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Lindsey and Breanna were here last week. I had an action packed agenda ready for them. They flew in late Saturday night, and Sunday morning bright and early we were already off to Mitad del Mundo and Mindo! Which was a bit of an adventure, as I was not really sure how to get us there initially. Per the usual though, all it took was a bit of asking around and we found a series of buses to get us where we needed to go.
Upon arrival at Mitad del Mundo, we did a quick tour of the monument – which, geography lesson, doesn’t actually sit on the true Equator. So after our quick tour we walked a few hundred yards down the street and found the real Equator. While there we got to take part in several thrilling experiments, to the effect of: watching water swirl in different directions down a sink when moved from north of the Equator line to south of the Equator line, and balancing an egg on the head of the nail (for which we all received Certificates of Achievement).
Lindsey becoming one with the egg on the equator
Upon arrival at Mindo, we found lodging at a very quaint little hostal named Dragonfly Inn, and after dropping off our bags we were promptly off to go ziplining! We drove part way up the mountain, percariously perched on a bench in the back of truck (note: Lindsey adores riding in the backs of trucks). And then after a very quick series of events which involved us handing over some money, getting harnessed up and handed some helmets – we found ourselves standing on the edge of a wooden platform, getting clipped to a cable line and flying out a thousand feet above the cloud forest. It was both terrifying and exhilirating. After the first few cables, we all relaxed and we trying different poses, doing ‘The Superman’ and ‘The Mariposa’…. which involved hanging upside down from the cable basically.
The following morning, after a scrumptious breakfast at the hostal we visited the Mariposario (the butterfly farm)! We were able to watch new butterflies hatching from their cocoons, and even feed the bigger butterflies pieces of banana off of our fingers! Breanna discovered a hidden talent as a ‘Butterfly Whisperer’ (as exhibited in previously posted video) and was able to woo the biggest and most outlandish of the butterflies, but by the time we left we all had made friends with some butterflies and were able to carry them around on our fingers for a little while.
Loved those butterflies
That afternoon we caught a bus Otavalo. Otavalo’s main attraction is a huge open market in the Plaza de Ponchos. We got to wander around all the different stalls and make some purchases. Lindsey and I bought some small paintings on sheep skin, from a lovely women named Juanita. Breanna bought a small wooden hand flute for Yuri. Lindsey made us take a lengthy walking tour of the town in order to take approximately 200 photographs of doors, and the basilica in town. We had some lunch, and were off on another bus back to Quito. Back in Quito, we spent the afternoon touring the gallery and grounds of Ecuadors renowned artist: Guayasamin. We all bought some prints of his work!
Juanita from Otavalo was sweet
We spent the night in Tumbaco, re-packed our back packs and in the morning we climbed the clock tower of the Basilica de voto Nacional with Tia Patti and Diane. The top of the tower offers a stunning view of Quito.
We climbed that, Lindsey almost fainted.
After this adventure, we were on yet another bus to Banos! After checking into our hostal we got on a ‘party bus’ and headed up the mountain for a night time tour! We got some free canelazo, which is a delicious hot cider drink with a sugar cane liquor in it, and were able to take in a beautiful view of Banos all lite up at night. The following day we rented bikes and took a long riding tour of all the waterfalls in the area, stopping along the way to eat some granadillas and take some pictures. The last and largest waterfall on the tour is the Pailon del Diablo and Bre and Lindsey were able to crawl through a small cave/hole in order to get up and behind the waterfall! We got back in town, we scarfed down some lunch, took a quick nap and then went out for a Pilsner to celebrate an excellent day!
You would think I had never ridden a bike before, I was so pleased with myself
The next morning we signed up to go canyoning. I had done this before, on my last trip to Banos with friend Dan, but Bre and Lindsey were new to this adventure. They did an excellent job and had lots of fun.
After canyoning, sadly, we had to take a bus back to Quito because the girls were leaving very early the next morning.
It was a very bus week, full of buses and travel and adventure sporting. There were lots of laughs, and good times had by all.
Ecuador really suited Lindsey
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I also find it hilarious that Lindsey added this note at the end of the email: “OK. i would have….been quirkier in my retelling of the week….but….it seemed like it would get WAY too lengthy if i started adding in a bunch of weird notes/details. I also was unsure of what perspective you wished this to be written from. So i wrote it, as if i was you. (the assignment was VERY unclear.)
I hope you like the voice i gave you.”
Just fgound your blog and it looks like you had a great tiem when you were here.. Im really interested in the school that you taught at and forsee a bit of time trying to find information about it in the future!
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