Ecuador Adventure: A great weekend in mindo

So we left Friday right after school to head to mindo. It was about a 2 hour drive there with 10 of us in a van, so a little cramped. We bought the dark knight to keep us entertained on the drive as there was a fold down 15" screen in our van. I have to say the ride was interesting not because of the movie, or people inside but because of the roads we were driving on. It is a one lane road on each side and honestly people were passing each other every where. The scary thing is that on one side was the mountain wall and the other side was a straight drop off of at least 100ft, sometimes much more. So really no one watched the road just because we didn't want to after a while. I have to say though the scenery was never nice when i did look.

So we got there all safe and sound, got to our hotel and man was it nice. flowing river right beside the hotel with nice views of the small city. Hammocks in every single room and a common room with a nice sitting area and tv. So then we went walking around the city, which i should call a small town, because it only takes 20 minutes to walk everywhere. Found a really nice dinner and sat down to eat. Once this was down it was around 10 o'clock and for most of the group it was a long day, which meant it was bed time. But for 4 of us it meant time to find a nice place to drink and talk to some locals. The first bar we went to was called classic bar and played all english music from the eights and it was awesome. Stayed there for a couple of drinks then went to another place where the beers were a buck and shots were two bucks. We had a few more drinks and meant some people from germany and norway. At this point we called it a night.

The next morning we got up around 8, which is sleeping in for us.Had breakfast and then went to a tourism place. We bought tickets to go zip lining, white water rafting, and canoying, which is repelling down a waterfall into a canyon. We bought all this and the transportation for 40 bucks, pretty good in my books. We went to zip lining first. They suited is up and when i got to the first line i have to say i was pretty nervous. Once i going though it was awesome, and exhilarating feeling. There were 13 in all. One of them i went with a guide and he strapped me in so i was upside down, again a little nervous, but great fun. The last one had to be about a kilometer long and about 700ft above everything else, it was so amazing.

We then moved on to water rafting which is on eight black tubes that are tied together by rope. It was a 20 minute ride that was so amazing, the water was refreshing, and the ride was so much fun. A couple of us almost flew off a few times, but that just added to the fun.

Then came the best part of the day, and the scariest. We took a van to the canoying. The thing is they stopped in the middle of know where, by no waterfall and said "were here". Which we responded to as "where is here". They then let us know that it was a 20 minute hike through the jungle to get there. This is where we looked at each other and thought this was the day that we were going to die. they will take us out there, and return with out us. Luckily not the case. We walk for 20 minutes and we stop and put our bags down and suit up, but still no waterfall. They then tell us it is 5 minutes up this hill. Well this hill was a 80 degree angle almost straight up. So buy the time we get up there we are all dieing of exhaustion. That last for two seconds as now we see where we have to go down, then the fear sets in. The go over the instructions, which consists of, this is how to stop your rope, this is how to release, lean back, and legs out straight, ready. So being the smart person i am i decide to go first. They latch me in, and as i get to the edge, i can not see the 15 meters down which is the waterfall. At that point i almost shit myself but kept it together. The hardest part is to lean back over the waterfall and trust your self and the equipment. I did do it though, and have to say one of the highest points of my life. Also everyone else did it as well, which include justin, my friend who is about 6'4" and 300 pounds. So an amazing trip over all.

That same night it was the miss mindo contest. We did not get to see it, but at one point through the night at our bar she showed up. A local we met the night before knew her really well, so he introduced us to her, which was then followed by some dancing. We also met some travelers from vancouver and spent the night having drinks and dancing with them. Overall one of the best days ever.

The next morning we went on a bird watching expedition which was not the best, but turned into a trek down the mountain which was amazing. Aldo at the end of it we found a butterfly sanctuary and got to got to that. It was amazingly beautiful. At this point it was time to go home. Most of us slept the whole way as we were so tired from the weekend.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.