My first day of vacation was spent flying San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, then Fort Lauderdale to Quito, but luckily it was uneventful and I arrived in Quito to see a sign with my name being held by a driver Kristin had arranged. That always feels fancy until I realized I was carrying two backpacks and looked like I needed a shower.
I got into the hotel and tried to creep into our shared room without waking Kristin, but still managed to, and then even as I was in my bed under the covers I kept saying “we just have so much to catch up on!” Next thing I knew though it was lights out and I was being woken up for breakfast and our first day trip!
The bride and groom (Jason and Valeria) very kindly organized a trip for us out to Mindo. We made a quick pit stop along the way to use the bathrooms, but also got to see these views!
After a couple of hours in vans, we arrived at the butterfly sanctuary (Mariposas de Mindo Butterfly Garden). I’ve never seen so many butterflies in one place! You could take a bit of the mashed up banana to attract them and pick them up. Unfortunately we made the mistake of putting on bugspray first, but still were able to catch a bunch.
The best part of this video when we entered the butterfly garden was someone saying “sounds like the life… mating, sleeping…” 🙂
The next stop was in Mindo where we broke up into groups to do waterfall rappelling and a chocolate tour. Since my next leg of the trip would include the waterfalls, Kristin and I joined the chocolate tour at El Quetzal de Mindo and enjoyed the more relaxing itinerary where we learned how Ecuadorian chocolate is made start to finish. We finished before the other group so we were also able to fit in a trip to the San Jorge de Milpe Orchid & Bird Reserve where we watched hummingbirds zip around.
After reuniting with the other group, we piled back into vans for the ride home and decided to make it an early night at the hotel and rested up for day 2 in Ecuador!
xx