Buenos Dias,
Or good morning in Spanish! I am sitting in a hammock over looking a lush jungle garden in Mindo on the balcony of our hostel. Mindo is a cloud forest where the clouds descend on the village as the day goes on.
Since the last post we have moved around to a few new places. Last week we took a bus to Mitad del Mundo to see the equatorial line and stand on both hemispheres. From there we went to Otavalo to see the Saturday artesian market which was real cool. It is supposed to be the biggest market in all of South America. They sell mostly el paca clothes and unique trinkets.
Saturday night Buzz (Adam) miraculously read in lonely planet that local c*** fighting began at 7 that night. We quickly headed out and found the entrance to the stadium behind a few fruit stands (a little sketchy) and grabbed some seats. The atmosphere was equivalent to hockey night in Canada except the players were switched with pissed off chickens. The central ring was about 20ft in diameter and the stadium housed about 100 locals. We watched 3 bouts then the main event which featured 'old yellar' and 'Ron Burgundy'. Buzz and I took yellar while James opted for burgundy. It was an epic match that mirrored Rocky 4. Old yellar was up against the ropes taking a beating then in rope-a-dope fashion came back with a vengeance until ron submitted. It was the stuff movies are made of.
After Otavalo we headed for the cloud forest of Mindo. Yesterday was an absolutely phenomenal day. We started off the day with 13 ziplines over the jungle some as far as 300 yards and 50 yards high. It was amazing. The next part of the adventure package was the 'Tarzan Swing'. The swing was the most intense jump/adrenaline rush in my life. It was an initial 20m drop then a swing out for 40m.
Once we cleaned out our pants we headed to Nambillo cascada or waterfall. We jumped off a ridge 12m high into the base of a waterfall and slid down a slide into the same area. After searching and finding my flipflop in the bush (long story) we hiked back to Mindo were we drank some cuba-libres with some travelers and locals.
A few things we have noticed so far is that James and I probably know the least amount of Spanish of everyone in all of Ecuador. Not joking. Good thing Buzz us sharpening up his Spanish using audio tapes.
Also for everyone who was a little worried about Columbia, every single backpacker we have met who has been there has nothing but the best things to say about it. They felt safe and the Columbians were overly polite and helpful. Weird how the news can alter our perspective. On the other hand I have heard Venezuela is very dangerous and corrupt.
Our plan for the next few weeks is to book Galapagos and head to Banos (volcano south of Quito) then head south to Peru.
I think that all for know. Today we may do some birdwatching and attend a chocolate tour.
Ciao