What it is like to get a tour in Ecuador from a German!

Well, well, well.. where to even start with this amazing day!! We woke up to the most beautiful view from our bedroom window.... tons of trees, and flowers, and a creek running outside and there were clouds peaking over the mountains! Breathtaking after getting to our hostel in the dark!! We had a typical Ecuadorian breakfast of eggs, bread, tropical fruit, and fruit juice. We got a text from David this morning that said that one of his students from the university was here in Mindo filming for a class project promoting tourism in Mindo (it is a very small town), and wondered if we wanted to get together with him. We met up with the student, Alex, and we got to spend the whole day with him. He was born and raised in Germany but now lives in Holand going to school. He is doing an exchange semester in Quito and takes 2 classes from David. He is very well traveled, and has been many places, and has lived in the US for a year as well. So off we went to the cascades! We took a taxi and got to the top of the mountain where there is a small cable car that takes you to another mountain where the cascades are. It feels like ziplining going across in the cable. We went over the hundreds of trees!!! Unbelievable!!! It looked like a carpet of green and you are able to see the various rivers and such down below from such heights! We hiked until i thought we could hike no more!! We probably hiked for a total of 7 miles, and saw at least 5 falls!!! The view the whole way was beyond magical!! You can't describe it! :) Pictures below will show you a little of the beauty, but it is nothing like hearing the birds chirping and smelling the earth, and feeling the humidity and rain on you! It was cloudy all day today, so no sunshine for us! We got well acquainted with the exchange student of David's and it was so nice to have someone showing us the ropes, because he had been to Mindo five times before! And he spoke Spanish so that made it a lot easier!!! :) Back to the downtown (all of one street about 5 blocks long haha), and we were off to the Chocolate-making factory! It showed us the cacao plant, the cacao seed, and then all the way down to BBQ chocolate sauce! We even got free brownies too!!! The chocolate we got was so rich! It tasted like 100% chocolate!!! Then Alex showed us his favorite place to eat, and we finally got some real Ecuadorian food! Tianne ordered tilapia and got the WHOLE fish!!!! Eyeballs, teeth, bones and all!!! Yuck! But you have to try it once since we are here! Tianne said she tried it once and we didnt need to order it anymore! Haha! :)
Tomorrow is going to be an adrenaline- filled day! We are going to go tubing in the river and then we are going to go ziplining, and then we are hoping to meet up with David! So much to do still and so many fun things to look forward to as well!


Side note about the taxi video: This is a sample of a classic Ecuadorian taxi ride, we just had to share ha ha! :)