MINDO!

Okay, so we'll just pretend this is Sunday 16 January, because I've epically failed at this whole keep-your-blog-updated situation. And, as a result, have been pestered to get something up. Here goes nothing:

Fair warning: this post is long. good luck!

LAST weekend 14-16 Jan, a smaller group of 13 of us (there are 34 total) went to a VERY small town about 2 hours NE of Quito by bus called Mindo. While I was expecting a shanty bus on sketchy dirt roads of the Ecuadorian highway system, well, I was completely right. As aforementioned about driving in Ecuador, this was quite the experience. Driving through the middle of the jungle, all the while passing (yes, the bus was doing the passing) slower trucks on hairpin corners was shocking, but everything ended up fine, eh? Also on the bus, we met a English-speaking BRO named Randy that also doubled as a guide in Mindo. He took us to all the coolest spots, adventures, and pizza joints that Mindo has to offer.

Note: my laptop is still not connecting to any wireless networks, so I've been using my iPhone to keep this bad boy updated. Just learned that I can't upload my own pictures because of some random flaw in the system, so I'll post a picture-less post for now, then do a strictly photo post tomorrow to fill in the gaps.

We arrived to Mindo around 1030 thanks to our bus driver and the $2.50 bus fare just in time to head up to a nearby zip-lining company, complete with 13 zip lines for an adventure I had to-date yet to experience. This picture is crazy, so y'all should be excited for tomorrow's post. The last, and longest, zipline, went straight through the clouds; you couldn't even see the end.

After that we went back to Mindo, and back to our amazing Hostel, complete with mosquito nets for our "protection," although I've never been bitten more in my life. My "room" in the hostel had only three walls, so it was just like sleeping in the middle of the cloud forest.

That night ended with a group trip to a really small bar, us being the only gringos, of course. Upon returning to the hostel for the night, we also decided to test out the hostel's "swimming hole," which turned out to be no more than a rushing river less than 2 feet deep. Result: bruise-riddled legs and a sore body in the morning.

Saturday: River-rafting and repelling a 100+ foot cliff. So, we took our preferred method of tranportation to get to places: everyone stand in the back of the truck, holding on for dear life, while speeding through the TRUELY sketchy roads through the forest. I've never been so happy to be alive after arriving to each destination throughout Mindo. After rafting down the river, lunch, then the main event: repelling down a cliff/waterfall.

Again, we took the truck about 6 miles into the cloud forest, where we pulled up to the Cable Car that we had to take to get to the waterfall. Most stunning thing I've ever seen in my life, hands down! After a 45 minute TREK through the forest, we came to a cliff. When another guide (the expert) told us that we had reached our destination, I truely thought he was kidding. Long story short, he wasn't. I volunteered to go first- greatest decision by far. After repelling the cliff via one rope and my complete responsibly for my life (also only anchored to a 1.5 ft diameter tree) I was able to swim in the waterfall, explore te streams, and jump off some rocks into the waterfall. Simply amazing.

Thats just about it for last weekend, no other news-worthy events that I can think of. So, I'll be posting the pictures from Mindo tomorrow, which will be exponentially more exciting than this LOOOONNNGGG post.

GO DAWGS,

Blair