IV. SA Ecuador/W3a, 4d: Quilotoa & Min E

We, 10.05. Latacunga: Laguna Quilotoa
On Wednesday quite early in the morning we started our day hike to Quilotoa lagoon, a lake in a volcanoe crater.
To avoid the typical Gringo prices (tourists and backpackers are in general already discriminated by partially extremly higher entrance fees in comparison to locals so I don't fancy being abused with bus fares as well) we informed us quite well and took the 1,5h bus to the village Zumbahua - not that far but as usual and typical for Ecuador the bus stopped at every corner to allow locals to get in for selling random food or other stuff. Unfortunately the weather was not that good with a lot of clouds and rain but you could still get a good view of the lagoon. We decided to do the 5-6h hike on the mountain range along the lagoon as this was not the typical 1h touri path down the lake and as you could just get a better view of the lagoon high up on the mountains. The landscape was amazing, super green with many hills similar to New Zealand and as it is often the case in South America we were constantly accompanied by two dogs leading the way but just in aim to get some food - which did not work out with me and my rule of thumb to never feed animals (it only gets worse) :P However, they were really cute and also made the hike special; it was a nice walk but with the altitude and constant ups and downs also quite demanding and with all the steep hills it is also better not to be afraid of heights ;)

Th, 11.05. Latacunga-Quito-Mindo
Thursday was again a travel day: I first took a 1,5h bus to Quito's southern bus terminal Quitumbe. From there I had to drive another 1,5h (oh yes, Quito is just too big) to the northern bus terminal Carcelén to further continue to the bus terminal Ofelia where I could finally enter the 2h bus to Mindo. To sum up: half a world trip with pretty long distances in Quito - the city is just too big, dirty, noisy, with too many people and just too unsafe; I am not a city person and was totally stressed :P
Mindo greeted me with the heaviest rain ever which did not really improve my mood so that I totally stressed started to look for a hostel. And that's where my love and relaxation began: I was not feeling well but the people in this village were all so super nice and helpful. With Guesthouse Mindo I found my best hostel so far - super familiar and small with just 1 4-bed dorm and 1 double room as well as awesome kitchen; unfortunately despite low season completely full. The owner Marco and later somehow like a dad was so incredibly nice and generous to let me sleep 2n at a dorm price in his daughter's room in his private flat - single room, towels plus a lot of help and orange juice and fruits inclusive - some people are just incredibly awesome and he helped me so much in this situation :)

Fr, 12.05. Mindo
Mindo was in general my lifeline and just the perfect space to relax.
It is a small sleepy village within the 21,000ha large Andean Cloud Forest located in a valley at 1,250m and well known for amazing nature and animal wildlife. With more than 470 different bird, 250 several butterfly as well as 80 orchid types it is the perfect place for every nature and animal lover. But there is also a lot to do for hikers with many nice paths and waterfalls and also adrenaline-searching people have quite a lot of choice between ziplining, canyoning and tubing. Moreover, it is said to have the best chocolate in Ecuador - for me one of the most important arguments ;)
After a bit of organisation (Copy Shop, pharmacy, bank etc) another German Jenny and me went to Jumbos chocolate tour, the village's best manufacturer and we should indeed not be disappointed - the tour was just amazing :)
First of all we immediately got a super delicious hot chocolate made of 100% pure cacao and could taste the chocolate fruit. The chocolate butter is later made out of the purple coloured beans and we also tried chocolate syrup vinegar. Similar to bananas the peel turns black quite quickly and can then be used as decoration bowl. We got a lot of information such as that the fruit originally comes from the Amazonas and was only brought to Europe by the Spanish in 1500. The original yellow one is also called cacao nacional/arriba/fina y de aroma and the red one CCN51 is a breeding and a bit more sour. The Belgian Henry Nestlé was then in 1700 the first one to mix the chocolate with sugar and created the first chocolate bar and the Swiss invented the machinery, today a $100b industry.
After that we got to know the different steps of chocolate manufacturing such as fermentation (beans, banana leaves and fruit flies for 4-7d), drying 20d, sorting, roasting, grounding, separation of the chocolate from its peel (which is then used for tea), pressing (to get powder and oil), heating (72h 24/7 at 45*), type of chocolate (85% cacao, 15% brown sugar), 20*, then fridge and then back to room temperature for the packaging.
At the end we got to taste 8 different types of chocolate: 100%, 85%, 75% and 60% of cacao as well as mixed with ginger, chili, lemon grass and coffee and got a plate with apple, banana, marshmallow in chocolate sauce and the best chocolate brownie ever - sooo yummy :)))

Sa, 13.05. Mindo
On Saturday I got up really early, walked 1,5h through the village and forests to be without sun and at the best time around 8:30 at the private birdwatching place of Olga and Bolivar to marvel the birds, especially hummingbirds - a superb experience, there were so many around 20-25, with so different nice colours, cool sounds and in front of very beautiful scenery with flowers, banana trees, guava, forests, clouds and forested mountains, moreover very quiet and relaxing. I enjoyed a super fresh guava and papaya juice with cooked banana and watched the spectacle for at least 1,5h :)
After passing some waterfalls I then went to the butterfly house. The butterflies were the next highlight - the house is the biggest one in Ecuador and I got a short explanation about the 4 steps (eggs 8-10d, caterpillars with a good camouflage as extrem or leaves, cocoons 15-22d with good camouflage and finally the butterfly). They mostly eat fruit (especially bananas) or soil materials. I had a good timing as the sun was out and there were many of them all quite active. I went through the door and was absolutely stunned by the diversity, quantity and colours of the butterflies - you could also feed them, they were sitting on my head and finger; well it was just nice and also quiet until the families and kids arrived later. I then did the jungle walk and went to the viewpoint from where you could see all the beautiful plants.
Back in the village I then visited the arts and handcraft market taking place every Saturday and Sunday, thanked Marco for the nice time and then took the 3pm bus back to Quito (my new loyal friend and accompanying dog even followed me in the bus) or the airport to the definitively next highlight: the Galapagos Islands :)))Read more