Day 13: Mindo Today was an even earlier start for us. We even skipped breakfast but the hotel gave us a packed breakfast with fruit, juice boxes, yogurt and a sandwich. Today we had to wake up at 5am to catch our next flight to Quito. The flight was very short, about 45 minutes and we were in Quito. Once we arrived at the Quito airport, our bus driver picked us up and we took another road trip to Mindo.
Flight to Quito and the view of beautiful Saraguro
Shortly after our road trip begun, we arrived at our first stop, the Equator. Diego informed the group that the French were believed to be the first to discover the location of the equator and that they were actually wrong. The French had measured where they thought the equator was but they were off by about 40 meters. Eventually they realized they were wrong but they continued to build a monument stating the equator was in that exact location anyway. It is recorded that Quito is on the highest point on the equator so the museum, Mitad Del Mundo, was built to signify its important location (around the exact location of the Ecuator). As we walked through the museum, our tour guide explained to us the history in Quito and important facts about the equator. She first informed the group the meaning of Quito, which perfectly represents the equator. Qui meaning “middle” and to meaning “earth”. She discussed a lot about the indigenous tribes. I found one indigenous community to be quite interesting and gruesome at the same time. What I found interesting, although quite gruesome, is that the Shuar tribe would actually shrink the heads of their enemies. They would kill their enemies, remove their skull, boil the head in a concoction of herbs and sew the eyes and mouth shut once shrunken to keep their enemies spirit inside of the head. Once the entire process was finished, many of the tribe members would wear the shrunken heads around their necks to signify their victory and success. The museum even had a shrunken head on display which was very creepy.
The creepy yet cool shrunken head
As we continued our tour she set up a display to demonstrate the differences of how the Coriolis effect occurs differently in the north, south and at the equator. She began explaining how in the south, the water and even tornadoes will spin clockwise. In the north, they will spin counterclockwise. And at the equator, tornados do not occur because that there is no Coriolis effect but the water is neither drawn clockwise or counterclockwise. She demonstrated this by filling a sink up with water at each three locations and in the water there were green leaves. Once in the south, she unplugged the sink and the leaves spun clockwise down the drain. Once in the north, she unplugged the sink and the leaves spun counterclockwise. And once at the equator, she unplugged the sink and the leaves were drawn straight down the drain. The next activities we participated in. At the equator we tried to balance an egg on a nail. John went first and he balanced it within seconds. I went after John (the pressure was on) and I was so close I could feel it but we only had 15 seconds and I ran out of time. Three or four of us actually were able to balance the egg and they received a certificate for their success.
We get to say that we were officially at the center of the world!
The next activity was fun and slightly difficult. At the center of the equator, we were tasked to walk a straight line with our heals to our toes while our eyes were closed and our arms were spread out straight to our sides. It was difficult because our balance was completely off and gravity was pulling us sideways. I was told that I was successful at completing this task (YES!). The final activity involved using our upper arm strength. While in the north or south, we made a fist with our hands together while we put them straight out, above our heads. A partner then had to try to push our hands down while we resisted against them (they were not successful). We then repeated this process but this time at the center of the equator. Our strength at the equator was gone and our partners were successful at pushing our hands down. It was really cool to take part in all these activities, I really enjoyed it. Once the tour was over, we had a few minutes to be tourists and shop a little. But shortly after it was time to get back on the road to Mindo.
Walking a straight line
After about another two hours we finally arrived at our next hotel. Unfortunately, we were not able to check in right away so we left our belongings with the hotel staff and made our way to lunch, which we were left to fend for ourselves again. The majority of us got lunch at an Italian like restaurant and ordered pizza, nachos and fries. I think at this point we were all longing for some North American food. Once we all finished up with lunch, the group headed to our next activity; zip lining. Once we got there, we got all of our gear on and got ready for some fun. There we’re a few girls who were very nervous to zip line but I explained to them that once they do the first zip line, they would love it. And once they did The first, they agreed. It was absolutely amazing to see all the forests and mountains surrounding us as we went down the zip line. We did about 10 zip lines, each a little longer and some a little faster than the last. It was a lot of fun!
Haley, Jessie and I all geared up and ready to go!
Swinging through the jungle
After the last zip line, we arrived back at the main office. Diego did not partake in the zip lining fun so he stayed behind to bird watch. He actually spotted a yellow throated Toucan, which was so beautiful. Soon after, we spotted three more and heard another from the other side of the woods as they were calling to each other. Unfortunately, Greg did not have his super duper camera so we were not able to get a clear photo of the beautiful toucan. Once we arrived back at the bus, Diego once again spotted an amazing bird that is very good at camouflage, the Common Patoo. From far away it just looked like the top of a tree stump but when looking through binoculars, you could clearly see the body of a bird. Diego informed the group the the Patoo can shut its body down for up to three days and remain camouflaged on the tree. We then headed back to the hotel, finally checked in and made our way to our next bungalows. We had about an hour to relax before it was time for dinner.
The amazing Common Patoo (Photo taken by Greg Fischer)
After dinner we had a presentation by Cassandra Shank and Nick Toth who discussed cloud forests across the world and Mindo. They began to discuss some characteristics about cloud forests such as they are almost always covered by clouds and mist And the elevation can range between 3,000 to 10,000 feet. Cloud forests can be considered to be Montane rainforests or Elfin woodlands. The average rainfall per year in Mindo is about 99 inches. Mindo is actually considered to be the capitol of bird watching with Ecuador being the fourth country in the world to have the highest amount of bird diversity. The vegetation has single story trees as well as many ferns and flowering plants. Mindo cloud forest has a large variety of many unique and different flora and fauna species. This area is very ecologically important as well as very important for ecotourism. They further discussed the issues that cloud forests face. Once issue is human population and deforestation. Another issue is volcanic eruptions that release gases into the atmosphere that can cause the temperature to drop by 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Furthermore, cloud forests can be threatened by habitat loss, fires, and climate change. Some of these affects can result in mudslides, as well as can cause loses of water which are very necessary for this ecosystem.
Our cool looking tree frog friend (Photo taken by Greg Fischer)
Once the presentations were finished, every one went to bed besides Greg and I again. Mindo is considered the second best location to spot beautiful tree frogs. Although we were both extremely tired, we were determined to find some cool frogs. Like at Zamora, we heard lots of frogs chirping and squawking but had no sights of any. Just as we were about to give up, Greg spotted one! He was so big and beautiful and I’m am so glad we were able to see him. After probably blinding the poor creature so much with flash photography, we decided to head to bed and rest up for our new adventure the next day.