Rappelling and El Templo del Sol

Mindo is in what's called a "cloud forest."  I guess you can see why.

Us Truly and our American friends, Karen and Dave

Some Ecuadorian friends who were on the trip

I just think these flowers are pretty

Bobby in his hiking gear

Bobby took this

Crossing the river on an open air cable car

On the trail

Considering rappelling down that waterfall

The decision has been made!

Half way down

Hamming it up---he wanted to be sure people knew he really did it!

That looks like fun!

On the way back, the bus stopped because this car was in the road, having had some kind of accident.  All the men, except for my man who had a gimp ankle, cheerfully bounded off the bus and pushed the car out of the way and helped the driver get on her way.  She had blood on her face and I wanted to go over and do a little trauma work on her right away so she wouldn't retain the trauma, but a policeman shooed me away.

One of the Ecuadorian men serenaded us on the way back.  He had a good voice and played well, too.  I really enjoyed listening, even though I didn't know any of the music and understood very few words.  As it got later and darker, the other Ecuadorians chimed in with increasing gusto---it was great!  It sounded like a beer party, but no alcohol was consumed.  I think.

The next bunch are views from the bus.  There was so much beautiful scenery that we couldn't stop taking pictures!

Do you see the volcano?  It's old and the crater has caved in.  Click on the picture and you'll see it better.

This is at the entrance of El Templo del Sol, which is a replica of an Incan sun temple.  After I took this picture I was told that I shouldn't have---don't know why---that's happened to me before!

Inside the sun temple---it was circular, as you can see, and there were several stories with balconies.  At the very top is an opening for the sun to enter, I guess.  The Incans were sun worshipers. 

Artifacts---real ones, I think

I rotated this picture, but it didn't want to stay upright  So turn your head to see this large container someone said was for putting dead bodies in---yikes! I tried to look as healthy as I could!  I think another container went over the top, and it didn't look too comfortable!

We missed so much explanation because it was all in Spanish, of course.  But I did hear something about this being a female oriented society, which confused me, because it seems to me that the Incans were all about testosterone.  Maybe this was a sub-sect.  Anyway, the woman here gets the best seat in the house.  The man on the right only gets a place for his bust.

Well, this didn't stay rotated, either, and it's a blurry picture to boot.  But here's the explanation---we were right exactly on the equator, which they call La Mitad del Mundo (the Middle of the World), so an egg will balance on the head of a nail.  And it really did!

The Incan sun god, I think.  Or maybe just a representation of the sun.  See?  He seems pretty full of testosterone to me!

This artist painted this picture with his hands.  It took about 6 minutes.

Partly finished...

And done!

Standing in front of another very large painting of his

At the top of the temple

also from the top

Bobby being theatrical again with this guy who was posing as an Incan chief.  Maybe a particular Incan chief, but we don't know.

Okay, Terri can be theatrical, too!  The guy was quite nice.  He somehow deduced that we were American (go figure!) and asked in English, "Lady, where you are from?"  I told him I was from SC, and he said, "Welcome!"

Here he is doing a vigorous dance for us.

The front of the temple.  Who knows if the original really looked like that---but we enjoyed it, and so did the Ecuadorians.

Flora and Fauna in Mindo

We took a trip to Mindo, a small town in the north of Ecuador, with an adventure/hiking club.   After a 13 hour bus ride with the group (*groan*), we got to our cabins.  Bobby went hiking, rappelling down waterfalls, and adventuring while I did girly things like watching butterflies, hummingbirds, and flowers.  I know I'm a wimp, but he's laid up now with a sprained ankle now and I'm not!  This picture is of some immature bananas on a banana tree at the hosteleria where we stayed.  When will they start acting more grown up?

Green bananas

Do you suppose these flowery thingies are going to become red, then green, then yellow bananas, or are they just decorative?  Or is this a different plant altogether that just looks like a banana tree?

I saw this in town.  They don't mess around with half-baked warnings here.   "SMOKING CAUSES CANCER"  right smack on the front of the box in huge black letters.

I know it would have been better if I could have gotten pictures of hummingbirds without the feeder, but you take what you can get.  I was thrilled to get these!  This little guy is kind of hard to see because he's green.

Here's a blue one in flight.  Click on the picture to see it bigger and better.

Two at once!  Aren't they fascinating?  And they are loud!  Their wings make a kind or roaring sound---pretty cool!

How did he get here twice?

Coming in for a landing

Can you tell I loved seeing them?  The word for hummingbird in Spanish is colibri, with an accent over the second i, therefore the last syllable accented.

This long pink flower would have 1 or 2 purple blossoms on it, everywhere I saw it.

I think these are cannas, which we have in SC

A yellow canna with a butterfly on top.

Okay, you know those upside down bell-shaped flowers I've shown before?  Sometimes yellow, sometimes white?  The kind that can cause hallucinations or death, but is also used as an anesthetic?  A man who appeared to be a real photographer helped me get the inside of one of the blossoms, and I was pretty thrilled with it!

I don't know hat these are, but I loved them

Same flower, close up---sort of orchid-like.  Maybe they're orchids?

Isn't this little Chinese lantern kind of flower just wonderful?

I think we have these in the US, too.  I love them.

These looked like they were on a banana tree, too.  Can that be?

We went to a butterfly farm.  The word for butterfly is mariposa.  Isn't that a great name?

I have to confess I didn't take these next 4.  My sister Karen was here about a year ago and took them.  When I went to the mariposa farm, it was late afternoon and we were told that the mariposa's wings are mostly closed up then and we should come back in the morning---which I couldn't do.  But I wanted to show you some more, so I "borrowed" these for your viewing pleasure.

I was able to get this picture myself.

The hosteleria where we stayed had an orchid garden.  There were several of these little babies right outside the door of our cabin.

At the hosteleria

Our cabin

A street in Mindo

Oops!  Please forgive the repeats---don't know how that happened

Another street in the town of Mindo

Those same bananas!