Mindo, Ecuador

¡Hola a todos! I am sorry it's been so long since I've updated! This past week was very busy as it was our last week of orientation and we had a lot to squeeze in. Went to many lectures, a museum, the university ect... But nothing we did last week compares to the amazing weekend I just had, so that's what this blog will be about! We had a three day weekend celebrating the independence of Quito so some of my friends and I decided to go on a weekend trip. We hopped on a bus and two hours later arrived in Mindo, Ecuador, the forest.

The top photo is our hostel. It was very jungly and super cheap! We also had our own personal cab driver...except the cab was a trunk bed haha. The last picture is in the bathroom. Instead of a window, there was just a large hole. It was an interesting concept haha. My sheets were also spongebob which I found hilarious and all the beds had mosquito netting around them. 

Anyways, the first day in Mindo was the most exciting! Except 10 minutes after arriving to the city, an incident occurred. We were all walking down the street...AND THESE STUPID KIDS SWARMED ME!! I was really frightened at first because there were about 8 young children yelling at me and grabbing my hands. Good thing all my money was hidden in a secret pocket. I swear, kids here are the absolute worst haha. 

After that whole ordeal, we jumped in our "taxi" and took off to go hiking and visit waterfalls! We got into a "gandala" and rode high over the forest. After arriving on the other side, we walked around and visited a few different waterfalls. The forest was so lush and green, it was beautiful. Here are some pictures:

The water was so pure, it was amazing! After the waterfalls, we headed over to a zip-lining company. THIS WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER. We were zip-lining through the jungle, it was beautiful. We were really high up as well. Although I never saw a monkey (my favorite animal), I heard them while flying through trees! The funnest part of zip-lining was when our guide let us go UPSIDE-DOWN! It was extremely scary, since we were so high up, and maybe not as safe, but it was legendary. Unfortunately, there was no way for me to take pictures for this part. After zip-lining we had the choice of doing an "X-treme Tarzan Swing." Basically you climb to a platform, free fall and then swing around. I screamed bloody murder, I was so terrified haha. But, it was awesome and worth it. It was a little like bungee jumping but less extreme. Pictures! 

Wheeee! After dinner, we went out to discotecas to complete a wonderful day. Saturday was also very cool. We first went to a butterfly house. I got to see a butterfly emerge from its cocoon! It took three minutes and I took a lot of pictures showing the progress, but unfortunately every photo I post on here takes about 5 to 10 minutes to load so I can't put up many pictures that I want to. If we are facebook friends, check out the album called Mindo, Ecuador to see it. Anyways, in the butterfly house we put this mushy substance on our finger that attracted butterflies! It was fun, walking around with a butterfly hanging out on my finger. Warning- be aware of hummingbirds. They will fly into your face. Haha. After the butterfly house, we walked over to the river for some tubing down rapids! It was a blast and our guide was hilarious. He saved is from flipping over a few times lol. Here are some pictures from Saturday:

The water was freezing because it was a chilly day! Later that day it rained so we went out for hot tea and then napped haha. 

Before we had to leave today, we decided to go on an adventure! We found a 4 wheeling company and rode 4 wheelers throughout the jungle. I guess I forgot to mention this- EVERYTHING during the trip was in Spanish. Instructions for zip-lining, tubing, jumping off the platform, how to work a 4 wheeler ect... so I was feeling a little nervous often as I don't understand everything and we were being told safety rules lol. But it all turned out fine, no injuries! The 4 wheeling was fun, except my 4 wheeler broke down! It wasn't my fault (thankfully), the chain disconnected and I had to ride back on my friend Erinn's 4 wheeler. Oh well. 

After packing up, we headed back to Quito! I have been really lucky this trip as many kids in my group have had altitude sickness or have had to go to the doctor for stomach problems due to adjusting to the food. However, I have had no sickness...until our stupid bus! It was so bumpy and crazy, I felt horrible and had a bit of motion sickness. To make matters worse, we opened the windows in the bus so I could get fresh air, and an ugly beetle flew in, and went down my shirt. The beetle was a pervert and went into my bra, it was disgusting. I freaked out immensely. 

Quick funny random story: One of the guys in my program is named Mitch. He is from Japan, studying abroad in America for college and double studying abroad in Quito for the semester haha. Anyways, we love him and his adventurous attitude because he is new to both Spanish and English (speaks English quite well though). Saturday morning we woke up to a conversation outside of our window- a jehovah witness snatched Mitch up when he was walking around and was preaching to him for a long time. He had no idea what was going on lol. Then this morning, while we were all sleeping, apparently Mitch went on another walk, trespassed onto someone's property and was yelled at in Spanish. He walked in the room later and told us he met someone in a bad mood who made him leave his property haha. Mitch is awesome- what an adventurous guy!

Well, this is the longest blog ever. Classes start tomorrow so I should head off to bed shortly. College classes are hard enough, I am extremely nervous about being taught in a different language. My schedule works out nicely though and I don't have class on Friday! Yay. Will update soon about how school is going and the status on my internship (they are trying to make me do volunteer work rather than an internship, but I am being stubborn and want my way). Also- this weekend coming up we are going to a indigenous market! If anyone has an idea about what they want, please let me know!  

¡Chau!

p.s. If anyone has any home remedies for mosquito bites or itchy bug bites, please let me know. I counted and have 19 bites on my legs. And yes Mom, I DID use repellent, maybe the mosquitoes and bugs in Ecuador have some strange immunity to normal American repellent.