Lisa here. I'm going to backtrack a little bit with a description of Mindo and our present surroundings, just for context. The small town of Mindo is located in the northern highlands of Ecuador. It sits in a valley surrounded by forested mountains. Rushing rivers bisect its rutted dirt roadways, although the downtown area is paved. The main thoroughfare features a collection of mostly ramshackle buildings housing various eateries and shops. As this is the rainy...

After 4 flights and a 2+ hour van drive on curvy roads, we finally made it to Mindo. We checked in and basically slept for 11 hours. Now we start on our first full day... At dawn, the jungle sounds awoke me. I heard many loud birds I call, alarm clock birds. It's as though they are telling every living thing to WAKE UP! Not deterred, I fell back asleep. A bit later I woke to a more subdued chatter of birds. Still, I went back to sleep. I finally woke aro...