joining the Chagras (Andean cowboys) for a 3 day rodeo!! Madness!!

Hasta Luego!!xxxxxx