Weekend in Mindo

Propelling down the mountain

This weekend we decided to head to Mindo, which is 2.5 hours away from Quito, located in the cloud forest. After we arrived we heading off on a 2 hour scenic hike to a waterfall. On the hike, the one thing I was most grateful for was my hiking boots. Since it was raining the ground was all muddy and I was really impressed by how great they were in the mud. Especially compared to our friends that were slipping  in their running shoes. They were also really great when we needed to propelling down a steep slope of the muddy mountain with nothing but  a rope.

At the end of our hike we ended up at the waterfall which we were told was safe to jump off us. It was actually quite an intimidating jump and both my brother and I were questioning whether we were going to do it. For this jump you don't just jump over the falls it into a pool of water at the bottom but rather you jump into the waterfall with a strong rapid at the bottom. A couple of the guys did it, followed by our friend Sam, with Trevor planning to go next. However just before Trevor did it, we found out that something had happened to Sam which stopping everyone else from jumping. It was actually quite a scary thing to watch because we didn't know what had happened to him except that he wasn't able to walk and the guys had to carry him out of the water. We all just sat above in the rain watching as all the action took place below. Eventually they told us to head back to the hotel (a 2 hour hike back) while six of the guys below carried Sam back to the road on a stretcher, which could not have been fun because walking the muddy path on your own was quite treacherous, never mind carrying a stretcher.

 Once they got him to the road they transported him to a local doctor who stitched up one of his feet but the other needed to be looked at by a hospital. Unfortunately the nearest hospital was in Quito and Sam insisted on staying, so they wrapped up his legs. He actually ended up at the bar with us, drinking away his pain that night. However since both his feet where injured he wasn't able to move at all by himself, so the guys had to help carry him everywhere and Trevor was his roommate, so he really had to help him around. They next morning they insisted on taking him back to Quito to go to the hospital, where we later found out that he had broken the ankle on one of his leg and fractured the toe on the other. So he now has casts on both and can only get around by wheelchair. Which really sucks for him since he has only been in Ecuador 1.5 weeks and was suppose to be here for a 4 month project and will need to go home this week.

The accident kind of ruined the mood of our trip however we continued on with our activities the next day.  Come Sunday we were all pretty tired and all our clothes were still soaking wet from the day before. So the idea of putting on a wet bathing suit under our dry clothes was not all that appealing. But we all got ready and went for a 1 hour hike up the mountain to go zip-lining. This actually turned out to be more fun then I had expected. I'd been zip-lining a couple times before but what was cool about this time was they let you go down in different ways. So we got to down upside down, superman, butterfly, and attached to one another which was fun.

Ecuadorian taxi

After the zip-lining we then went tubing. And to get from the canopying to tubing site, we got to take an Ecuadorian style taxis which means piling everyone into the back of a pick-up truck for the ride down the mountain. In Ecuador it's common to see pickup trucks packed with people in the back, on the highway. The tubing was unlike anything I have ever done before. They take 8 or so tubes and tie them all in a circular format. They then pile you all in, however you don't sit in the tube, but rather on it and for good reason because the river is quite rocky and you would end up getting hit quite a bit. My brother and I actually found this a lot scarier than whitewater rafting because the rapids are quite fast and its really rocky. You're also not that secure in the tube, only holding on by the ropes that hold the tubes together. But the really scary part is if one of the tubes pop, which I think happens quite frequently. My brother and I were both on different rafts and both of our rafts had one of the tubes pop. When this happens you end up with the person on the popped tub scrabbling to get into someone elses tube and the balance of your raft thrown off, all the while still maneuvering through the rapids. Once we got through the rapids they tried to fix the circular form by tying the remaining tubes together and moved us around to try and fit the extra person in.

Coco bean plantation

Once those activities were over we then headed back to the hotel to dry off and eat lunch. We then went on a tour of a chocolate plantation where we got to see how chocolate is made. We also got to taste 100% coco which let me tell you does not taste very good without the sugar. After that active day we then headed back home to Quito.