Monday,
February 11, 2019
We had planned to do something completely different for today, but yesterday we found out that Celebrity was offering a day tour to Mindo Cloud Forest. Mindo had been on our radar but we didn't think we would have time to fit it in. So we signed up with Laurie. Actually, 15 of us from the cruise signed up as well, so it felt like another Galapagos excursion.
Checkout from the hotel was 11 am but the tour left at 8 am, so we had to leave luggage in storage at the Marriott.
On the way, we stopped at an overlook into Pululahua Crater. This is actually the caldera of a volcano, and it is one of only two INHABITED craters in the world! About 40 families live there, growing corn and quinoa and raising cattle. Very cool. No worries, the volcano has not erupted in over 2000 years.
Next we stopped at Reserva Alambi. This is basically some guy's backyard that he has outfitted with dozens of hummingbird feeders, and you can sit and watch them. The gift shop was his living room with some t-shirts hanging on the wall, and the banos (washroom) was the family home banos. There were hundreds of hummingbirds there. Ecuador has 132 species of hummingbirds. We saw really cool ones with long tails. They were hard to photograph because they just wouldn't sit still for us!
We arrived at the town of Mindo.
Mindo is a small town of about 3000 people, located on the western slopes of Pinchincha Volcano, about 1200-1300 meters (3000 -8000 ft) in elevation. This is in the Andes Cloud Forest. It is very famous for its bird watching.
Our first stop in Mindo was Mariposario. This was an indoor butterfly garden. She gave us a very good explanation of the butterfly process, then we walked through to the butterflies. Anton was able to feed one off his finger.
There was a trail outside with hummingbird feeders, and tree houses that overlooked the beautiful gardens.
Next in Mindo we visited Yumbos Chocolate Shop. The owner sat us outside around a table and gave us pure hot chocolate and plates of fruit and brownies. Frankie couldn't eat hers so lucky Anton got 2 brownies.
Then he took us and demonstrated how the cocoa beans are dried for about 4 weeks in different stages
then roasted and ground up
The whole process takes several months before the chocolate is ready!
There were samples of different chocolates to taste. They only add sugar, not milk. Here are some very happy chocolate shoppers:
Our tour was not over yet! They took us to lunch at Sachatamia Rainforest Reserve Lodge. The restaurant was immaculate, we had to cover our shoes with booties:
On the way back to Quito, we saw this sign:
Anton used his phone to try to find the exact spot of crossing the Equator. The picture was just a second off:
Checkout from the hotel was 11 am but the tour left at 8 am, so we had to leave luggage in storage at the Marriott.
On the way, we stopped at an overlook into Pululahua Crater. This is actually the caldera of a volcano, and it is one of only two INHABITED craters in the world! About 40 families live there, growing corn and quinoa and raising cattle. Very cool. No worries, the volcano has not erupted in over 2000 years.
Next we stopped at Reserva Alambi. This is basically some guy's backyard that he has outfitted with dozens of hummingbird feeders, and you can sit and watch them. The gift shop was his living room with some t-shirts hanging on the wall, and the banos (washroom) was the family home banos. There were hundreds of hummingbirds there. Ecuador has 132 species of hummingbirds. We saw really cool ones with long tails. They were hard to photograph because they just wouldn't sit still for us!
After watching hummingbirds for awhile, the trail back to the bus led us through some beautiful exotic plants.
We arrived at the town of Mindo.
Mindo is a small town of about 3000 people, located on the western slopes of Pinchincha Volcano, about 1200-1300 meters (3000 -8000 ft) in elevation. This is in the Andes Cloud Forest. It is very famous for its bird watching.
Our first stop in Mindo was Mariposario. This was an indoor butterfly garden. She gave us a very good explanation of the butterfly process, then we walked through to the butterflies. Anton was able to feed one off his finger.
There was a trail outside with hummingbird feeders, and tree houses that overlooked the beautiful gardens.
Next in Mindo we visited Yumbos Chocolate Shop. The owner sat us outside around a table and gave us pure hot chocolate and plates of fruit and brownies. Frankie couldn't eat hers so lucky Anton got 2 brownies.
Then he took us and demonstrated how the cocoa beans are dried for about 4 weeks in different stages
then roasted and ground up
The whole process takes several months before the chocolate is ready!
There were samples of different chocolates to taste. They only add sugar, not milk. Here are some very happy chocolate shoppers:
Our tour was not over yet! They took us to lunch at Sachatamia Rainforest Reserve Lodge. The restaurant was immaculate, we had to cover our shoes with booties:
On the way back to Quito, we saw this sign:
Anton used his phone to try to find the exact spot of crossing the Equator. The picture was just a second off:
We were dropped off at JW Marriott and said goodbye to Laurie there. Instead of continuing our stay there (expensive!), we have booked an airbnb about
1 km away. A taxi took us there for $3. Daniel's place is an apartment on the 5th
floor of a 7 floor apartment building.
There is a full time security guard (carrying a gun) who opened the outside door for us and escorted us to our apartment. We felt quite adventurous and went for a walk to find a market. We asked for directions and a woman who looked very much like maybe she was a man (?) was very helpful. The market was the size of our kitchen, but we managed to stock up on enough food for breakfasts and dinners for the next 3 days, for only $21US.
When we got back to the apartment, we asked the security guard Juan, who spoke absolutely NO english, to take us to the roof so we could take pictures of the beautiful city at night.
Everything in the bnb is modern and new, and we have lots of space for the 2 of us, and laundry!!!
imagecredit:https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/4580453?adults=2&check_in=2019-02-11&check_out=2019-02-14&s=O09m45WW&guests=1&children=0&infants=0
There is a full time security guard (carrying a gun) who opened the outside door for us and escorted us to our apartment. We felt quite adventurous and went for a walk to find a market. We asked for directions and a woman who looked very much like maybe she was a man (?) was very helpful. The market was the size of our kitchen, but we managed to stock up on enough food for breakfasts and dinners for the next 3 days, for only $21US.
When we got back to the apartment, we asked the security guard Juan, who spoke absolutely NO english, to take us to the roof so we could take pictures of the beautiful city at night.
Everything in the bnb is modern and new, and we have lots of space for the 2 of us, and laundry!!!
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