Ecuador - Mindo

April 30, 2019

About two hours north of Quito lies the Mindo Valley, a cloud forest area famous for its bird life, butterflies, orchids, and waterfalls. It’s a beautiful natural area and we stayed at a unique Airbnb called the Bird Tower – a four-story rustic tree-house-like structure in the middle of the jungle. It’s tall and narrow with really just one room per floor, all connected by ladders. The bathroom was on the lower floor, kitchen/living above that, bedroom above that, and finally crowned by an observation deck that puts you right in the tree canopy with all the birds. Deborah really surprised me, not just by agreeing to stay at this place, but by being the one who suggested it in the first place. As it turned out we both loved it. Mind you there are some challenges such as mosquitoes and navigating ladders in the middle of the night when nature calls. But the experience of being immersed in nature in a quiet, peaceful setting was all worth it.

We heard more birds than we saw, and saw more than we photographed, but I imagine serious and experienced birders would have been in heaven. The Airbnb owners even left for our use a spotting scope (which I never quite got the hang of) and a field guide to the birds of Ecuador. As a result I can report that we saw toucans and tanagers, flycatchers and motmots, and even something called a wattled guan. There were also a couple of hummingbird feeders hanging from the nearby trees which were well attended by at least a half dozen species of hummingbirds. Endless entertainment.

The Airbnb hosts also run a night walk where for a small fee they lead those interested along the trails around their 6-acre property to see all manner of interesting spiders (no tarantulas on our night, but some fairly large ones), snakes, insects (including stick bugs and a click beetle with glow-in-the dark spots on his back), frogs, and bioluminescent fungus. We were also fortunate to get a good look at a kinkajou – also known as a honey bear, but actually related to the raccoon – who crept down the trunk of his tree for a bite of banana left on a little platform near the base by our host.

I lost one day in Mindo due to illness, probably carried over from Quito. It’s not recommended to drink the tap water in Ecuador, and we didn’t, except for our tea and coffee, which gets boiled and is therefore presumed safe. What we forgot is that water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitude (Quito is at 9350 ft) and so must be boiled for longer to kill any nasty organisms. Deborah still did fine but I spent most of a day in bed and had to make a few extra trips up and down the ladder to the bathroom level than I otherwise would have. Still, it would be hard to imagine a better place to be in sick bay.