Well... getting to Mindo was not very easy!

Mindo (Ecuador)

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Well... getting to Mindo was not very easy!
From Montecristi we got on a bus to Santo Domingo where we had heard we could get another bus to take to a town close to Mindo.

 It turned out that that particular sunday was the referendum day and every single person in Ecuador had to go out and vote! In Ecuador voting is obligatory, if a person doesn't vote then they have to pay a fine. 
Ecuador being the corrupt country it is took advantage of people's need to vote and the bus companies started charging double or triple the fare because they knew people had the necessity to travel in order to vote.

 We arrived in Santo Domingo with the hope of just transferring busses and keep going to Mindo but it wasn't that easy! The bus terminal was exploding with people, nobody knew anything, literally it was CAOS!!!!
I asked Anna to just stand somewhere and wait for me until I figured it out. I went around the station asking people about Mindo and trying to get tickets, at the end we decided to spend the night in Santo Domingo and try the next day!
Part of the line to get into the bus terminal!
We got on a bus and went to the old town to find a place to sleep and to check out what Santo Domingo had to offer!
Sausages push up cart!

Coconuts!!!

The market

 We of course went to the main plaza!


And the church...


Anna with her coconut!


Grilled meat on the go!

Grilled corn and plantains!

There is a bakery in every corner!!!
We decided to go window shopping at the local flea market/ 






The next day early in the morning we left our hotel and headed to the bus stop wishing and praying that the lines were no longer there, thankfully they weren't!

After taking THE longest route to San Miguel de los Bancos we finally arrived and had to figure out our way to Mindo. The Hostel had said that we could get a bus to take us to the “Y of mindo” (la “yeh” is usually the word used for intersections in Ecuador) or a taxi for $8 so as we got off the taxi we looked for the bus stop. Quickly a girl said “Yo también voy a Mindo”(I am also going to Mindo) so we waited together and then another lady overheard us and asked if we wanted to share a taxi so we did!

San Miguel de los Bancos was rainy and foggy and I thought it would be that way in Mindo too but the taxi driver told me that once we start going down to Mindo the rain stops and there is no more fog. As we started to descend I understood why Mindo is called the “cloud forest”, all the cloud were then above us and covering the top of the mountains, so beautiful!


I had booked a nice little hostel with a beautiful garden and hummingbirds. When we arrived we walked over to the cabin with a nice view of the garden and the trees.

To my surprise our hostel was also an orchid garden. I took advantage of it and walked all around looking for orchids and all other beautiful flowers! It so calming  to just be able to be in the moment with nature, looking at these creations, taking my time to look at their details and their beauty. I loved it!





These were tiny! Smaller than the tip of my finger!!!


Then Anna and I decided to take a walk around town and explore Mindo. The town itself isn't very big but one can wonder off in the many dirt roads and take in all the nature. I loved just finding new flowers, breathing the fresh air, and enjoying being in nature.






Wouldn't this be the perfect getaway cabin?

I had never seen red bananas!


We walked with no direction, letting nature make our way!

Scary bridge!







Mindo is full of beautiful birds and it is actually a great spot to go bird watching. Just walking around town one can see thousands of humming birds and, if you get lucky, even toucans! After our walk we headed back to the hostel and I sat by the dining room where they have bird feeders and watched humming birds literally for hours!






While doing a little bit of research I found a Mariposario (a butterfly park) and I just had to go and check out the butterflies!!

 This mariposario was not in town but very easily reachable, I could have taken a $5 taxi but I decided to walk an hour to get to it. 
The walk was very nice, surrounded by nature, I looked at birds, and even found a couple of butterflies on my way.
The entrance to the Mariposario.

As I entered the place I saw hummingbirds feeding on orchids, of course I had to stop and watch!

After paying the entrance fee I entered a room with a lady explaining the different stages in a butterfly's life and what we would see inside. 

As I walked in there were HUNDREDSof butterflies fluttering all around us... To me, it was magical! 😀

 I first stopped at the are where they had the cocoons:

I had never really seen cocoons in real life and they were spectacular! The colours were amazing, the details of the cocoons just mind blowing!

And we could even see butterflies coming out of the cocoon and drying off their wings before taking off... I couldn't believe it!





Owl butterfly, when it opens its wing the inside is a beautiful blue!



The blue one is how Owl butterflies look like when open!


During the briefing the lady said that there were many stations with bananas in them for the butterflies to eat and that we could take some and have a butterfly land on our finger... It was so cool!


I loved every second of the Mariposario (and I stayed for more than an hour!)

While in there I met Dany, an Ecuadorian guy, with his Wife Darlene, and his cousin Myriam. I chatted with them a little bit and by the time we were all leaving it was raining so I asked them if I could get a ride back to town and they gladly did so and even took me out to lunch and shared a little bit about our lives. 

 I love being a traveler and getting to meet new people every day, I get to hear their stories and tell them mine. Such a blessing!


 After lunch they were going to check out the hummingbirds to "Jardin El Descanso" that happened to be right next to my hostel so I joined and spent another hour+ taking in all the hummingbirds... They are just so beautiful!




This one is my favourite! When it flies it opens its little tail and makes a white fan!!! So so so so Beautiful!



So pretty!!!





How cute?!?!




At Jardin el descanso they have bird feeders but they also put some bananas on a daily basis to attract other birds and animals, and usually in the early morning one can spot toucans. I got there at 6am but was unlucky. The woman said that there had been a sparrow for the last couple of days scaring all the birds so that the toucans were staying away! booooo!





The area around Mindo is very famous for its chocolate and they offer many chocolate tours. Since I had gotten all the info about how chocolate is made I decided to skip the tour but I would never skip some chocolate tasting so I went to "El Quetzal"chocolate factory!





Chocolate was good, nature was amazing, the butterflies and the hummingbirds made me want to stay in Mindo forever! I can easily say that Mindo is definitely one of my top destinations in Ecuador!!!




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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

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About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com