Backpacking Days

Still in Quito… Just back from a weekend backpacking in Mindo. OK, this is not exactly backpacking as we do not have backpacks, just a normal bag. Mindo is a small village nestled in the cloud forest at an elevation of 1’200 meters (only!!!). We took a bus from Quito and got there in a little more than two hours. Cost: USD 2.5/person, ridiculously cheap. The taxi to get to the station was twice that price… 

The cloud forest is lush in Mindo. There are numerous varieties of  birds, hummingbirds, butterflies and orchids. So we did bird and hummingbird watching and visited butterflies and orchids farms. All this very interesting. We also went hiking in the hills towards some water falls. We took a kind of open-decked gondola that goes back and forth over a valley, quite impressive. The only downside was that winter has started in Ecuador and therefore it was raining quite a lot.

We slept in a lodge full of hummingbirds, actually in the loft of the wooden building. There was only the slanted roof over our head, the rest was open air. Initially I thought we would get bitten by all kinds of bugs and freeze to death at night. Actually it was one of our better night sleep in this journey. And to be awoken by birds singing in the cloud forest in the morning is quite magnificent. Plus, there was plenty of hot water!

We took the last bus back to Quito, leaving at 5pm. As it was the last, it was overcrowded and some people were standing the whole way. But as we are always one step ahead of the crowd we had booked our seats in the morning so were comfortably seated. 

Backpacking is quite nice, but not as nice as having our own vehicle. Always having to rely on public transportation and having to carry our bag back and forth is not really my cup of tea. Therefore, I really hope our camper will be ready soon so we can hit the road again!