It’s true. Or nearly. I suppose
sitting in bed writing a paper is less exciting, but it seems that life wants
to convince me that the experiences I have are more important than the number
of years I’ve been alive.
Last weekend Adrianna, Katie, and I
caught a bus to Mindo, a town in the middle of the cloud forests not far from
Quito. Adrianna went with the K group a while ago, but Katie and I had never
been. We arrived Friday night and wandered the town looking for some food and a
bank. We found both, though the bank was a couple of ATMs on the side of a
truck from Banco Pichincha. It was the most jank bank I’ve ever seen. And that
was the basic sentiment among all three of us. Our hostel turned out to be a
really nice little place, $9 a night, breakfast included, and we got to sleep
in the attic. It was a really nice big room with four beds, two hammocks, and a
bunch of chairs. Access via trapdoor.
Our first full day in Mindo, we
decided to do some canopying. Which is the Ecuadorian way of saying zoom across
ziplines. We took a taxi (we rode in the back of a truck) up to the site,
harnessed up, and spent an hour or so zipping across the sky. Katie and I
topped off the experience by having a go on the “tarzan swing.” A giant swing
from a platform. It was awesome.
Post-canopying we decided to go
tubing. Turns out, this is white-water tubing, and the “tube” is actually 6
tubes tied together and guided down the rapids by a couple of guys who know the
river. You sit on them and hang on for dear life. It started raining while we were
on the tubes, so we were soaked with no hope of becoming dry by the time we
were done, but it was fun.
Since it was so rainy, we ended up
just walking around town a little and hanging out in our hostel the rest of the
day. We actually stopped at a little shop and bought some string and I gave
Adrianna and Katie hair wraps. It was nice and relaxing. We did try to find the
only discoteca in town, and succeeded, but for some reason the loud noise and
flashing lights just weren’t as inviting as we thought they would be. So we
left.
We dragged ourselves out of bed
before six the next morning to go bird watching with our hostel owner. He’s an
accomplished bird-watcher and showed us a number of really neat birds. All
before breakfast. We saw three different types of toucans, a couple hawks, some
giant birds I don’t remember the name of, and a bunch of little colorful birds.
After catching a taxi back to the hostel and eating breakfast, we decided to
nap for a bit before attempting anything else.
Post-nap we went to see the
mariposario, which is a butterfly house. Adrianna had already been, but Katie
and I spent a good amount of time holding butterflies and taking pictures. We
tried to go to a cable car across one of the ravines, but it apparently closed
too early for us to do so. Instead, we went back into town to an orchid garden.
THAT was gorgeous. We then had to hurry up and eat something and catch our bus
back to Quito.
Unfortunately, it rained a LOT while
we were there, and I came home with a pile of wet clothing. The only good side
effect of rain is that it gives you a good reason to drink hot chocolate. So we
got really wet, and drank a lot of hot chocolate. But overall it was a good
trip.
Monday was my 21st
birthday. That’s a big deal in the US. It’s nothing here. None-the-less, I
enjoyed it. At la Caleta, I was sung to in Spanish, English, German, and Danish
by all the volunteers and the two kids who were there. In the evening, I went
out with some friends to a really nice Chinese restaurant and we had a good meal.
Nothing crazy, but plenty of good things.
Yesterday was a huge celebration in
the entire Proyecto Salesianos for their founder Don Bosco. We spent a bunch of
time getting ready and waiting for things to start (The volunteers were charged
with keeping the kids busy), but finally walked over to the party. When we got
there, nothing was happening, so the volunteers decided to check out what was going
on in the theater in the plaza where the party was. We were ushered in as we
approached the doors by a bunch of eager people and found ourselves in the
audience for the filming of Ecuador Tiene Talento (Ecuador’s got talent). We
sat through a bunch of sound checking and four of the entrants before giving it
up and returning to our party. The four we saw were a band that was pretty
good, a 14 year old boy who could sing really well, a girl who did a
traditional dance (she got booted), and a lady who did exaggerated lip-synching
(she also got booted, thankfully).
Back at the party, we got to see the
four kids who had been sent off to Ambato again (they were back for the party)
and we watched the salesiano’s talent show. It was much more interesting,
particularly the group of kids called Circo del Semaforo (Stoplight Circus).
They were surprisingly good for a group of kids all under 18 and most probably
under 14. At the end, a couple of kids who looked to be about 13 were juggling
fire, and another was doing crazy tricks with the fire clubs. Yes, Ecuador has
talent, but I don’t know that the judges are actually going to see it in that
theater.
When I got home, my family had a
cake ready for me and I was sung to in Spanish and English again, with the
addition of Portuguese this time, courtesy of my host-sister. So, turning 21
has been fun, but it hasn’t been a crazy party, and I’m ok with that.
Also: Pictures from Mindo!
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