Mindo Lindo!

Heike and Pedro from Mindo Lindo, Ecuador, happened to travel to Chile last year, and they stayed at Ricardo’s mom Perla’s hostel (Casa Perla) in Puerto Montt.  They became good friends, and Perla told them all about our upcoming trip.  They were excited about it and invited us to visit them at their home, hostel, and bird sanctuary in Mindo, Ecuador.  We of course accepted, and that is how we ended up going to Mindo Lindo.

Heike and Pedro were wonderful to us.  Their home, Mindo Lindo, is absolutely beautiful.  They are in the process of building a large environmental training center, and they let us park Cubby right beside it.  Linda and Dario, our friends from San Agustin, were still travelling with us and they actually camped inside.  We got to take advantage of the bathroom with HOT SHOWERS – niiiiiice.

 

Heike is an ornithologist, an expert on birds, so she taught us all about the many species of birds that they have at Mindo Lindo.  She has hummingbird feeders outside their house that attract hundreds of hummingbirds.  It is amazing to walk through the area and not only see the many different species of hummingbirds, but experience so many of them whizzing by you at once – they sound like they have little engines!

 

As nature conservationists, Heike and Pedro have worked very hard to reincorporate native plant species in the forests around their home.  They have many trails on their property that you can wander and enjoy the plant and wildlife of Ecuador cloud forest.  We spent a lot of time enjoying the beauty of the area.

sunlight through the leaves

the river

slimy fern

beautiful colors

look closely - this butterfly is laying eggs

 

butterfly number 89

 

We also enjoyed the town of Mindo.  It is a small, quiet town, that is surprisingly touristy for the birdwatching and rafting.

Mindo

 

hummingbird statue in Mindo's plaza

 

The best thing about Mindo is that right outside the town there is a lot of nature to explore – rivers, waterfalls, mountains, and wildlife. 

 

Each night at Mindo Lindo, Heike and Pedro invited us to eat with them, and we spent the evenings talking about Ecuador and Germany (where Heike is from), Mindo Lindo, travel experiences, everything.  Ricardo and Heike even discovered that they are both Tolkien fanatics, discussing Lord of the Rings and swapping books!

On our last day at Mindo Lindo, Pedro took us on an “adventure tour” of the river that goes through their property.  We didn’t know what to expect when he invited us, (Pedro is quite the story-teller, you never know if what he’s telling you is true), but we donned the rubber boots and followed him to the river.  The “adventure tour” consisted of climbing up, (beside and sometimes through), the river’s waterfalls to get to the top. 

even the dogs went along

I had to put away the camera for the really wet parts.

Everyone made it without falling in!

Made it! (with only one dog though - Tommy chickened out)

That night, everyone went into the town of Mindo for what was supposed to be a music jam-session at one of the cafes. Ricardo brought his bagpipes and was a big hit as usual.

 

Dario grabbed a caja to accompany the pipes and the duo impressed everyone.

 

A little later, they let us know that they had even set up a stage outside.  Everyone paraded out to the stage, and Ricardo was (unexpectedly) putting on a show for the town of Mindo!  It was a fun night, and a memorable way to end our time in Mindo.

We are always indebted to the wonderful people who receive us and treat us like family on our trip – Heike, Pedro, and their daughters were great to us.  We had an amazing time, and we look forward to seeing them again, on their next visit to Chile! 

Thank you Heike and Pedro!