We all met up at 8:00 outside the Spanish school, all that is except Sam and Anya, who had to be woken up from their beds by one of the teachers, before we headed out.

After a 2 ½ hr trip which passed through Yunguilla Reserve, a conservation/community project, we eventually arrived at Mindo. We must have gone up a significant height up because my ears kept 'popping' every now and again, on the minibus trip up to Mindo, where we then stopped for lunch, on arrival.

We then trekked for about 2 hours up to the Cascada de Nambillo, swinging on a rope swing (optional) and laaer clambering down a steep slope using a knotted rope before having to switch to another rope for the last part of the very slippery descent (again optional - there was an easier stepped path if you wanted). I managed to somehow get a loop of vine between my legs as I descended the knotted rope and ended up getting a bit muddy as I swung back and forth whilst trying to get untangled.

We also stopped by a small canopying operation which had only 2 ziplines (there and back). Here, the highlight was to run and jump off the end of the platform, headfirst seemed to be a favourite. Some people then continued to try to twist and turn whilst they 'zipped' along the cable over the canopy of the cloudforest. I didn't do it as I thought I'd rather to do the canopying on Sunday at the larger one which has 10 ziplines.

We eventually got to the Nambillo waterfall - a fast-running river in a gorge. I think the Ecuadorinas are mad - quite a few of them think that it's great fun to jump from two metres height or so into this waterfall. That and the way they drive in Quito - there have been three times, in a bus or taxi, where I've had to close my eyes at near-misses (inches, literally) from a collision.

All I will say for this weekend, especially the Saturday - you can see why it's called the cloudforest: the mountain tops are covered with varying densities of floating mist or clouds. It definitely lived up to its reputation as a rainforest! It rained pretty constantly Saturday, at first as a light rain but it became harder later (not a downpour exactly, but it was pretty steady). I was afraid to take out my camera too often in case it disagreed with the weather - wouldn't do to have it broken so early on in my stay in Ecuador! Saw a few large birds of prey/vultures(?) circling slowly, high above, and heard some cricket-like loud chirping as well as some sound that made me think of the ship alarm at the end of the first "Alien" movie, before the rain came down. We got back to the hostel pretty wet and cold, with most of us having not brought very much change of clothing or footwear…

In the interval before dinner, saw a yellow-breasted bird on some wires and a hummingbird at the hostel.

After dinner, we went out clubbing with, quite amusingly, one guywho kept asking me if I was 21. It was very difficult to talk in that club (so what else is new) and I felt very stupid at having to say "no comprendo" all the time, just as if I haven't been taking Spanish lessons at all - not that I feel very proficient after a week! Anyway, I got back to the hostel in good time (three of us to a room - luckily, I got the single bed); of course, it was raining very lightly on the walk back.

Sunday dawned bright and a bit cool at first but it brightened up and got quite hot and sunny. It was horrible having to climb into a slightly damp swimsuit and wet shorts which hadn't dried properly,if at all. We all smelt of damp, musty clothing, as nothing had dried that well overnight. Thankfully, my thick socks and the fact that my hiking boots hadn't gotten really wet, meant that at least my feet felt warm and dry. Anyway, a 30 to 45 minute walk in the warm to hot sunshine to the canopying place, virtually dried my shorts and we soon stopped smelling (or maybe, we could no longer smell each other!). I finally understand what some volunteers said about having to get used to (you and?) your stuff smelling all the time... I'm glad that I had half-expected to have to leave some stuff behind, though there are a few items of clothing that I'd still like to be useable after this trip.

I do think, though, that I might be doing some more shopping for clothes in Quito Monday because if it's going to take ages to dry your clothes…

I think that the advice pack lightly doesn't apply to Ecuador, because it hasn't worked for either me or Anya so far! Quito has been far colder than I expected, and the cloudforest wetter than the set of clothing that I've brought allows for.

