July 12
Now that we know our neighbourhood in Quito, it was easy finding some drinking water at the mini mercado in the morning. Last night, we visited the Hipermercado and stocked up on breakfast, so we were able to feast this morning.
We packed up again for a two day trip to the cloud forest. Along the way, we packed in a lot of adventures.
Our first stop was the mandatory tourist stop at a spot along the new satellite defined equator. Remarkably, the mathematically determined line is only 200 metres off and remains the official site. Only Erez managed to balance an egg on a nail on the equator. We learned about shadows (long and north far into the northern hemisphere, short and south in most of Ecuador, and absent at the Equinox at noon on the equator). We also learned how winds start at the equator, so hurricanes move north and go counter-clockwise, while cyclones only move south and rotate clockwise. But the toilet and bathtub drainage hemisphere theory is a myth.
An indigenous woman lived on the site in a handily constructed stone and mud hut, cool inside despite the blazing sun and impervious to earthquakes. Her 110 years are credited to her production and consumption of corn alcohol in her home. Somehow the smoke didn’t damage her lungs and instead waterproofed her home. The indigenous people of Ecuador are celebrated at the site as well. We learned about the penis fish of the Amazon in southern Ecuador (don’t pee in the water there or the urea attracts the dangerous fish) and about shrunken heads (restricted to powerful friends and enemies and requiring a special recipe). We also toured a home of one tribe. They consider anacondas in the home good luck and the one room hut sleeps twenty-four comfortably (kids of one family in one hammock and parents in another).
We next stopped at a butterfly breeding greenhouse, where we saw all four stages of butterfly life. Mostly we enjoyed walking among several different native species of butterfly and the boys basked in hosting butterflies on their hands.
After a plentiful local lunch of soup, fish and rice with lentils and potatoes, delicious juice, and strawberries with cream, we separated into two groups. Koren and Teva became learned in the ways of the cacao tree and its fruit. Apparently, we are going to experiment with chocolate balsamic vinegar at home next. The rest of us spent an hour zipping on ten different zip lines across a deep river valley of the cloud forest. It was thrilling speeding over and through the treetops high over the base of the valley. The three boys even did runs upside down as a bat, in a superman pose, and in a butterfly pose. The guides were and the boys had a lot of fun and the entire course was well prepared.
By late afternoon, we arrived at the eco lodge outside of Mindo. Yaku Quinde is a family farm encompassing primary rain forest, where the recent addition of tourism infrastructure (colourful hobbit-like dwellings, guided forest hikes and trails, waterfall swim areas, and a play area at the base of the valley for kids) will enable ongoing preservation of the Forest. We had an introductory tour before dinner outside by the fireplace.
If the kids can be quiet during our walks in the forest, we might actually see some birds. Although we did see two types of toucan in between zip lines. And hummingbirds at the feeder.