Mindo y Baños

So this last week has hardly been any work at all. More like a week of vacation intermittent with classes every now and then. On tuesday of last week the class and I left to el pueblo de Mindo and a retreat owned by our university in the Selva Virgen. It was a six hour drive out of the city to the resort. After exiting the paved road we bounced our way down a mud road until we arrived to Selva Virgen. It was a pretty place with rain forest on all sides and bungalows on either side of a paved walkway. We all recieved our prospective bungalows. I shared mine with Jade from the rugby team and a professor from UTE the university that i go to here. We started off with lunch in the dining room which, as always, consisted of fresh juice, soup, and some sort of meat entree. After that we took a quick break to look around the reservation which has ostrich farms, botanical gardens, and tree nurseries. The weather was awesome with warm humid air and the occaisonal sprinkling. After the break some of us went down to swim in the ¨río¨ which was really just a brown murky pond with a rope swing over it. But the owner of the resort assured us that there were no cayman in the water only maybe a few snakes. The water was so muddy you couldn't see six inches below the surface so we had to take his word for it. We tightrope walked across and jumped into the dark water, which was actually quite refreshing. Some people climbed trees and jumped off into the water and other of us crawled into rafts and paddled about. When you just layed back in the raft looking up to the sky and just listened you could hear the jungle birds chirping and the jungle insects singing, it was pretty awesome. After the short stint in the pond we climbed up to the pool where most of the people in our class already were and swam in the pools. At one point there were so many of us in the jacuzzi that it overflowed and some people were just laying on top of others. We all got out and the directors of the program told us we were about to go on a hike through the rain forest for two hours. We threw on our shoes and headed off with two guides, the student, and a trusty dalmatian named Papo who always scouted around for jaguars or prospective wildlife. The hike was gorgeous as you can imagine, it reminded me a lot of Costa Rica and the hikes in the rain forest we had taken there. We found some cacao trees and ate the ripened fruit which was delicious and we also found some fruits, similar to pepper, that the natives used to use to paint themselves red. After we all had our war paint on, we proceeded down the path to the real río. I cant remember the name of it but i was a big one. The water here too, was too murky to see more than a few inches so i had to trust the guides who said that the cayman didn't get big enough to attack (unless they're really really hungry). We all jumped in and soon found a perfect cliff for jumping into the river. It was probably a 35 ft jump so big enough to make you nervous but not big enough to really get hurt on. We all thought we were really cool jumping off, some of us who were brave enough doing swan dives, but then the local kids came and joined us. They would do double flips, back flips, misty flips, you name it they did it without the slightest evidence of hesitation or fear. One boy climbed to the top of a tree that was on the cliff essentially doubling the height of the jump and did a flip off the top. It was pretty gnarly. After a while we all had to go back to Selva Virgen to have dinner. We ate dinner with, like I said, as always juice and meat. That night we went on another hike but at nighttime with some torches soaked in white gas. It was a cool experience to see the line of hikers in the pitch black with only fire torches, muy hermosa. The next day we all went and had breakfast in which i had bacon for the first time in four weeks. Needless to say it was super bomb. After breakfast we went out for a little get away where we were told we could go see a waterfall and swim in it. I was expecting a little 2oft waterfall with a pool to swim in at the bottom, but after a 20 min hike through the forest, the trees opened up to a 95 ft giant that was crashing into a pool at the bottom. It was ridiculously awesome and all our hearts surely skipped a beat at the notion that we were lucky enough to experience swimming in this beautiful spectacle of nature. The water was refreshing but not too cold and it was deep enough to dive down pretty far. We all crawled under the cascade and enjoyed the natural back massage it gave us. Our professors, who we never get to see in this kind of setting, dove in with us and enjoyed it all with us. This was probably the most awesome thing i have experienced on this trip. We crawled back up out of the forest and went back to the hotel to relax a bit and then leave to visit Mindo. Its a small town pretty close to Selva Virgen. We went to a butterfly exhibit but by the time we got there in late afternoon they were all cold and sleeping. All of us, including the professors, were all reluctant to go back to the din of the city of Quito.
This weekend we went to the town of Baños named after the thermal pools that are all round the city. Its a hardcore tourist town with tons of gringos all around and eco-sports for the masses. We traveled down the rio negro to some other waterfalls that were very pretty. On the way there we crossed a bridge that was literally just some planks of wood suspended by some wires. Needless to say i crapped my pants as i looked through the boards, some of which were broken, to the rushing river 200 ft below. Overall the town of Baños was really pretty, sitting within the mountains with waterfalls falling on all sides. We visited a military run animal reserve that had all sorts of animals. Cuatis (im not sure if im spelling that right), ocelots, monkeys, boas, parrots and all sorts of other animals. At the reserve there was a swimming hole with a waterfall but when we got in the water we realized that the mud at the bottom was to waste height. It was very unnerving to be swimming in the pool and then when trying to stand up sinking down to your hip or thigh in mud. I didnt swim in that pool for too long.
I´m getting used to Quito and everyday i learn more about where to go to have fun and meet new people. Next week we go to the town of Canoa to enjoy an entire week at the beach. I literally can´t wait.

Love you guys very much and miss you a ton. I cant believe im more than halfway done and will be back at home in only four weeks :-/.

Con amor,
Juan Carlos de la Playa.