Mindo, in the cloud forest

We're now in Mindo, about 100k NW of Quito, and a world away in a cloud forest.  A bumpy local bus ($2.50 pp) delivered us safely to this sleepy little town after winding through the Andes for about two hours.  Speeding through the Andes, over recent landslide issues, passing other buses and semis struggling uphill, through twisting, cloud-slicked roads . . . sigh.  Happily, my road views were obstructed but my window access into this land of plant gigantism was delightful.  We walked to our hostel through the lane above.

 Steve in the main house's hammock, overlooking the town of Mindo, hummingbird at feeder.

We went to sleep in our little cabin (views from which above) to the sounds of a dozen varieties of frogs, and a gentle rain (vs. car horns, partying, sirens, city sounds in Quito), and awoke to bird song (bird alert - skip the rest of this PP) ranging from the usual sweet twittering and whistling sounds of a vibrant bird community, to sounds like a cell phone, a squeeking door, CRAAAAK, a baby gurgling, cat about to emit a hairball, and a couple of roosters who still are excited about the day.  In the morning I sat on our tiny balcony overlooking the yard and watched birds -- saw a Little Cuckoo, several tanagers (yellow-rumped, palm, blue-necked) and more hummingbirds than I knew collected in one little part of the earth .  Steve's especially fascinated by the hummingbirds, their varieties, control, noisiness, aggressiveness, constancy. He'll be posting about them.  

Today we'll hike, find a birding guide for tomorrow, investigate ziplining, hang out.  Some kids here have a competitive spades game that may have openings.  Nice being out of the city.  Nice being here.  Life is very good.