I did not get eaten by cockroaches or waterfalls, killed by roosters, or fall 200m to my death, so I was able to write this post.

Last weekend will remain among the most diverse, eventful, and thrilling weekends of my life. On Friday promptly after class, our group took off in “the party bus”. Along for the ride on our 25-seat tour bus were Patricio (very cool) and our chauffeur, who had a sophisticated appreciation for mid-90’s dance-pop hits such as “All That She Wants”, “Where do you go? (My Lovely)”, “I Come From A Land Down Under (techno remix)”, “What Is Love?”, “Tonight is the Night of Love”, and more. We rocked out to that cd at LEAST ten times on Saturday. I’m not complaining.

¡Mindo!

While driving around Mindo, which I didn’t know was called “Mindo” yet, I saw “Mindo” written on tons of shops and signs. I didn’t get it, so I asked everyone on the bus, “Does anyone know what “Mindo” means in Spanish?”. Right.

We arrived around 4pm on Friday. The 15 of us stayed at the best place I’ve probably ever stayed as far as lodging is concerned. And by best, I’m not referring to luxury. We walked upstairs to find an open deck overlooking a forest fruitful with colorful plants and murmuring with about 30 hummingbirds. As everyone claimed their beds, I immediately dismissed the idea of a “room” and called dibs on one of the two hammocks on the deck.

We commenced downstairs and watched the hummingbirds, only feet away from us in the garden. We took a little nature walk through Mindo and then went to dinner. One of my favorite foods so far is fried plantain prepared as Plátanos Maduros; they’re soft, self-caramelize, and are cut in thin, long strips. SO good! After hours of group bonding at the hostel, I fell asleep to a steady, heavy rain as I watched lightening bugs from my spot in the hammock outside on the deck. Gloooorious.

Bugs, Water, Fruit, Botany

Saturday morning we arose bright and early and headed to a Mariposario around 8am. The Mariposario is unique to Mindo, it’s not like they have these everywhere in Ecuador. I was actually really scared about going because of my ridiculous entomophobia (phobia of insects). I pictured flights of mariposas (butterflies) landing on me, getting in my hair, finding their ways into the folds of my clothing, etc. But it was not nearly as frightening. It is more like a zoo for mariposas in which they are studied from cocoon to full growth, and there were not an overwhelming number of insects flying around my head. But there were the largest butterflies I’ll probably ever see, called “Ojos de Búho” (Owls’ eyes), which describe the large circular markings on their wings. I have a picture of one here…they are really ugly and look really moth-y and when they fly around they are bird-like and completely terrifying. Ha.

Then we headed up a mountain and took a ride on a cable car across a chasm between two mountains. I’d say we were about 200m or higher above the forest floor. It’s…interesting...how many times in the last three weeks I’ve realized how quickly and easily I could die. I haven’t mentioned the driving yet…that’s a whole other story… We got to the other side and took a 30-minute hike that ended at an amazingly powerful waterfall; hiked back, ate a grilled platano (delicious!), headed back to the bus for more Ace of Base, lunch, and it was 1pm. It felt like 6. Sidenote: For lunch we headed to our new hotel to eat. When we arrived we noticed what appeared to be a business meeting of some people who obviously had money by how they were dressed, etc. They left within 10 minutes of our arrival. This little detail is significant because attending this meeting was President Correa’s wife. Just another celeb connection to add to my list.

Next on our itinerary was Puerto Quito, about 2 hours away. When we got there we toured a Chocolatería…a little shack in the woods where we made chocolate! It comes from the Cacao fruit. It has this fleshy white coating around hard seeds that you can suck on and then spit out, like candy – it’s really sweet. So to make the chocolate, we took the seeds (the ones we didn’t put in our mouths…) and put them in a wooden bowl over a little fire. We cooked them until all the white coating was gone and continued to roast them. Once roasted, we took the roasted shell off of the seed. At this point we could eat the hot seeds and they tasted and smelled like what most know to be chocolate, but very bitter, because obviously no milk had been added. After removing the shells, we grinded the seeds into a fine powder (very rich, like the shavings found on fine cheesecakes, etc) and then melted the powder in our bowl on the fire. We enjoyed our hot, thick chocolate over bananas. Mmmmmmm. They also made us some herbal tea with fresh canela (cinnamon) before we toured their garden of medicinal plants.

I got to touch and smell fresh aloe vera, the plant they use to make licorice, basil, and so much more – I wish I could remember everything. The most interesting for me was the “rubber tree”, Pará, which can grow up to 30m tall and very large in diameter. The tree, when cut, leaks natural rubber, which is used to make TONS of products including the recina I use to mix my paints. Additionally, it’s good for wounds. Another similar tree when cut looks as though it is bleeding because it drips a dark red fluid from its cuts. I collected some of the liquid drops and applied them to my mosquito bites and a few cuts I had acquired because it’s a natural healer.

