Irman picked us up at 6 am sharp in a pickup truck driven by his nephew (or at least someone who called him “Tio”). We drove out of town on a dirt road that we would come to know well, since it also leads to the cable car, waterfalls, and ziplines. At the top of a hill, about 5 kms from town, we stopped and got out. Irman opened a barbed wire gate to a piece of private property that’s for sale. There were a few primitive structures and some open areas that made the viewing a bit easier. We had the entire place to ourselves for a short while, and then two other tours showed up, led by much younger guides. They had nicer telescopes, but it was clear that Irman had the best eyes.
It was unbelievable what he was able to see. A little brown blob hundreds of feet away magically turned into a resting owl-like creature through his scope. We saw kites, toucans, tanagers, and a bunch of other birds, but it was also refreshing being up before sunrise, out in nature. From there we started walking back down the dirt road we had driven up, and he continued spotting other birds along the way.
Mia had a fun conversation with a small herd of cows, and put to use her cow-whispering talents.
On the way we also stopped at the El Eden Treehouse - a hotel with, you guessed it, a treehouse and a variety of other rooms with amazing views over the valley. We sat on a deck overlooking a garden and the valley, and watched as hummingbirds of all kinds (there are 35 varieties in Mindo, and 140 in all of Ecuador) swooped in to suck nectar from containers that had been set up. There were also toucans and many more tanagers that visited to eat bananas that had been placed on branches. We went ahead and ordered a breakfast of fresh fruit and coffee and hot chocolate, and a ham and cheese tostada for Irman. We spoke with a young German couple with their 10 month old baby who were staying there. It would have been hilarious for us to even think of doing something similar when J&M were that age!
After we got back to town we said goodbye to Irman and had lunch at Biomindo, a funky little cafe with veggie options, and in fact I got veggie soup (amazing) and a veggie burger (basically compressed quinoa). While we were eating, we were joined by a furry friend - the first of many, many visits by dogs of every conceivable shape, size and color.
We strolled next door to a little outdoor food court and stopped by a froyo shop (which unfortunately is not on Google) for some froyo with delicious, fresh fruit toppings, and homemade hot fudge.
After lunch we took Irman’s advice and went to visit Yellow House. Yellow House is owned by a brother and sister in their 60s, whose father purchased the property in the 1960s, before there was a road from Quito. It’s a 10 minute walk along their driveway to their house, and then another 15-20 minutes to the start of the first trail loop, and then another 30 minutes on that trail which winds back to the main trail. Then there were four more trails, each of them longer than the first. Altogether, they take about five hours to complete! The first trail was beautiful, but we were exhausted and had to come back after that. Mia’s favorite part was talking to a couple of turkeys (who knew she’s also a turkey whisperer?): every time she went “gobble gobble gobble” they would do it back to her. It was very funny!
We strolled next door to a little outdoor food court and stopped by a froyo shop (which unfortunately is not on Google) for some froyo with delicious, fresh fruit toppings, and homemade hot fudge.
After lunch we took Irman’s advice and went to visit Yellow House. Yellow House is owned by a brother and sister in their 60s, whose father purchased the property in the 1960s, before there was a road from Quito. It’s a 10 minute walk along their driveway to their house, and then another 15-20 minutes to the start of the first trail loop, and then another 30 minutes on that trail which winds back to the main trail. Then there were four more trails, each of them longer than the first. Altogether, they take about five hours to complete! The first trail was beautiful, but we were exhausted and had to come back after that. Mia’s favorite part was talking to a couple of turkeys (who knew she’s also a turkey whisperer?): every time she went “gobble gobble gobble” they would do it back to her. It was very funny!
After Yellow House we came back to the hotel and J&M and I went swimming in the stream next to our hotel. This time two young men came with shampoo, jumped in and then soaped themselves up and did that a couple of times. Seemed pretty effective.
For dinner we went to Babilonia, close to our hotel. It has a nice ambience and a wood burning oven. We got margarita pizza, which was thin and crispy, but instead of using basil they used oregano. I got grilled trout with mushroom sauce (mushroom sauce seems to be a specialty of Mindo, and was universally good). We were the only ones there, and there were many restaurants with no customers. It’s hard to see how they are able to make a living.