Apologies again for the delay but I promise you, you did not want to read blog posts about my typical day here. Trust me. Not that exciting.
So...Mindo! And mid-service! (Yes! I finally have things to say that are exclamation point-worthy.)
I can't begin to tell you how amped I was to see my fellow volunteers once again. Aside from a brief weekend visit from Danielle, I hadn't seen any of them since we tearfully parted ways at the beginning of March. As much as I love my host family and my friends here in Ibarra, I really needed to connect with those people who know exactly what I've been going through and can swap stories about Ecua-dumps and mutant cockroaches.
The group bus was late (well, no, that's not true--it was simply running on Ecua-time) and it was a tight fit, but the ride to Mindo was only two hours and seeing as we all either wanted to catch up or catch up on sleep, it flew by.
I'm not sure what I expected Mindo to look like. But I must have been expecting something because I was surprised at how small it was. It is definitely a one-stop-light-town that can be completely canvassed within a brisk 15 minute walk. I liked it immediately, though. The small shops and restaurants. The little-more-than-dirt road. The chickens and burros absently wandering about the little-more-than-dirt road. The quiet. I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of a movie set for some South American cowboy flick. It was like Ecuador's version of a sleepy Western town. I was just waiting for some boot-strapped Bill to come tumbling out of one of the tiendas.
After turning off the main road and passing a few ramshackle buildings, we arrived at our hostal. I almost missed it at first since half of it had been overtaken by creeping vines and bushes and the other half looked as though it was still under construction. (Don't be fooled, though, the inside was lovely.)
My Ecua-family and friends and my US family and friends only understand a portion of what it's like to leave everything behind and spend a year volunteering in a 3rd world country. It's a beautiful, amazing experience but it doesn't come without its drawbacks and downsides. Being able to "debrief" with each other simply reminded me that everything I had been (and still am) experiencing is normal and that I really am okay.
Okay, so conference aside, we took advantage of our first bit of free time to take a tour of the local chocolate factory, El Quetzal.
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| Pure chocolate. Right outta the shell. Don't be deceived--it's not as delicious as it looks |
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| Our tour guide standing next to the stevia plants. We were each invited to pull off a leave and chew it--it was like someone poured a teaspoon of sugar in your mouth! |
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| Raw coffee bean. It was actually surprisingly sweet! |
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| Drying cacao beans |
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| All smiles after our chocolate "high" |
Having visited a cloud forest near Melbourne, I had imagined that the flora and fauna would be pretty similar. Walking into the forest in Australia was like walking into a scene from Jurassic Park. I think I actually jokingly asked our tour guide if part of the movie had been shot there. The cloud forest in Mindo, though, was completely different. The forest in Melbourne felt more like a jungle while the cloud forest in Mindo felt more like, well, a forest. The difference in altitude and the presence of the mountains meant that the plant life had no resemblance at all to the plants in Australia. It was still breathtaking, though!
A $4 "taxi" ride brought us to the start of the zip lining course (and by taxi ride I mean standing in the back of a pickup truck as we bounced our way up the mountain). The course was flooded with people when we arrived. Clearly, zip lining was THE thing to do in Mindo. As much as heights terrify me, I was absolutely psyched to start the 10 cable zip line course and was not pleased with our 15 minute wait. Did I mention patience is not my strong suit?
Once we were all harnessed up and after a brief safety talk (in Spanish, and I was able to follow practically all of it--progress!), we one by one took our first cable ride across the canyon to start our zip lining adventure.
There was a bit of hiking in between the cables which was somewhat difficult with the gear hanging from our harnesses. But each cable that followed made it totally worth it. Our zip lining guides invited us to ride the cables "superman" or "butterfly" style and I volunteered to try both. The "superman" involves being harnessed to the cable so that you are hanging parallel to the cable and "flying" through the air much like our beloved, caped superhero. The "butterfly" position was a bit more extreme. You are hooked to both a guide and the cable and then flipped upside down with the guide holding your feet in place. Although the harness was a bit painful in that position, zipping through the air, upside down, with little more than a wire to keep you from plummeting to the forest floor hundreds of feet below was exhilarating to say the least!
