CARNIVAL+MINDO

Hello everyone from the little mountain town of Mindo. These last couple of days have been a whirlwind and tomorrow I will be back on the road once again. On my last blog I made the comment that Puerto Lopez was a beautiful, quiet coastal town and it was for the first couple days. However, Ecuador's biggest party, CARNIVAL, was this past week and the population of the beach changed dramatically. The small town turned into Mumbai, India in one day. It was manic! People were literally showing up in truck loads. I kid you not, semi-trucks would back up onto the beach and hundreds of people would climb out. I have never seen so many people in such a small place in my entire life. It made the attendance of a Michigan football game look like a small group Bible study. Absolutely mind-boggling. I spent Sunday and Monday walking around meeting different groups of Ecuadorians and then by Tuesday I was sick of seeing humans, so I went to a secluded beach in a national park.

Then on Wednesday I took a 10 hour bus trip up into the country's northern mountains to a city called Mindo. The city is extremely tiny but full of fun hikes and different nature adventures. On Thursday I met two new friends. Alex from Sweden and Lea from France. We spent the day together zip lining, eating at fun restaurants, and touring a local chocolate factory. Then this morning Alex, Lea and I woke up at 3:30 AM and went on a hike through the jungle. If you know me well, you know that my biggest fear is of dark forests and this morning confirmed that. Equipped with a pair of boots and a small headlamp I headed into the abyss convinced that I would not come out alive. The hike started simple enough. However, around thirty minutes into the walk we met on first adversary, bats! They were everywhere. They would swoop down around us and across our faces by the hundreds. I walked with my arms over my head, praying that I would live to see the sun rise and wondering what the heck I was thinking hiking in a jungle at 4 AM! With my heart pounding inside my chest I developed the mindset of one foot in front of the other. Yet, all that managed to do was put me deeper into the unknown. When we finally broke free from the bats my heart rate began to drop until we found ourselves in a clearing with tall grass. I don't know about you, but I associate tall grass for snake territory. Needless so say, for the next 20 minutes I was on edge. Then we crossed a river and were heading up a mountain side when we came to a part in the trail where there was a rock cut out. When we were almost through we heard a big noise coming through the trees towards us. When it sounded like it was almost on top of us it stopped and I braced myself for the attack. When it didn't come, Alex the Swede, thought it would be a brilliant idea to shine a light in on it. It took a little searching but BAM less than 10 feet away big cat-like eyes glowed in the dark. With my heart now in my throat, we moved up the trail continuing into the darkness. Just about when I thought I was going to explode with anxiety, the Lord sent an angel in the form of two French researchers. Boy o boy was I happy to see them. As it turns out the two Frenchies were living in the jungle, researching the different bird species. It was great to have them aboard because they knew the lay of the land and showed us some spectacular sites. When the sun finally did rise I praised the Lord and was amazed by the beauty of the land. After hiking around for 6 hours we went back to the hotel were we relaxed and reminessed about our crazy jungle adventure. Then this afternoon Nora and Lizzy left for Quito but I decided to stay in Mindo one more night. It has been a good and I just got back from a fun dinner with two German students, Nicole and Ulie, I met in the hostel. Mindo has felt like a United Nations meeting as I am constantly bumping into different groups of Europeans. We are solving the world's problems one coffee at a time!

Well that is it for now. Tomorrow I head into Quito for the day and then on Sunday it is off to San Lorenzo, a coastal town on the Ecuadorian Colombian border. I'll be there for the week working with a surgical team from the States.

Hasta Luego
Grace and Peace
Kyle

 THE RESERVE!

 Packed beach Monday during CARNIVAL!

 Zip Line action

 Pictures from the morning hike in the reserve