We had seen all that we really wanted to see in Quito, so Sunday we decided to go to Mindo. We called Francisco the night before and he was ready to take us by 7am Sunday morning. Mindo was about 2.5 hours away and so worth the trip! We visited a butterfly farm, went zip lining, and then took a tour at a chocolate factory. It rained the whole day but we still had a lot of fun before catching our flight to Cuenca.
Caterpillars will camouflage their cocoons to their surroundings. The ones that look like glass are around beaches. So cool!
A bunch of caterpillars forming their cocoons.
These butterflies were just born! It takes 10 minutes for them to straighten their wings and then another 10 minutes for them to strengthen. It was so fascinating watching the process!
I loved watching them come out of their cocoon!
The caterpillars food source.
The butterfly farm was amazing! There were so many different species and all so beautiful. Very cool!
Zip lining was amazing! The guides let us go all sorts of ways; Bat (upside down with legs bent up), Mariposa (upside down with the guide holding your feet straight up in the air), Superman (on your stomach with the guide behind you holding your legs, Train (Stephanie in front of me, sitting), and then just sitting forward. It was awesome! The view of Mindo was gorgeous! The country of Ecuador never ceases to amaze me. No matter where I am at in Ecuador, I fall in love all over again with the beauty of this country. It's breathtaking, really!
This guy is putting the butter into its containers... and loving the audience!
George telling us where the cacao seeds come from
Drying out the cacao seeds
Cacao shells
Smashing the cacao seeds and then sorting through the shells and seeds
Sorted cacao seeds
Paste made from the cacao
The chocolate syrup was 100% cacao, yuck!
We were able to taste different chocolates that were 77% and 67% cacao; ginger, coffee, and peppered flavored; and some with macadamia nut. My favorite was 67% cacao and coffee flavored.
Mindo was gorgeous but time to head to Cuenca for more adventuring!
