Dave and I decided to work right up until the end -- finishing our Epic departure meeting on Thursday afternoon, packing up, and driving to Minneapolis at night. With an hour or two of sleep under our belts, we made it to Minneapolis airport around 5 am to fly through LA, El Salvador and alas on to Quito, Ecuador. We arrived safely around 1:30 am at the apartment of our friend Eric Emmons, who is teaching English in Quito for a year.
As the language changed to Spanish en route to Quito, I was reminded of one the most potent experiences to be gained from travel -- feeling dumb. Despite a couple years of reluctantly fulfilling Spanish requirements, I was for the most part at a loss in conversations with the couple of Salvadorians and Colombians I spoke with. Although I certainly feel dumb on a fairly regular basis back home, I think it's always good to be reminded that outside of your specific geographical and educational niche, you are broadly incompetent in many places and settings around the world.
We wasted no time in beginning our adventures though -- we left at dawn on Saturday for Mindo, a cloud rainforest village in the foothills of the Andes. Mindo has a population of about 3,000 people but is doing fairly well due to ecotourism. The rich diversity of rare birds and wildlife to be found in its subtropical jungles attracts Ecuadorians and foreigners alike.
From Mindo to Quito, the winding road through the mountains had us crossing the equator multiple times. Eric's faultlessly kind Ecuadorian friend Lina drove us. Because she runs a gas station along the route, she was fortunately quite familiar with the occasionally unnerving mountain road.
From microclimate to microclimate along the way, the weather and vegetation changed almost as rapidly as our conversation did. Dave and I peppered Lina with questions about Ecuador and her views on life. When asked about religion, Lina told us she is Catholic but is open to ideas and peoples of other religions. "I don't care what people believe in," she told us, "so long as they believe in something."
In Mindo we spent the majority of our time hiking and exploring the jungle's rivers and waterfalls. We also attended a "frog concert" where we listened to the frogs at a small lagoon before walking through the pitch dark jungle to seek out large insects, frogs and spiders. We found them. A literal highlight from the night was a rotting piece of wood that glowed brightly via bioluminescent bacteria. A real life Pandora.
The town itself was quaint and the people likable. Definitely crazy to go so quickly from midwest snows to jungle river flows. Enjoying it all immensely.
Swimming in las cascadas.
The climate and vegetation changed quickly from outside of Quito (above) to the cloud forest of Mindo (below).
We also went tube-rafting down Rio Mindo, guided by locals, somehow safely slipping and sliding over the rocks above.
Eric's friend Daniel, who is from Quito.
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