Mindo.................Again!!!

With The Butteflies

Just a few days after the incident, the story - involving myself, Leanne and the night of the taxi kidknapping had now spread across a number of hostals and probably most of Quito. People would come up to me saying "hey, did you hear about those two people who got kidnapped in a taxi the other day". Sometimes I would tell them that one of those people was me, on other occassions I would just pretend I knew nothing about it. It became pretty boring and quite a chore for both me and Leanne to relive the whole event, answering the same questions, so as the weekend approached we decided to skip town. The choice to get out of Quito for the weekend was easy, and the choice of our destination was perhaps even easier still, for a third time, I headed off to Mindo.

Along with Leanne and myself, came Jens, a very cool German friend who has been living in Quito for maybe 4 months now. He's doing an internship in Forestry, but for some reason which I have never really understood (I dont think he knows either), they wont let him go off to the Jungle (where the trees are), and instead keep him locked away in Quito with me. He's one of my longer term buddies and in a week or so, I would have to endure alongside him, a game of football between my nation and his, in the 2010 World Cup last 16. Oh how I couldnt wait for that!!!

In Mindo, the three of us later met up with some other guys that we knew and all of us spent a great few days together. Naturally everyone wanted to go canopy swinging, and so for the third time, off I went to swing above the trees. I love doing it so there was no need to ever complain. We also found time to head back to the butterfly farm which is always nice for a relaxing afternoon. On our first evening too - we went to a frog concert. At least this is how it was described to us. The whole thing was a bit bizarre. Here I was, expecting to see frogs lined up in a row while a conducter waved his stick around and yet - it wasnt quite to be. Actually it was pretty interesting. By the side of a large lake, hundreds of frogs were bellowing out thier distinctive sounds. The guide walked us round this lake at night and gave us an explanation of all the frogs and their behaviour. We also saw other night time wildlife as Mindo is in the heart of the cloud forests, so as you can imagine - the place is full of strange creatures, especially bugs. Apart from those delightful activities, we just ate a lot of pizza & home-grown chocolate in the shape of brownies and swang about in hammocks. It was the perfect get-away. I know I will be back in Mindo again - it's inevitable. This place really has become my second home, and with being just a few hours away from Quito - why not???

We all returned to the countries capital and continued pretty much where we had left off - answering questions about the taxi night. A few days later, Leanne left, continuing her travels on to Colombia. We certainly went through a lot together and which I for one will never forget. I hope I get to see her again some time - though I doubt I ever will. If we do ever bump into each other out on the road though - we will certainly be sure to get in the right taxi!!!

Well, I guess I still have Jens - oh and that game of football - which had now, all of a sudden, crept up on us both............................