Mindo is a tiny little town in the cloud forest in the mountains just a couple hours outside of Quito. It is a destination for ecotourism - attracting international birdwatchers, as it is home to rare and endemic species, and is a popular weekend retreat to city dwelling Ecuadorians and backpacker explorers like me and Megan, looking for a good time.  The majority of Mindo´s residents make their living on tourism - running restaurants and hostels from their homes, and leading day trips to nearby waterfalls and birdwatching excursions into the cloud forest.  Mindo is known on the world map as a part of the conservation movement particularly in the early 2000s when a large oil company built a pipeline directly through the Mindo-Nambillo reserve. Environmentalists from around the world and Mindo locals loudly protested and were fairly successful as the pipeline was built but with very high standards and regulations.  It has the feel of a hippie town, with murals and signs advocating respect for nature and ´´organic´´ and ´´inorganic´´ bins lining the main street and park. The people run their businesses with a bit of a carefree attitude, at least it seems so to me. We spent most of our time in Mindo at a restaurant-bar-home called Babylonia, run by friends of a friend of a friend. In Quito we met up with one of Megan´s contacts who runs guided bike tours outside of Quito and is himself an avid environmentalist and bike enthusiast.  He easily talked us into heading to Mindo for the weekend. So far our trip has been routed via last minute decisions to head to a place that someone says is worth our while. Why not?  Babylonia is an incredible work of art, the detail of wood craftmanship is exceptional. The family put a lot of personal energy into the place, glorifying the wood that makes the exceptional environment that surrounds Mindo.  The tables are huge slices of tree stumps from the cloud forest left from Mindo´s logging days, preserved as priceless and functional pieces of art. Posters of Bob Marley, Che Guevara and Hugo Chavez (along with Simon Bolivar´s shadow), brightly painted murals and interesting pieces of nature make up the art on the walls. As almost every structure is open-air, humming birds buzz through the restaurant and pause outside, sipping from the sweet water that intentionally attracts them to the spot.  We were there for the holiday weekend and thus privilege to live music both Friday and Saturday night. Though I have loved the traditional Latin music that roars from every restaurant and bar down here, it was fun to listen and dance to the familiar rock, blues and reggae that the Babylonia bands empatically played all night long. It was a lively crowd and the place continued to swell with locals as the night went on. Though there were plenty of other Americans staying at our nearby hostel, Megan and I were of only a few gringos and chicas at the bar, so much attention was thrown our way. As a huge generalization, coming from Colombia, we have found that Ecuadorian men are much more aggressive when vying for attention. However, this weekend it wasn´t threatening and was easily escapable as we were with Ecuadorian guy friends who were hilarious companions.  By Sunday morning, the town was all but dead, storefronts closed for the week, not to stir again until Friday afternoon.  Mindo certainly lives for its weekends and successfully so.  This was definitely one of my most memorable weekends on our trip so far.  Mindo really seems to be doing an exceptional job balancing its active and growing tourist influx while taking care of its unique natural setting.  If you find yourself in Quito, a two hour bus trip to Mindo is well-worth it.  In fact, there are so many people heading in that direction on the weekends that you could probably hitch a ride.  We found ourselves hitchhiking more than using any other form of transportation in this area (granted we were with local Ecuadorian guys) - but it was certainly the quickest and cheapest way around.

Oh and I almost forgot - We spent Sunday afternoon chasing an American, Al Roker,  through the cloud forest. Coincidentally, the Today Show was broadcasting live from an eco-lodge in Mindo that following Monday morning as part of a new ¨green¨ program they are promoting.  Mindo´s significance is that not only is it home to a significant percentage of the world´s bird species, but it is also located at the equator.  After a good hunt (actually not that difficult), we found the NBC gear and massive satellite disk and snapped a shot with Mr. Al Roker way up in the cloud forest!