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 season, there aren't many tourists around, and most of the ones we have seen or run into have been much younger than us.

Our accommodation, Las Terrazas de Dana, is located uphill from the town and is accessed by a very rutted and winding dirt road. It was billed as being a 15 minute walk to town, one of its main selling points in my book, but the reality is it would take us twice as long due to the poor roads, the rain, and the altitude. We decided to rely on taxis to get around and so far haven't had any troubles.

We are staying in a large bungalow with a long hardwood deck overlooking the valley. Well, in reality our view consists mainly of large flowering shrubs visited frequently by colorful hummingbirds and butterflies. And we humans are visited frequently by biting insects. We didn't realize what a nuisance this would be until our second day here. Bill was really attacked, probably during our waterfall hike, as he was wearing shorts and no socks. His bites have turned into swollen, oozing welts. I fared better, but we have been itching like mad to the point where we were forced to visit the local pharmacia for what turns out to be an Ecuadorian version of calamine lotion. It helps a little bit.

This morning we went zip lining. Yes, we really did. There is a place down the road called Mindo Ziplines Tour, and for $20 a person can zip through 10 lines spanning a total of 8450 feet in length. Bill easily parted with his cash for us to enjoy this...activity. So...

We were fitted with harnesses, strapped into smelly helmets, and given leather gloves. Then we marched, clinking, up the steps of the first platform. One look at where we would be traversing nearly made me scramble back down the steps, but some deep breaths helped. Our two local guides soon joined us, and the standard operating procedure began: One guide zipped off, then we tourists, followed by the second guide. The first guide braked for us each time, from his perch at the next platform, so at least we didn't have to squeeze any levers, just hang on for dear life. The brake consisted of this mechanism locked onto the cable which, when you approached and subsequently crashed into it, would slow you down from 60 mph to an abrupt 5. I screamed every time.

We had to scramble uphill between nearly every platform, up hewn steps, hanging onto ropes, twisting through switchbacks, huffing and puffing (and resting). One thing that was so odd to me was that after every terrifying swoop over a canopy that was at least 2 miles down with a rushing river at the very distant bottom, we'd get unhooked and proceed to have our guides pointing out beautiful orchids and bromeliads of every type and color while we scrambled over tree roots in all our gear. We'd pause to admire these exquisite creatures, learning (and forgetting) their names, sniffing various fragrances, etc. And then we'd be strapped back onto the cable and expelled out over yet another dizzying expanse, only to have the flower show resume on the other side. One of the guides had hold of our camera throughout most of this adventure and when we looked at it later, a great many were close-ups of orchids! It was a surreal touch.

Our taxi driver was waiting for us after we finished and took us to our next destination, the Mariposas butterfly garden We'd never been to a venue such as this, and it was fun to walk amidst a plethora of gorgeous butterflies of all shapes and sizes. The variation in colors and patterns was mind boggling. Even their anthers were sometimes tipped with bright yellow bulbs. The prettiest of all were the Owl butterflies which had a large spot on their wings which resembled an owl's eye. But the great show was when they opened their wings to fly--the upper portion was a solid and brilliant blue. So pretty.

Once again our taxi driver was waiting for us, and he transported and left us in Mindo so we could hunt down some lunch. After that, we made our way back to our accommodation and shortly thereafter, Bill enjoyed a massage from the comfort of our bungalow. Meanwhile, I have been enjoying a glass of wine in the open-air hotel lobby while composing this entry. Aside from the rain and the bugs, we are enjoying our time here.

Tomorrow we will be visiting a hummingbird garden followed by an orchid farm and then maybe a coffee or chocolate tour. No more hikes, at least not for a few days!