Mindo!

This past weekend we visited Mindo.. a small rural town that has thrived off of their tourist industry! We went ziplining, visited a small coffee plantation, repelled off a waterfall, went through an orchid garden, and got an official tour of how Ecudorian chocolate was made! Great weekend. Here are the pictures (again there are ALOT)

I know agree with this wall painting

Part of our hostal. They were doing some rennovating..

First stop of the day: coffee!

You give yourself your own tour.. so you read about everything before you go. (Let me tell you, I was SO excited to find out this town had a coffee farm.. since the beginning of our time here in Ecaudor all I´ve been talking about is how I want to visit a place where they produce cofeee.) Wish granted!

Where they grind the beans... I think.

Alot of coffee plants!

mm. Colombian coffee.

I wish we could have went when they were actually working..

And then I bought some of their yummy coffee beans. They sold ground coffee too.. but um, beans are way cooler, duh. After I bought it I was a bit worried that I just did one of my "impulse" buys, because I uh, dont have a coffee bean grinder. BUT Sharada informed me that you can grind beans at Trader Joes! YES!

Next, Sharada and I ventured off to do some ziplining!

Hate this picture of me.. but oh well.

Sharada has all the pictures of me ziplining.. I´ll upload them later.

Next, We headed to the Orchid Garden..

Love this shot

Nope, not an orchid.. but a leaf bigger than my face!

Beautiful

And we called it a night by eating dinner.

The next morning, we started off the day by going repelling down a waterfall! Well... I went, and Sharda took photos.. thanks girl! :)

True story.. to get to this waterfall.. we had to hike.. through what I call the Ecuadorian mountain jungle. Here ladies and genteleman is where I think I got my EIGHTEEN bug bites on my legs. I would upload a picture of my bitten legs, but I haven´t shaved in like 4 weeks. (No shame. We only wear jeans here in Ecuador)

Getting ready, with my guide.

And we were off.... (more hiking to get to the top of the waterfall)

The waterfall I was about to conquer

Off I go!

Starting off nice and slow..

It was ALOT harder then I though it would be. Exhibit A, the above picture...probably right after I slipped and smacked my face on the rock. haha.

And then, I got the hang of it...

..So much so that I even had time to smile while climbing..

And after I finished.. I went a second time!

Next.. we went to see a butterfly farm. And by we.. I mean Sharada. I´m terrified of bugs..and yes I consider butterflies as bugs. Apparently they just flew around while you walked through the area. Yup I would have had a heart attack. We at the yummy resturant attached to it afterwards. (photo below) I had falfels! So good!

And we ended the weekend,. with the chocolate tour! We learned (every step of the way) how Ecuadorian chocolate is made AND got a free sample afterwards. No exagerration.. it was the BEST chocolate I´ve ever tasted in my life.

In the begining of the tour.. the super nice guy (who was Ecuadorian, but spent most of his life in Colarodo) explained to us the whole process. And we tasted chocolate before it was sweetened (in the bowl above).