Day 3: Quito/Mindo Ecuador

Today was quite an adventurous day of zip lining and trekking through the jungle!

Allison and I woke up in the nick of time to catch a 2 hour bus to the jungle. We were accompanied by a Columbian named Jorge who we met last night in the hostel. He is a spunky young man and quite handy to have here in the city of Quito. We have a great system going on with Jorge, exchanging English words for Spanish ones. All three of hopped on the bus and wound around mountains in the countryside to arrive in a little jungle town called Mindo. It is a safe town with many friendly people and lots of backpackers like us.

The mission in Mindo was to go zip lining through the canopies of the jungle. We immediately found a man selling tickets for zip lining and headed up a muddy hill to meet the two crazy Ecuadorians who were about to take us on an adventure. Allison was pretty nervous at first but once they strapped her on the cable, she let out a yell and had the time of her life. The scenery as we glided over the canopy was unreal. Our amigo Jorge had absolutely no fear and went down one of the cables upside down. Our guides, Noel and Washington, were determined to push Allison and I to our limits. They made Allison bounce up and down, moving incredibly fast. I must say it is pretty scary but totally worth it. I went down one cable on my belly with my arms out like superman and my legs secure around the Washington. In between the cables we had to hike up to the next one. We were a little surprised to find ourselves winded, but felt better when we saw the guides were as well. The final cable was the longest and they decided to have three of us go at once: Allison, Noel, and myself. I took a video of that one; it is pretty entertaining.

After we zipped through the canopy, all three of us hiked down the muddy road in search of a hardy lunch. We found a local little restaurant with roosters walking around all over the place and many locals. Allison and I both had some delicious fish with rice, fried platanos, and vegetables. Before we knew it, we had to catch the last bus into Quito. The ride to our hostel was full of laughs and good times. After such an exhausting day we retired and made some soup for dinner.

So far, South America is getting better everyday!

P.S. We will not be able to update for 4 or 5 days because we are going to cruising some islands!