Canopying was fun but I did feel that I should be taking part in either the Village People pop group dance "YMCA" or climbing a telegraph pole, when kitted out in the harness, riding helmet (for me, because of my smaller head), and (smelly) leather gloves. We were shown how to hold the harness and what not to do, i.e., stick your hands in front of the cable wheel, though you can put one hand (with a strengthened palm grip) behind the cable wheel for balance. We had three guides who clipped us all, one by one, onto the cables, and did most of the braking at the end of the cables. We were told that if we wanted to do specials, such as the "Superman/Wonder Woman" or the "Butterfly", we had to let the guide know and it could only be the first or last person of the group.

I did do the "Wonder Woman" (although she couldn't fly, could she, just flew an invisible plane from what I remember) - where you are clipped to the guide (who usually goes first for any new cable), who holds you horizontally, arms free and legs wrapped around their waist, before pushing off the edge. It was great fun and enjoyable but everyone who did it, had a slight ache at the stomach, from the harness afterwarads, including me. So, I opted not to do the butterfly, which you could do either solo or with the guide. Here, you were upside down - legs crossed if solo or attached to the guide and both arms and legs akimbo. As Anya who did it said thatthe harness hurt and that you didn't see much or know where you were, I opted not to bother; I did go on one cable clipped together with Anya. However, we didn't quite make it to the end and had to be collected and hauled back by the guide.

I found that you went faster if you leant back a bit in the harness, plus it kept your head away from the cable which seemed a bit too near the first time, until I figured out that leaning away kept my head away from the zip or cable line. The last zipline was probably the best as it was the longest and you came in quite fast. Quite glad to get the rank leather gloves off at the end, though! Luckily, they had a sink and soap with which to wash my hands. Whilst canopying (which took maybe about an hour), saw a bird with a forked tail and sweeping curved dark wings and a white body, but didn't bring my camera with me.

After the canopying, we then went tubing. The "tubes" consist of one central inflatable "tube" around which other tubes are roped together into a flower petal pattern and which usually takes 6 people, plus two guides. You sit on an intersection and rest your feet on the inside of one of the inflatable tubes (but not through) whilst you keep hold of the ropes holding the tubes together. We all wore lifejackets and helmets. Although I had initially decided not to go tubing - I didn't want to be cold and wet - the canopying and the good weather had warmed me up and I changed my mind, and I'm glad I did!

I spent most of my time screaming and laughing so hard that my stomach hurt or screaming "Oh my God!" throughout the tubing (which is supposed to last 20 minutes) from the sheer shock of the cold water splashing us every now and then. It was quite physical work for the two guides as they kept having to haul us off rocks and pushing and navigating us downstream. It was also fairly eventful as one group got a burst tyre and had to offload their passengers onto passing groups - so we got an extra passenger, as a result. We also got stuck on one rock a bit too long as another group then collided into us and almost sent us upside-down and even when they managed to be disentangled, we were still stuck there and almost overturned through the sheer force of the water. It was really cold stuck there! We eventually managed to get hauled off only to have one of our own tyres burst later. I swallowed water when one of the guides tried to clamber over (pushing me almost horizontal) whilst he tried to grab Fiona back onto the tubes. We then had to redistribute the weight and offload two of us onto another, less crowded tube-raft that passed by.

I think it was the funniest thing seeing everyone's reaction at the shock of cold water that hit us throughout the tubing - I haven't laughed so hard in a long while. It was great fun but it did have to end and we got a lift in the back of a pickup truck to the hostel where we changed and packed up for lunch.

After a nice lunch, it started to rain, and Carlos said that if we wanted to, we could still go to the butterfly and hummingbird place, but the weather meant we wouldn't see very much. I went for the option of seeing a chocolate factory (smallscale, not particularly very industrialised!). We got to see the (very large) fruit, taste the white outer coating of the cacao seeds inside the massive shell of the cacao tree and see the seeds fermented, dried and ground. We tasted the seeds after drying (tasted a bit bitter and nutty), as well as the final paste (bitter) before adding spoons of sugar, ginger honey, or chilli to it. The tour ended with a piece of very rich, gooey chocolate brownie. Then it was back to Quito.