Mindo: The Cloud Forest (Video)

Here's a quick look at our adventures in the cloud forest!


¡Hasta próxima vez! #coopedAbroad

Mindo and the surrounding cloud forest

Cable stretching across the valley to the trailheads which lead to five waterfalls throughout the jungle.



Hundreds of feet of jungle looming above.

















Just a small portion of the amazing flora and fauna that the jungle surrounding mindo has to offer.

Otavalo and all that comes with it

What a day! Waking up around seven in the morning due to the belching of a rooster's crow was not quite the alarm clock that I had had in mind. From the balcony of our third floor room at Runa Pacha, our 9$ p/p hostel for the night, we could see across into the yard of a small bright blue church where two roosters roamed announcing their presence. After organizing all of our belongings, Max and I headed out to the animal market which was just west of town where local natives gathered to sell their prized animals. From just under a block away from the main gathering, the piercing squeals of upset pigs bellowed across the surrounding area. Aside from the pigs, there were selections of horses, cows, bunnies, ducks, kittens, puppies, piles of live chickens, oxen, guinea and so much more. What a sight! I had never seen anything like it. Sellers had detached themselves so far away from the animals that they would hold them as if they were some vegetable that couldn't feel. Chickens were bound by their feet with yarn and were held together with at least two others hanging upside down waiting for their executions. Guineas were held up like a sack of potatoes and just as quickly tossed back down into their crates, pins or sacks. At last, we saw all that we could see in this portion of the market so we decided to head back in to the center of town to where the main market proceedings took place. Only having made it a few streets into the city, we found locals with their well built rebar stands speckling the street, getting thicker and thicker until we reached the main central plaza. Beautiful handmade crafts and clothing began to surround us from all sides, top to bottom, with all different shapes sizes and extravagant colors. Handmade incredibly soft llama scarves large enough to wrap around my entire torso at least twice could be bargained down to 4$. These kind of works which are easily sold in a high end store in the states for a minimum of 50$. Bargains like this scattered the plaza and seemed to amaze me at every turn. Towards the outside edges of the marketplace, vendors placed themselves serving their freshly cooked meats, fresh produce and spices. It was an amazing event to take place in and I hope I can one day return to get my hands on the incredibly soft llama wool products

Video of Otavalo

Here's my first video! I made it on a bus ride from Otavalo to Quito. This shows the city of Otavalo and its main market! Let me know what you think. Adios!

360° view of the Basilica del voto nacional

Sweet church in the middle of Quito!

Locations As I Travel

I will have a SPOT beacon with me while I travel throughout South America which I will be using to check in from time to time. These will be sent to a site that I made public so you can see where I am/ where I have been. Here is a link for my locations. It only shows my locations for the previous seven days. Enjoy!

Lapsing away

Packed

All of it made it into the 40 liter backpack!!

All packed up

Here's everything that I'm packing up. I'll have a full list and a video out soon!