Mindo Day 297 12/07/2015

We had an early breakfast (well for a Sunday) and jumped in a taxi at 0830 to travel the 25km to the bus station at Ofelia in northern Quito. It was a smooth ride out and quite a bargain at $8. Not as much as the bargain that the bus fare was at only $3.10 each. The Cooperative Valle de Flores bus was on time and we left the station at 0920. Whilst our destination, Mindo, is only 35km as the crow flies, the bus takes 2 hours as the road winds it way around and down from the mountains, a distance of 85km. After about 30 minutes we passed the marked equator site at Mitad del Mundo (which we visited last time we were in Ecuador) and after another 5 minutes crossed the actual point of the centre of the earth. As the road headed west we kept passing from northern to southern hemisphere and back again. After a very smooth journey we arrived on the main street of Mindo, which has lots of restaurants, bars and shops. Whilst quite touristy it still retains a certain charm. Mindo itself is in a stunning spot surrounded by steep mountainsides of cloud forest and is a real up and coming place in Ecuador. Whilst it's a mecca for bird watchers (there are more than 400 recorded species of birds here) we were keen to be back in the green jungle after a couple of months of desert, coast and mountains. After coffee at a nearby cafe we jumped in a taxi to drive along a bumpy road and arrive at our hotel for the next three night, Las Terraza del Dana, which is c4km outside the main town. We were greeted by the owner David, originally from Lanzarote, and in perfect English he showed us to our bungalow on the hillside above the restaurant. From the terrace in our bungalow we had fantastic views across the Rio Mindo into the cloud forest, as well as being able to see Volcano Pichincha over Quito in the far distance. Hummingbirds were buzzing in and around the water feeders in front of us, a variety of colourful birds were in the trees and swifts were flying in and out of a crevice in the balcony roof, building their nest. They were all very timid and it reinforced how lucky we'd been to see the fearlessness wildlife on the Galapagos. We decided that, as we are here for three days, we would spend the afternoon on the balcony, admiring the view and catching up on admin, planning and the 8 days of blog we needed to write following the Galapagos. At 1900 we went down for dinner in the restaurant and after our main course we were treated to homemade chocolate pudding and ice cream. Very tasty!

Our room and balcony  

The view from the balcony north towards Quito 

West across Rio Mindo