Exploring Mindo – The Forest in the clouds

When we started planning this trip nearly a year ago I always knew that Mindo had to make the cut based on it’s location, the things to do here and how beautiful it looked from our research.
Full of lush greenery, exotic wildlife, and vibrant Ecuadorian culture, a visit to Mindo can be thrilling to the senses yet soothing to the soul at the same time.

Where is it, you ask? Nestled in the heart of Ecuador’s Cloud Forest, Mindo is a little oasis of thriving natural beauty. From Quito, we headed in an Uber to Terminal La Ofelia which has busses about 5 times a day to Mindo for only $3.10USD pp and takes around 2 hours.
​
We have planned 3 nights here and 2 full days as the town of Mindo is quite small, so we hoped that this would be the perfect amount of time to soak up the sights and take advantage of all the activities, while still having some downtime to relax and unwind a but as the past few weeks have been full on to say the least.

Upon arrival it was raining, no surprise here though as we are in the middle of the cloud forest. It was warm though around 27degrees as Quito this time of year is freezing! But, its only 1300m above sea level here whereas Quito is 2800m so it makes sense it’s a much hotter climate. Already I am in love with this place full of cute café’s, bars and restaurants it’s a true tourist town yet nestled in the middle of paradise.

Getting to our accommodation was a bit of a mission as it is slightly out of the village and was described as a real ‘ wilderness’ experience hence why I booked it, but walking from the bus station in the pissing rain with 2 backpacks was miserable. However, upon arrival we were greeted by Norma our Host at Hostal Rubby and she was lovely. Welcoming us with open arms she showed us to our room which is essentially a tree-house overlooking the forest, equipped with balcony and hammock! Leo was stoked!
​
As soon as we arrived we were greeted with various hummingbirds flying around the outside of our room as Norma had left a feeder. Into the garden flew beautiful tropical birds, eagles and toucans…I was nearly in tears by this stage as I am just so easily excited when it comes to wildlife.

​We were both exhausted after yesterdays Cotopaxi adventure then the Avengers in the evening, we would have been lucky to have got about 2 hours sleep so it was a gentle stroll around the village and then and early to bed day for both of us. Oh, I did want to mention dinner…we had a Venezuelan Empanada made from corn for $1USD each…and it was delicious! We also had a Ecuadorian coffee which was the first barista made coffee I have had since we left New Zealand and my good god it was worth it.