After not having art class either day this week and instead being assigned to write a three page paper on what is a “bodegón” (it’s a still-life), I was relatively excited to get out and actually feel like I was doing something this weekend. After watching the debate between Biden and Palin of course. (May God help that woman is all I can say- may God help her all the way into a cave where she never comes out of again.) But, Friday morning at 6:25 I woke up, met Hilary at 7, and we started off to find the bus that left at 8 for Mindo. Upon getting to the corner where both the internet and Hilary’s guide book said the bus station should be and discovering it was not there and that no one around seemed to have any idea that it was supposed to be close, we headed down to our “old faithful” Terminal Terrestre (the main bus station in the south) and managed to catch a bus for Mindo that left about 20 min after we arrived, not bad. The bus ride wasn’t too bad, although slightly windy which made it difficult to sleep (which I needed), but we arrived in Mindo in about 2 ½ hours with no problems. We checked into a hostel that Hilary’s host- mom recommended that was clearly built for Ecuadorians as the door was about my height and the ceiling only about 6 inches taller. Quaint, might be the word :p I felt like Snow White in the cottage of the 7 dwarfs.
We left our stuff and took a short hike up to the butterfly garden where we spent about an hour or so chasing butterflies, specifically trying to get a picture of the big blue ones (please don’t ask names, because I couldn’t tell you). In any case, we did finally get one. The rest of the butterflies were also equally as impressive and it was just pretty incredible to see so many together in one place. It was a constant flutter of color. Some of them were quite “friendly” and landed on our feet and hands and practically had to be brushed off (we must have been sweet). After our little Zen time with the butterflies we both decided we were sufficiently starved and went back to get some grub. Kayla was meeting us later, so we went back for a nice siesta (a couple hours that I slept the entirety of) while we waited for Kayla to arrive. After, we visited the Orchid garden where we were given a tour by a very knowledgeable little boy of maybe 9. We had been expecting more flowers, or more in bloom, but we did get to see a few. The one of those names I can remember of those were the Dracula ones. In any case, we took way too many pictures of flowers to accompany our way too many pictures of butterflies. After that little bout, we walked around a little bit and went to get some bread and smoothies for dinner and then returned to the hostel for showers at very low water pressure and a night of watching the National Geographic Channel where we saw everything from the first solo trip to the North Pole to the splitting of people’s tongues (absolutely grotesque and horrifying btw).
The night was probably the worst I have ever spent in a hotel or hostel of any sort. The pillows were unbelievably hard-and lumpy, and I had a stiff neck halfway through the night. Somehow Hilary and I both managed to only have the edge of the sheet the entire night so were constantly fighting with some invisible force for more sheet coverage. The blanket was scratchy, and the bottom sheet kept coming up on my corner. Overall it was not the best night, not worth the $10 each we paid, and not someplace I would recommend to anyone else. Even if it was called the Arcoiris (Rainbow). But, without too much problem we got up at about 7:30, grabbed some more bread and coffee for breakfast, and began our 4km hike to the teleferico to take us to the waterfalls. Although a bit of the hike (most) was on a slight incline, it wasn’t too bad. We all eventually ended up just walking in our shorts and sports bras because the humidity drenched us in sweat within about 5 minutes. For $5 each we took the little tram across the gully and were ready to hike some more to visit the waterfalls. There were 7 in total, although we only visited 4 or 5. It was still a slightly rigorous hike to the waterfalls but they were very worth it. Mindo is a sort of rainforest- about the closest you can get without actually entering the Amazon itself- so the greenery and rivers and waterfalls were pretty incredible. The whole time I just kept thinking how jealous my Mom and Dad would be. 
We decided to get into the water and go explore one of the waterfalls but didn’t get past our thighs because the water was just a tad too cold. Oh well, we tried. On our way out we passed a group of exchange students from Kalamazoo just entering the trails. We caught a truck back into town after walking maybe about halfway back and decided we’d probably hiked for about 3 ½ hours in total. Not too bad. We certainly felt like we’d gotten a workout and were feeling pretty healthy like we could at about whatever we wanted. So we went to eat pizza (thin crust, but we still each had about 5 pieces) , followed by some very moist and delicious chocolate cake and coffee, and then Hilary and I each got another smoothie. (I combined naranjilla and mora and it was fantastic!) All feeling completely stuffed, but still very satisfied from our weekend workout we walked around the town a little bit more to kill time before our 3:30 bus back to Quito. We didn’t go zip-lining in Mindo, but decided that it was close enough that we could come back if we wanted to for a day, and we didn’t have enough money or enough to do to stay another night and day. We got back into Quito about 5:30 to the North Terminal, which none of us had ever been to and had no idea where we were. So we took a cab back home. After another shower and quick checkage of email, feeling quite exhausted still I called it an early night and after watching the Count of Monty Cristo I crashed about 11 o’clock. :p
Sunday morning I slept in- till about 9:20- that is considered sleeping in for me since I’ve been waking up at about 7 every morning to run for the past week, but luckily since it was overcast it was still cool even when I went running finally at about 10 o’clock. About 10km and give or take a few, 65 minutes later I finished up my run and DIDN’T feel like dying. It was incredible. Running has become my biggest kind of test here (aside from learning Spanish of course), but has given me something to work for again- like in sports, that I haven’t had for a while. I set personal goals and little by little extend them out. At the beginning of my trip I would never have imagined I would be running for and hour, 10km, at 9200 ft… 6 days a week. I’ve discovered more personal growth here that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I am in Ecuador. It’s good to have something to work for, and because we’ve given up on the “Latin Lover” thing running is a good second bet. 
Just kidding… but not really. It’s also counterbalancing my bread and cheese and ice cream eating nicely. In any case, every day I survive another run I feel accomplishment.
The rest of the day was entirely low key, with a lunch of gnocchi and tortellini and a plate of seafood of all sorts… some sort of shellfish, shrimp, I think oysters or something, and either octopus or squid (or both), and regular fish. I ate it all, but did indeed struggle eating the whatever it was with suction-cup legs. :p But that was followed by a nice 2 hour siesta and two movies with Spanish subtitles. A good relaxing day after an actual eventful weekend. And good to have a rest before getting up for another 65 minute run the next morning to start off the week…
