Mindo

Mindo is a small town located in the north of Ecuador about 3 hours west of Quito. It boasts lush cloud forests with particularly high biodiversity in birds and butterflies, making it quite possibly my favourite town in Ecuador. Everything is very outdoorsy, nature–themed, and our hostel was essentially a big tree house. Similar to Baños, a range of outdoor activities are available (canyoning, ziplining, tubing, etc.).

Sidenote: This interesting thing happens in Ecuador where on a bus, at some point in the ride, vendors will come on carrying baskets of delicious goodies to sell. The trip to Mindo had the best bus food I´ve ever had. I purchased a bag of pan de yucca (squishy, cheesy bread rolls made with yucca flour) and deep fried, football-shaped roll of plaintain dough stuffed with fish.

The town of Mindo is very small and at the time of our visit, quite empty (I think all the locals recognized us by the time we left). That first night we bought a tub of ice cream and sat around an empty bar. Back at the hostel we met the world´s cutest kitten. We had to take turns holding him.

The next morning we went on a two hour waterfall hike. The area is stunning,  although the water was a bit cold to go full on swimming in. Nevertheless, I brought my swimsuit and went in for a bit of a splishy–splash. Our hike was cut short because I was walking and then I rolled my ankle (again). In the afternoon we went tubing (6$ per person!). You essentially sit in a bunch of doughnuts tied together and go down some rocky waters. Not going to lie, this wasn´t as exciting as rafting in Baños, and I think I could´ve had a really good time except the guide was very inappropriate and unprofessional. Perhaps I should´ve had a word with the manager…

Figure 1.View of a waterfall.

For dinner that day we went to a cute, quinoa themed restaurant (Mishqui Quinde) and I had the most exceptional quinoa pudding with ice cream. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend trying the flavour combination of maracuya and aji  (passionfruit and cayenne), although I settled on rose champagne and blackberry ice cream.

My favourite attraction in Mindo was the mariposarium or butterfly garden that we visited the next day. A guide briefly explains the life cycle of the butterflies and shows each step in butterfly breeding. More than 20 butterfly species can be found in the gardens, some of which are bigger than my outstretched hand. During our visit, we enjoyed a fun game of who–can–stick–the–most–butterflies–on–your–face. This involves smearing banana goop on your face, picking up a butterfly with banana goop on your finger, and placing the butterfly on your face. Unfortunately, due to time restraints this had to be the last stop on our visit. For those interested, Mindo also has a orchid garden, hummingbird garden, and frog concert. I´ll be sure to visit a few more of these attractions next time.

Figure 2. Pupation.

Figure 3. Morphos butterflies on noses.