On the road to Cotacachi

I can't imagine how the European heaven of white clouds and white-winged angels could have won over Ecuador's Incan inhabitants. I'm at breakfast enjoying sweet locally-grown fruit while watching shimmering hummingbirds flit from feeder to feeder at Sachatamia Lodge, which I highly recommend, just east of Mindo.  The front desk sells a poster portraying 35 local species of hummingbirds. I was tempted to buy one until I looked at it closely.  Instead of sparkling emerald hummingbird foreheads, I see dull green.  Thick black lines are poor substitutes for graceful cobalt tails that are longer than bodies. I'll have to look elsewhere. Heaven's real angels should be properly portrayed!

Gardens in Mindo

The lodge rests in the Choco Andino biogeographical zone, an area of cloud forest that stretches from southern Colombia through a wide swath of western Ecuador. It is considered the most biodiverse region in the world.  It's not just the temperate climate and the amount of sunlight that does it, but the daily rain. Living in a cloud forest is like nothing else. Mirrors remain foggy all day. Paths are never dry even when covered with stones. And raindrops fall from tree leaves on sunny days.

On the bus back to Quito, a young boy and his mother sit in front.  A wooden ball rolls along the windowsill resting at my elbow, then rolls back.  This continues a few times until I give it a flick to make it roll little faster.  My young friend speeds it up too and we are off to the races until I grab it for a moment.  A sweet face peers at me in the window's reflection and I grin back.  We continue the game for sometime until I hand the ball to his mother who smiles at me.

There is something special about being an older woman travelling by yourself. You are not a threat to anyone and the guys leave you alone. I offer the seat next to me when the bus becomes crowded. An older woman sits down and talks to me like I'm a native Spanish speaker. I just catch the occasional word so I mostly nod in support and smile; bartender on a bus. Bring me your woes. Your secrets are most assuredly safe with me.

Cotacachi Mountain, Ecuador

I am allergic to mould and sensitive to its smell.  In a climate this wet, I expect to find it. But in the three days I was in Mindo, I didn't detect it anywhere. This became a bit of a quest and I started to look for it. Behind the drapes? No mould. Along the baseboards? Nope, no mould. In the bathrooms?  No mould at all!  Everything everywhere in the lodge is made from the same beautiful deep brown wood and all I can surmise is that it is resistant to mould. I mean anything that grows here would have to be. Still it's interesting and one can only wonder at the other marvellous secrets this forest holds.  Humanity's future cures awaiting our children's discovery ... provided the cloud forest remains.

My young friend and his mother have left the bus but one of the balls remains.  I hear it rattling around on the floor of the bus but I can't find it. It would have made a good souvenir.