Mindo x 4

Time To Run!!!

When I headed back to Mindo for my fourth time, it was pretty similar to the previous encounters. I went with a great bunch of people, did some amazing things and generally had a really good time. One of the long term volunteers at the Secret Garden Hostal (Esme) was leaving and she wanted to go somewhere for the weekend, to say a final goodbye. It was decided that Mindo would be the ideal weekend get-away. Along with us came a host of people from the hostal, Jens and his girlfriend (who had just arrived from Germany) and my work companions Elena and Jan, plus a host of all their friends.

Mindo was its usual sleepy (and slightly hippy) self. We arrived there on Friday night to get a full weekend of fun cramed in. Canopy swinging was top of everyones list and a forth time round actually didnt disappoint. Its always a very different experience, usually because of the different people you end up going with. During the weekend we also found time to head back to the butterfly farm where I have now become quite a pro at attracting the colourful flying insects to bury themselves somewhere on my body. The walk to the butterfly farm, through cloud forests and past rivers is always stunning so going back to the zoo of butterflies is always an easy decision.

As a little joke, Jens and I also persuaded everyone to go to the frog concert. Last time, the two of us had visited this interesting show and while it was kind of interesting and equally kind of fun, we were not really that bothered to view the whole event for a second time. Unfortunatley, our sarcastic jokes of telling everyone how amazing a frog concert really is wasnt taken so sarcastically and in the end it was me and Jens who were being persuaded to return. The joke would eventually end up on all of us. The frog concert was pretty rubbish. The last time Jens and I headed there we were only joined by perhaps 10 other people. That was perfect numbers for the show, especially when you have to take the night time trek around the lake with your guide. Unfortunately this time about 60 people turned up so the concert became somewhat chaotic and out of control. Screaming kids blocked out most of the frogs beautiful singing voices and the guide struggled to deal with so many people when trying to explain frog behaviour whilst walking us all around a small lake. By the end of it all, the others wanted to kill Jens and I.

We did make up for it however, by taking everyone to the waterfalls. Actually, I had only ventured to the waterfalls on my first visit to Mindo so I was quite excited to go back. You have to take a very high cable-car across a cloud forest valley which is pretty amazing to see. When you reach the other end there are two paths, each leading to different waterfalls. We decided to go for one of the waterfalls that I had never been to before and this one you can swim in. After a 20 minute walk through some jungly terrain we arrived at the waterfall, not so high but certainly powerful. At its base was a perfect, yet freezing swimming pool, for everyone to splash about in. You could also pay a dollar, to climb a ladder and jump off a high rock ledge into the pool, an activity know around the world as cliff jumping. Everyone forgave us after that!!!

We finished our adventures by eating as much pizza as our bellies could handle, lying in hammocks and drinking in the chill-out bars that are sctattered around town. It was another perfect weekend in Mindo and is certainly the reason that I keep returning here. However, I do think its time to go for a different weekend spot next time. I mean, Im sure ill be back here - its inevitable but maybe not for a little while now, well, maybe not for a little while now!!!