Once again we headed north of Quito to a magical cloud forest called Mindo. Along the way we passed La Mitad del Mundo. A very large complex celebrates the equator, although they missed the mark by 240m to the South.
We found the weather in Mindo quite enjoyable compared to Baños because each morning was beautiful and dry. Getting here turned out rather easy. Multiple people and our guidebook said we had to take a city bus across Quito from the South terminal to the North. This transfer takes over an hour without traffic. We were looking for a map in the tourist info area of the south terminal to plan our trip across the sprawling city of Quito and the guy posted there told us there is now a direct bus from the south terminal to Mindo(actually several each day).
The two hour bus dropped us off on the side of the road in the rain. Another enterprising man offered a ride into town (7km) in his truck for a price of 1.50 for both of us. The town is tiny and quaint. One ATM, one pharmacy, one bakery etc.
While technically a cloud forest, the area in all appearances resembles everything I remember of the Amazon jungle. The accommodations though, are much more developed with wonderful ecolodges. We chose La Casa de Cecilia located three blocks outside of the town. There are multiple buildings with a tree fort feeling, inviting hammocks, and garden terraces next to the river.
Our first day we hiked 7km up hill to the sky tram. Surprisingly Rob showed little of this fear of heights while it zoomed us across the canopy of a spectacular forest below. We hiked down into the forest for an hour passing multiple beautiful waterfalls with big pools to swim in. We waited until our return trip to get in at the nambillo falls. Sadly we found the fall was closed to bathers due to a stair collapse, but that failed to stop us. We scaled the wall using ropes like cliffhanger and made it to the top of the falls.
The area was abandoned, but you could tell that several others had recently camped there. It was once an impressive facility with multiple pools, a waterslide that plunges into the river, a couple of cabanas, and beach type area. We jumped right in.
