MINDO.... continued!

November 2nd

We finally found out what happened to Peter and decided to be lazy until he arrived at 11am. We had an amazing breakfast that was complementary from the hotel. The pineapple is so fresh and juicy that it is pure white, not yellow like in the States. But we made plans to have a never ending fun filled completely packed day ahead of us!

After we picked up peter we went for a 3 hour hike through the Cloud Forest. There are many waterfalls which was our goal. The hiking was very hard at first. we are still trying to get used to the altitude change( 9,000 feet above sea level) but we seemed to get used to it quickly. The water was freezing and we had to get into look behind boulders to actually see the falls but it was amazing!

As soon as we arrived back in town it was a mad dash to the room to put on dry clothes then off to El Quetzal. This american couple came to Ecuador and decided to stay and make chocolate. We toured and learned the steps in making chocolate. Then we were given some samples. It was so yummy. I'm glad we went to because I am pretty sure Katy and Maggie would have killed someone if they didn't get their chocolate fix!

Once we were finish buying some amazing chocolate items we hiked across town to Mindo Lago. Here we had dinner and cervezas (beer). The food was amazing. The girls had steaks that were on volcanic stones. The best meat I have ever tasted! and it was cheap. The the reason we were here, the Frog concert. 

Our guide Randy, taught us that this is a conservation that one man started. They now have 37 registered frogs living here and all he did was planted native plats. We had an hour hike by flashlights around the property looking at the frogs, spiders, and a log that when naturally decomposing certain micro-organisms make the sticks glow. Randy called them Advatar hiking sticks!

Then it was a night on the town and small vendor shopping.