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I have spent the past few days in a lovely little place called Mindo. It is a village surrounded by cloud forest. I travelled here on Monday which involved a 2 hour bus to Quito, a short taxi ride to a different bus station, a 2 hour wait for the bus (I'd allowed for a delay and only a couple of buses per day go to Mindo) then a 2 hour journey to Mindo. I arrived just as it was getting dark and walked to my hostel. Could hear the river but not see it but had breakfast in the morning by the small river which runs past where the hostel is, watching the hummingbirds darting around- what a lovely way to start the day! There are various options of things to do here, including a few adventure-type sports like ziplining (not my thing!), bird watching and walking.
On Tuesday I decided to walk to the butterfly farm and after a 40 minute walk arrived there at the recommended time of day as if it's warmer and sunnier the butterflies are more active. A man explained the cycle of a butterfly from egg to caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly and while there I got to see 5 butterflies hatching out of their cocoon which was really interesting to watch. They are so tiny in the small cocoon then as they break out they start to unfold their wings and within 10 minutes they are their normal size. Their wings have to dry off and then depending on their size they are ready to fly in 2-4-6-8 hours. There were lots of butterflies flying around and I particularly like the really bright blue coloured ones, of which there were lots. I spent over an hour watching them fly about and watching the cocoons waiting for them to hatch. Then I had lunch and walked back to town. At 4pm I went to do my second activity of the day- a chocolate tour! This place called 'El Quetzal' was recommended to me by some girls I met in Pasto for their chocolate brownies and at the end of the tour with the tasting part I found that they were delicious! We first found out how the cocoa beans grow and how they are processed to start the chocolate making process. It was interesting to find out how they are fermented (for 6 days, 2 days in each box) then dried, roasted, ground before it becomes chocolate. Needless to say the tasting bit was great- we got a little pot of the pure chocolate which is a bit like a paste. This was bitter but then we added some sugar, a bit of ginger syrup, a little chilli which all changed the flavour. Next was the cocoa honey they get from the fermentation process and then use it to make a kind of BBQ sauce. Finally a small piece of chocolate brownie that was just delicious! If I was going home soon I'd be buying chocolate to take home, including a block of what's needed to make the brownies with recipe, but it would just melt. I will probably revisit before I leave though! In the evening I had pizza with an American called Bonnie who is in Ecuador about to start a research project in the Amazon, which was interesting to hear about.
On Wednesday I decided to visit the orchid farm/garden but on my way there I saw Colin and Katie who I had met in Otavalo. They were starting a walk in the same direction so I walked with them for a bit. Then the owner of their hotel passed and asked if we wanted to go and see their coffee plantation so we all went there. Their land has some waterfalls so that was really nice and we hiked up to the top of their land where we saw their coffee trees and banana trees. Susanna told us there hasn't been any rain for a week and that the clouds would usually be lower- that has been my previous experience of cloud forests. It was a steep uphill hike (though short) which was a bit hard but as usual I was glad I'd done it! And it was an unexpected opportunity which was lovely as always. Once back in town I had a late lunch and we sat around chatting. By the time I went back to the hostel it was 6. After a shower I met Bonnie for dinner in the lovely 'caskaffesu' restaurant and saw Colin and Katie there too. Another American guy joined us and we all chatted for ages then went to another place for a drink, who I think wanted to close up really! Got home at 12, late for me! Ha ha. Today (Thursday) I am catching up on my blog whilst sitting by the river at my hostel (La casa de Cecelia) which is the perfect place to sit and get up to date- I was almost 2 weeks behind! Also trying to get a few more albums uploaded to Facebook….This afternoon I think I will go and see the orchid garden and might pop in for a brownie! ;-) Tomorrow at the moment I think I am heading back to Quito then straight on to Latacunga but plans can and do change so we'll see....
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