Leaving Baños, the trip to the jungle was only about an hour's drive. We passed through the small town of Shell, named after The Shell Oil Company, who in 1937 built an airstrip and several shacks they used as a base for oil prospecting in the region. They abandoned the town in 1948, having never produced a single barrel of oil.
We stopped at a monkey refuge, where we saw some exquisite simians as well as some exotic birds.
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| mad about something |
While hiking to some falls, our guide treated us to some jungle remedies, and a facial using a special mud.
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| random flower |
Near the end of the day we stopped at a tiny village, where some children painted our faces, we learned how to chuck a spear, and we met the angriest little monkey I ever did see.The monkey is nocturnal, and the children thought it would be fun to wake him up to show him off to us. The entire time we were there he just wanted to go back to sleep, trying to nestle against us, and every single time we moved he bit us out of tired frustration. Bad monkey.
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| He might look cute, but this is one sleepy, mean little monkey |
Mindo
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| along a tour of El Quetzal: cacao pod, roasted cacao seeds, and crushed cacao seeds |
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| cacao pod |
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| inside the butterfly farm |
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| very cool flowers at the butterly farm |
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| these flowers look like pink swans |
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| hangin' out |
Outside of Mindo, on the road to Quito, is the museum demarcating the 'middle of the world,' where the latitude is allegedly 0 degrees latitude, 0 minutes, 0 seconds. I'm standing with one foot in North America, and one foot in South America. The official or touristy 'middle of the world' is a HUGE *tourist trap* called Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. DONT GO THERE. IT'S AWFUL. I'm not kidding folks, IT'S REALLY REALLY BAD! A much more interesting place to visit is Museo de Sitio Intiñan (
http://museointinan.com.ec/en/site-museum-intinan/), where you can perform various experiments (a.k.a. parlor tricks) relating to standing on the middle of the world. Experiments that involve balance, equilibrium, and strength. They're all really fun to do, and well worth the admission price, which isn't that bad.
While hiking to some falls, our guide treated us to some jungle remedies, and a facial using a special mud. 
Near the end of the day we stopped at a tiny village, where some children painted our faces, we learned how to chuck a spear, and we met the angriest little monkey I ever did see.The monkey is nocturnal, and the children thought it would be fun to wake him up to show him off to us. The entire time we were there he just wanted to go back to sleep, trying to nestle against us, and every single time we moved he bit us out of tired frustration. Bad monkey.
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