Mindo – the Cloud Rainforest

Tuesday we joined a vanload of different brothers from the El Inca congregation, along with Carlos and Ceci, Veronica’s parents. Steve and Veronica stayed home, sick on their stomachs from something they ate or drank. We were a little nervous since they were our interpreters and we were on our own with all Spanish speakers. But we ended up having an awesome time, and communication was not even an issue.

As we left Quito, we passed by the Middle of the World, and outside of town, this is the view – somewhat barren mountains. What was amazing about this trip was the astounding difference in scenery just an hour from Quito. Suddenly we were on winding steep mountain roads in a thick cloudy rainforest. It was almost impossible to capture in photos, so I tried to get glimpses of it on the video clips. But it just doesn’t do it justice. The scenery was surreal, like something out of the movie Avatar. Every turn was breathtaking. I wish we could have stopped to look at the view – although I don’t know where. With the hairpin turns and no shoulder on the side of the road – there literally was nowhere to pull over.

Then, just as suddenly, we left the mountains behind and were driving through more flat tropical jungle type foliage, palms and banana trees. All within 2 hours distance of Quito. Besides the scenery changing so rapidly, the weather did too. It would go from sunny to cloudy and rainy, and then back again, almost around every curve.

I was just freaking out the whole time – and you can see how impressed Charles was.

Enjoy the ride through the mountains of the rainforest.

Small mudslide ahead.

Exploring the trees…

Relaxing at the Pool.

Paradise

That was a glimpse of our relaxing day spent in a little corner of the cloud rainforest/jungle of Mindo – which is a popular tourist location for birdwatching and ziplining.

It was a beautiful little paradise. Except for the one minor little annoyance at the end of the day – but we’ll save that story for another time.