Mindo, Ecuador

Nestled in the cloud forest, lies the wet village of Mindo. This is a birdwatcher's paradise and people come from all over the world to watch the birds. But with an 8-year-old and 2-year-old which aren't shy of words, we thought it best not to disturb the peaceful mornings for the early-rising birdwatchers.

Instead, we learned how to make artisanal chocolate, zipped through the trees, & hiked to waterfalls.

We stayed in a gorgeous, modern glass box which was hard to reach but worth the effort. There was nothing but trees, a farm, and a great place to chill / homeschool / hang in a huge hammock.

Straight from our door, we could hike through the cloud forest down to a waterfall. This was our first big hike - little do the kids know that this is just the warm-up to longer hikes in our near future. Bribery goes a long way - they always get to the end when ice cream is on the other side ... especially the delicious fruit helados de paila here in Ecuador!

Mindo has tons of adventurous activities like canyoning, ziplines, tubing, horseback riding, and much more, but we are limited with the little ones. So, Dashiell and I went ziplining through the canopy of Mindo. He was awesome - always the first to go with complete enthusiasm.

We pulled Dashiell out of 3rd grade for this trip - so we are making an effort to homeschool him. However, it is amazing how much of our everyday travels is an opportunity to teach. We went on a chocolate tour and learned how to make artisanal chocolate. We went to a butterfly museum and saw hundreds of varieties of butterflies. And Dashiell was given a small budget to negotiate for his own purchases at a market and budget for things that he wants. All of these are useful teaching opportunities and complementary with his homeschool curriculum.

Our last adventure in Mindo was on the "Tarabita" - a cable car which took us to the area's famous waterfalls. We arrived too late in the day to see them all, but we had a fast and rigorous hike down to a waterfall with enough time to make it back to the cable car for a ride across the cloud forest canyons. Although not photographed, not to be missed in Mindo is their ginger beer - not suitable for kids!

It started to rain, so we raced home in time to make dinner and prepare for the next day's journey to the volcano of Cotopaxi.

Fun Family Comments:

Jonah:

• It's funny to see the volcano escape routes instead of the tsunami escape routes & flood zones that we are used to in California.

• Watch out for the cows roaming the fields (as they walked up to our front door).

• Cacao wine - not so good. Cacao liquor - thumbs up.

Dashiell:

• Chocolate is actually made from a plant. The beans that make chocolate are from a tree with chocolate beans. The beans can also be turned into alcohol. (Seems that we are homeschooling how to make alcohol!)