With its breathtaking location, surrounded on all sides by steep mountainsides of cloud forest, tiny Mindo was a delightful place to visit and for me, another Ecuadorian highlight.
It’s a dramatic arrival just off the Pan American Highway via a steep and curvy hillside descent that takes you down into the small but beautiful town centre. The place was in chaos whilst we were there – it was one huge construction site – new roads, new side walks – it will be amazing when it’s finished. There are lots of restaurants, bars and coffee shops to cater for your every need – all with super friendly staff.
Depending on your mood at the time, Mindo is a great place to kick back and relax or a great place to get active. The locals have created an impressive infrastructure for actively enjoying Mindo, and its surrounding cloud forest, including butterfly farms, zip-lines over the treetops, mountain biking, tubing and orchid collections. But unlike Baños, Mindo has retained its sleepy town feel – but I do wonder how much longer this will last!
A ‘must do’ in Mindo is a journey on the unique open-air tarabita (cable car) that takes you 152m above a lush river basin over thick cloud forest and across the valley where there are a number of waterfalls that you can hike to along well-signposted trails.
Whilst in Mindo I had the great pleasure of meeting up with Kevin, a very good friend of mine from Canada. He was travelling from Colombia and I was travelling to Colombia – what better place to meet than Mindo.
Click HERE to see our exilerating cable car experience.
Click HERE to see a rather unusual restaurant exit!
Next stage: Galapagos.
