Paradise and Pain

 

Mary with her TMNT birthday cake and wearing her alpaca poncho that she got as a birthday present to herself.          

Sitting in the front of the bus next to the driver on our way to Mindo. What an experience!          

This is the hostel that we stayed at in Mindo, the Casa de Cecilia. It was paradise!          

Mary swinging on the porch swing at the hostel.          

This is our room at the hostel, tiny but amazing! The birds woke us up in the morning and it was incredible!          

A real live banana tree!

 

Mindo is a gem in the middle of the jungle. This was painted on the wall of the local soccer stadium, it reads "If you love Mindo, then care for and protect it."        

Mindo is the best place in the world to watch birds, with a greater variety of birds here than any other single place in the world.        

Hummingbirds feeding.        

Lots of other birds feasting on some fresh bananas.        

There were so many different varieties of hummingbirds. It was incredible.        

A squirrel decided that the fresh bananas smelled too good to resist.        

Another hummingbird. There were bird feeders placed all over town.        

We went on an orchid tour and discovered that all natural orchids are actually really tiny. There are over 4,000 different types of orchids in Ecuador.        

This is a cacao pod growing on the tree, the beginning of the process to make chocolate.        

After the cacao pod are picked, the seeds or nuts inside are fermented and then dried. On the left are fresh nuts and the ones on the right have been drying for a few days.        

Then the cacao nuts are roasted and ground down. This is the roaster.        

After the cacao nuts are ground then they are separated the shell from the nut or the "nibs". Mindo Chocolate uses the shells to make a cacao tea. Nothing is wasted in this process.        

Then the cacao nibs are pressed in to a paste that is 100% chocolate (on the right). At this point the past can be used as is to make chocolate adding sugar to make it the specific % of dark chocolate they want. Or it can be separated, here on the left you see the separated coco butter product.        

Here on the right you see the other product when the coco paste is separated, the coco powder.        

This is the final room where the coco paste is poured in to molds and the desired added ingredients are added, coffee, cacao nibs, and macadamia nuts. Then the chocolate bars are packaged by hand.        

Here are the samples of all of the chocolate varieties that Mindo Chocolate offers (from top left to bottom right: 100% pure, 85% pure, 77% pure, 77% macadamia, 77% ginger, 67% coffee, and 77% pepper).        

Here is the whole chocolate process laid out from cacao pod to finished product.        

We went to an amazing wood fired pizza place for lunch. We were their first lunch customers so they had to get the fire going :)        

The wood fired pizza oven. Mary ordered a Hawaiian pizza and they brought out a fresh pineapple, cut it and then put it on the pizza.

Mindo is in the jungle and every afternoon the rains come.        

Enjoying the hammocks on the deck at the hostel as the rains are pouring down.        

Mindo is not only home to a lot of birds and orchids, but also to an astounding number of butterflies. We did not have time for the butterfly garden tour but we did still see them around town.        

Taking the "taxi", a pickup truck, to the cable car outside of town in order to go and hike to the numerous waterfalls that are in the jungle around Mindo.        

There were a few Indiana Jones style bridges that we had to cross on our waterfall hike.        

One of the 5 waterfalls that we hiked to.        

It was a beautiful hike through the jungle to get to the waterfalls and so many huge trees and plants around us.        

This leaf is actually about 3 feet long!        

Tyler getting out there in order to capture the perfect angle for the photo.        

Mary loving the hike through the jungle.        

Another one of the amazingly beautiful waterfalls we visited.        

Each waterfall had its own characteristics that made it spectacular.        

And another Indiana Jones style bridge that we got to cross. Tyler thought it was super cool, Mary not so much!        

We made it!!! The last of the five waterfalls on the hike that we did.        

We made it together!      

Our Vibram "Five Finger" shoes are amazing for hiking, especially when there is water!

   

Sometimes along the hike there were some super sketchy stone stairs that we had to climb up and down.

When we were on our way to the bus station to head back to Quito we came across a butterfly that was stuck in the mud and Tyler helped it on to his hand and out of the mud.

Enrique (Abuelo doctor), the grandfather of the family who take care of the volunteer house is tending to Tyler's sprained wrist and scraped up elbow after his fall.