La selva en Mindo

I should have updated earlier this week, but work at the clinic picked up a little so I've been busier than usual. Sorry if this post gets long.

First off, the weather in Quito has done a 360 and is now sunny every day!

I am constantly reminded (and shocked) by the condition of the clinic. Leo is considered well-off in Ecuador, yet he can't afford to buy new gauze or suture needles. Nothing is ever autoclaved. Anesthesia in particular is very expensive so it's used in minimal quantities, causing the animals to wake up towards the end of their surgeries. This week, my hands were literally inside a dog's abdomen, trying to cut her ovaries when she started jerking and screaming. It was pretty traumatizing, but i's these kinds of experiences that I feel really prepare me and teach me to be calm under pressure. On a lighter, less graphic note, I got to babysit an adorable puppy named Armando for a night. My host mom called him my hijo ecuatoriano.


Mi hijo y yo

This weekend, while my real family went on vacation (apparently illegally) to Canada, I went to the cloud forest / jungle in Mindo with Donna and Tricia. The trip started with us almost missing the bus and having to stand for the 2-hour drive but we made it. The cloud forest is one of the most ecologically diverse places on earth, and Mindo is famous for its extraordinary number of birds, butterflies, and flowers.
The actual town of Mindo is so small that there are only 3 main roads and by Sunday I recognized all of the stray dogs.
We stayed in a hostel down a dirt road, right in the trees so it felt a lot like camping.


our hut

Saturday, we went tubing down a gorgeous river and on a zip-line canopy tour with 10 cables. On one of them I couldn't brake and crashed into the trees and we later found out that they've had quite a few broken limbs there-not quite as safe as Costa Rica's zip-line yet.


doing the 'mariposa' on the last cable

Sunday we had a delicious breakfast at the hostel and went to the Mariposario aka butterfly garden. Coolest butterfly exhibit ever! They were landing all over us. Later we went horseback riding part 2 to the river. We wanted to do a bird-watching tour too but apparently they all started at 5 am so we got on the bus back to Quito. But we didn't make it back smoothly of course. Donna lost her phone and was going to get it from someone who found it when the bus pulled away. So we left the tranquil town of Mindo as I was yelling at the bus driver to stop and she was sprinting down the road.

If I were to sum up the weekend, it would be beautiful scenery, nice people, riding on the backs of trucks, bruises, and bugs.

P.S. Apparently they eat horse in Mindo and also hold their funerals outside so you awkwardly walk right by without realizing it.