Today after breakfast in our hotel, we took a taxi ($1) to the bus terminal. As soon as we arrived, we could hear a driver's helpers shouting, "Quito, Quito" as they prepared the next bus to leave. We hopped on and left Otavalo at about 8:30 am. It took a couple of hours and $2 each to get to the Carcelen Terminal in the north of Quito. As soon as we arrived we immediately grabbed a taxi for $4 for the the 15 or 20 minute ride to the Ofelia bus terminal and caught the 11 am bus to Mindo for $2.50 each, where we arrived about 1:30 pm. Quito is a big city so there are at least 3 major bus terminals serving different destinations and you have to get from one to another sometimes.
Mindo is in the "cloud forest" northwest of Quito, presumably in a valley where moisture from the Pacific falls as the elevation increases. The altitude at Quito is 2,850 m, at Otavalo 2,550 m and at Mindo 1,250 m. Being at a lower elevation makes breathing much easier. We were tired after our day of travel so after we checked into the Dragonfly Inn we just took a walk around town. Mindo is very tiny and the main street is all dug up for a major sewer and water project so the whole town is muddy. Since we're in a tropical rainforest, the weather is very changeable and there are frequent showers. The upside of this is very lush jungle vegetation. There are several hundred species of birds and even several hundred species of orchids, not to mention all the other flowers, plants and trees.
We're really enjoying the variety of fruits and vegetables here. Freshly blended fruit juice is a big thing in Ecuador, probably because there are so many types of fruit. At breakfast we've been getting "tomate de arbol" or tree tomato juice which is much different than tomato juice at home. The tree tomato apparently grows on a small shrub that lasts a couple of years here. There are more varieties of potatoes and corn than we've ever seen and they're used in lots of ways. There are also more grains like quinoa that aren't widely available in Canada. Ecuadorians are able to grow a lot of food, even though their farms often appear to be small and steep.
It didn't take long to wander the town. Eventually we went across the street from our hotel to "El Chef" for dinner. The top item on the menu is "Llomo a la piedra", which is a thick cut of steak, like a filet mignon, cooked and served on a hot, flat stone that sits on a wooden plate, so your steak stays warm while you eat it, with side dishes of french fries and salad. We both ate these big, tender steaks and shared a large beer. Including tip, the bill was $21 total.
We don't get wifi in our room at the Dragonfly so we spent the evening reading and went to sleep early. It often takes 10 or 11 hours to get 7 or 8 hours sleep because buildings in Ecuador have no insulation and single pane windows. At the Dragonfly, even though it's fairly new, wooden and nice, there are screened openings above the windows for ventilation so you hear every sound outside. Being at a main intersection, this is not an advantage for sleeping. Although it's not a party town, there's still street noise sporadically until 2 or 3am, trucks passing through during the night, birdwatchers going out at 5am, roosters crowing from 5 on and then gradually the whole town wakes up. Not like home but if it was like home I don't suppose there would be any point in traveling.
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