Cloud Computing

Last weekend we went to Mindo. Mindo is a cute little town surrounded by about a million touristy things to do. Mindo is also in what is called the "cloud forest." Perhaps you're thinking to yourself, "What IS a could forest?" Perhaps you've cooked up an image of said cloud forest in your fantastical imaginations. I'm guessing you nailed it, but, just in case, here's an example.

It's basically forest... that often has clouds covering it. Pretty cool.

After a short drive from Quito, we arrived at our hostal in Mindo. It was super cute and surrounded with some lush vegetation. Here are a couple views from around the hostal.

So... We're in Mindo, right? Well, the three things on the docket for Mindo were as follows: a butterfly garden, zip-lining, and something called the Gondola (we'll get to that later.) For the average person, these things probably sound pretty sweet. However, if you're someone who knows me AT ALL, you know that my top two fears are butterflies and heights, followed closely by almost everything else. For those of you who may not know me as well, you may be thinking, "I understand someone being afraid of heights, but butterflies? Sarah's such a jokester." Wrong. They really terrify me.

It's basically a weekend of my greatest fears all jammed into one beautiful setting. (Do you see a theme starting with my time in South America?) I'm relieved to say that the butterfly garden went pretty well. It was a giant greenhouse disgustingly full of butterflies, and I only yelped three or four times. Someone even got a picture of me holding a butterfly... I'm not currently in possession of said photo, but once I am, I'll share it. I promise. Until then, here's a photo of my finger dangerously close to a butterfly. It will have to suffice.

After the mariposas (that's Spanish for butterflies... LOOK MOM! I'm learning!) we headed to the zip-lining place. I'd like to go on the record as saying that I was ALMOST convinced to go on the zip-lines, but there were 13. THIRTEEN. I maybe could have stomached one... two on an especially brave day... but THIRTEEN? Really, zip-lining place? What do you have to prove? I ended up staying safely on the ground with the mysterious, black biting insects and my friends Iris and Ana.

We headed back to our hostal that evening. The cool thing about our hostal was that it was NEXT DOOR to a chocolate factory. Say WHAT!? So, obviously, we had to tour the chocolate factory that evening. It was pretty great. You can tell how great it was by how much fun I'm having in this photo of me during the chocolate factory tour.

Ok, ok, ok... I realize that maybe this photo doesn't scream, "I'M HAVING ALL OF THE FUN!" But it was a nice tour. This photo, more than anything, is to give you an idea of the look I'm rocking here in Ecuador, because it's basically this, all day, every day.

On Sunday, we headed to the Gondola. I'll be upfront with the fact that I love a good boat ride. We're going in a boat, you say? Count me in. However, in this case, the Gondola is not really a gondola. Perhaps you remember the teleferico incident from a week ago. Well, the Gondola is SHOCKINGLY similar to the teleferico. Except, it felt much less safe. Here I am, putting on a brave face as we boarded the Gondola.

Notice: the look being rocked. But don't let my smile lull you into the false idea that things were great. We were seconds away from doing this.

Maybe it's hard for you to see because it's SO FAR AWAY, but that's the Gondola there in the middle, scuttling across a giant gorge.

All in all, though, the Gondola was worth it to get to the other side so we could hike to an awesome waterfall. Somewhere, someone has photos of us getting frozen to death under the waterfall, but for now, a picture of the waterfall with some strangers in it will have to do.

Despite the difficulty and fear I'm facing in a lot of the things we're doing here in Ecuador, I truly wouldn't change or trade one second of it. I'm so thankful and happy to be here, and I kind of can't wait for the next ridiculous thing to happen.