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| Coming in on the final cable. They definitely saved the best for last--the view was incredible! |
BUT, being the troopers that we are, we still managed to cram in a little bit of karaoke before calling it a day. I'd only done karaoke once before in Australia and this was a totally different experience. Instead of going into a private room with your buddies, you sit at tables around the bar and sing from your chair when the mic is passed to you. Oh, and if the thought of belting out "Summer Nights" in front of a room full of strangers wasn't intimidating enough, there's points involved, too. (Nothing like that competitive Ecuadorian spirit.)
I'd like to say that the trip home from Mindo the following morning was uneventful. That I arrived home safely without being unceremoniously dropped off on the side of a highway in the middle of Quito. I really would. But I did promise you an interesting read, didn't I?
After arriving in Quito around 8:45am, I parted ways with the rest of the volunteers and took a short taxi ride to Terminal Carcelen to catch the bus back to Ibarra. I'd done this before so I confidently purchased my ticket, walked through the turnstile, and hopped on the Aerotaxi bus headed for Ibarra (italics totally added for emphasis).
About 15 minutes into our bus ride, the driver's assistant came around to collect tickets. Since he was also the person who had sold me my ticket at the counter to Ibarra, he clearly knew my destination was Ibarra. Needless to say, when he saw me sitting on the bus he immediately informed me that this bus was in fact headed to Santo Domingo and that I would need to get off the bus ASAP to catch the bus to Ibarra. I looked around bewildered since we were clearly in the middle of a highway and there was neither bus stop nor taxi stand nearby. Nor any friendly locals to point me in the right direction. As much as I had no desire to travel to Santo Domingo, I also did not want to leave the relative safety of the bus.
However, the driver's assistant did not pick up on any of this and practically dragged me to the door and kicked me out. All the while I was frantically trying to ask in Spanish where exactly this bus to Ibarra was and how I was to get on it. This was only answered with a pointed finger to some ambiguous spot on the opposite side of the highway and the slam of the bus door as it jetted off to Santo Domingo.
So there I was, half-awake (we got up at 5am to catch the bus from Mindo to Quito), completely disoriented, and saddled down with my backpack and duffel bag and not a clue as to what was to happen next. After wandering up and down the shoulder of the highway for about 10 minutes (and getting plenty of curious stares from the passing vehicles), I decided my best bet was to try and flag down a taxi back to Terminal Carcelen and start again.
One thing I will say for Quito is that there is never a short supply of taxis. A few moments later I was on my way back to the bus terminal and twenty minutes (and a thorough check that I was on a bus to Ibarra) later, I was finally headed home.
My trip to Mindo was my first excursion outside of Ibarra (save my trip to the states) since I arrived here in March. It was so wonderful to take a break from my routine and see a little more of Ecuador. And it got me even more psyched for the trip I'm planning to take to the coast in August. While Mindo is beautiful, it's still located in the sierra and I'm looking forward to experiencing the differences the coast has to offer. Apparently, from what the other volunteers tell me, life on the coast is an entirely different Ecuador.
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It didn't really hit me until we were on the bus from Mindo to Quito that I'm officially halfway through my year here in Ecuador. Depending on when I decide to wrap up teaching at my school, I'll be home again within the next 5-6 months. (What?!?)
The conclusion of my time here means so many things: job searching, reverse culture shock, ending the life here that I will have spent a year building, determining whether to return to the states or stay abroad...lots of things I'd rather not have to think about at the moment. Ibarra has finally started to feel like home and now it's time to prepare to uproot myself and start again.
It's too early to say anything with much certainty, but I do think I would like to stay in South America for another year or two. My Spanish still needs (alot of) work and I'm really starting to get the hang of teaching. And what can I say? I really love living in Ecuador. I have started scoping out other English schools here and did find one that I could possibly begin teaching with in January so, who knows, maybe this adventure might last a bit longer...
