Into the Cloud Forest

My first day in Quito I was lucky enough to learn that there was a group leaving for the cloud forest a couple of hours outside the city that afternoon, exactly where I had first hoped to explore. 

Dinner at camp... a REAL cookout

Santiago, a language teacher at the hostel, took two Germans, an American and myself out to the town of Mindo where we stayed in his half-finished hostel, which he hopes to open soon.   By half-finished I mean there were walls and a bathroom, but no windows and nothing to sleep on, so pretty rough around the edges.  Nevertheless, the day we spent out in the forest was unbelievable.  The forest was more dense than I could have imagined, often times interrupted by clouds that would settle around the middle, and cover the tops.  Though I'm no gardener, I recognized many flowers you'll find in a garden, or from the florist growing wild in the forest: huge inpatients, honeysuckle, orchids, birds of paradise...  He took us through the 'waterfall sanctuary', where we walked the small paths between about half a dozen waterfalls, and went swimming in the freezing water of many of them.  The most incredible thing is that we didn't run into a single person along the way... this is what makes an experience really memorable in my opinion.  No scrambling over each other to catch a glimpse and take a few pictures in this part of the world I've quickly come to learn.

Our cabin in the cloud forest

Our nights sleeping virtually outdoors was unreal: the sound of the insects, along with the rushing river nearby was deafening.  Our days we were surrounded by the sound of an incredible variety of birds, while butterflies of every colour fluttered around us.