Mindo
We spent a whole day visiting this incredibly beautiful little town. It is about two hours north and west of Quito. It is in what is known as a cloud forest where there is mist, clouds and rain most of the time. It is similar to what (I'm told) it is like in the rain forest, but at a mugh higher elevation, about 9,000 feet for this one. We went there to see a giant butterfly enclosure where they are raised from eggs.
There is a very diverse population of orchids too and we saw some, but it is not now the best season to see them. And, we saw magnificent hummngbirds at a feeder, but they are really hard to photograph. Pics will follow when I get them from Liz. We also hiked up a long, steep dirt road to an overlook of the area.
This is the town square. As you can see, the mountain is obscured by the clouds. There are many building made out of wood here, which is an exception, as most buildings are block.
These were taken right inside the butterfly entryway.
Glass butterfly. You can literally see right through the windows in its wings.
Butterflies are hatched from eggs, to larvae, chryslid to butterfly in about three weeks.
After eating, we began walking up a valley with a large creek running through it. This little girl was playing in the water. All the kids we saw are just plain beautiful human beings, this one included.
We continued up this road for about a little over a mile. It went all the way to the top of the hill. There are many small tourist haciendas along the way that provide room and board and various trips to the local countryside. We got a little rain, saw beautiful clouds, and some exercise. We didn't get back down until dusk.