After the garden we were off to a cascada (waterfall). We hiked for about 40 minutes, and then all raced into the cool water that flowed below the 12m waterfall at the end of our path. It was really beautiful. Within minutes we discovered a barely-there path that lead up to the top of the fall (Dad, you would not enjoy it), and our guide said it was safe to jump in. From about 20 ft. up the fall on an extremely vertical and slippery rock, I looked down on yet another thrilling opportunity. Not going to lie, I was pretty nervous about jumping - less about the waterfall and more about hitting the rocks on my way down. But I launched myself out on the count of “3” screaming all the way into the water. The whole screaming business didn’t help considering when I broke through the surface and was plunged deep beneath I got tons of water in my mouth and nose and couldn’t breathe when I came back up. Oops. I lost my hair-tie, my breath, and almost, my bathing suit. But it was worth the rush. We hiked back at night…THAT was fun. Really was though. We sang “Hakuna Matata” and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” the whole way back. I even broke out a little “Africa”. Good times, good times.

When we returned to the start of the trail we made FRESH SUGAR CANE JUICE with this huge device made out of trees that literally just juiced the wood. It was AMAZING.

La Pelea de Gallos

In the bus on the way home I spotted a bunch of people sitting around and wondered what was going on over there…and about 5 seconds later Patricio was like “Turn the bus around! I haven’t seen one of these in years! Wanna go to a cock fight?!” Hahahaha. So we went to a cock fight. Some of the guys placed bets and won, I enjoyed a refreshing Pilsner. It was brutal. Kristen, I have no idea what you would’ve done if you were there. They cut off the back claws of the roosters and replaced them with metal spikes. The feathers of the roosters quickly turned red with blood. They shave the legs of the roosters to make them tougher and rub lemon on them. When the “ref” calls a time out once the fight starts getting really violent, the owners pick up the roosters and suck the blood from their heads into their mouths and then spit it out to help cleanse them. We left right before they put the all-white gallo into the circle. We named him “gringo” before we left and everyone there thought that was hilarious. Then back to the party bus.

Roughing It

We returned to the hotel for dinner and a short salsa lesson. The fruit juice we had with our cena was the best I’ve tasted yet and is my new favorite fruit: arazá – it’s yellow and relatively small, tastes similar to a peach but better – more tart and also a little sweeter. We saw a Kinkajou (which I just spent about an hour google-ing because I had no idea what it was) climbing up a tree late at night after salsa. I took this picture off the internet…


The cabinas we stayed in were not so awesome. There was a cockroach in our shower. I didn’t know it was a cockroach because I haven’t exactly seen a whole lot of cockroaches, but after asking Katie to get rid of it for me and she told me what it was, I got even more freaked out. So not taking a shower Saturday night was the lesser of two evils. We barely had screens on our cabinas…anything or anyone could’ve easily entered. I slept under a mosquito net and wrapped myself up in a blanket as to avoid any creepy-crawlers, but despite my horror, after such a full day I inevitably fell into a deep sleep.

Sunday we woke up early again and went to another waterfall. This one was a lot bigger and so powerful we had to wear life jackets. Then we took the most beautiful scenic drive back to Quito. Everything for the next two hours literally looked like it was straight out of Jurassic Park.

“On Driving in Ecuador”

That was my amazing weekend. But about the driving in Ecuador: the requirements to get a license are only 2-3 weeks of practice and a test with only 2 hours a day. Nobody follows the rules…ever. If there is a stoplight or stop sign, it only merits a “yield”. People constantly cut each other off, motorcycles go wherever they need to regardless of what else is going on, cars drive practically underneath buses and trucks, and nobody stops for pedestrians. Every man for himself. Offensive driving. If you need to go somewhere or do something or cut someone off, you give a few beeps and keep going without hesitation. I’m seriously scared I’m going to get in an accident just being on a bus or in a taxi. I could never drive here because I would be driving their way and would immediately get hit. It’s insane.

Love the Fam

I made cookies for my fam last night. I made brownies today but I burnt them because I always forget when I put stuff in the oven. The only reason the cookies made it was because Yolanda reminded me. And the only reason the brownies didn’t start on fire was also because Yolanda reminded me. It’s the thought that counts? I plan on making my spicy pasta sometime this week for dinner.

Carnaval is this weekend and it is going to be ridiculous. The plan is to go to Manta, where my family is originally from, on Friday and Saturday, and then head to Guaranda on Sunday and Monday and return on Tuesday. Manta is on the coast – I’ll be going with Christine and we’ll be staying with Carlos’ s family in his house. He’ll be there, too, and Gabriel and Freddie are coming to meet up on Saturday. Guaranda has the reputation of the best Carnaval town in Ecuador as far as water and flour and egg fights go, which is what I’m looking for. I cannot WAIT. Expect a fun-filled entry next week and cross your fingers that my camera doesn’t get stolen in Guaranda!

Note: Thanks to Bridget Wiersema for the use of her photos on this post! I unfortunately left my camera at home for this trip.