Lindo Mindo

So, we almost finished the school, just came up short a few pencils and teachers.

The Canadians took off for the rainforest and I left for the weekend for a little town called Mindo with the rest of the volunteers. It’s a tourist town for sure, but in an authentic and charming way. It wasn’t very crowded either, at least with other gringos, which I’d guess is partially a result of the season (wet) and economy (bad), though it may very well be typical.

Anyway, we all quickly agreed that we wanted to move to Mindo permanently. The scenery is gorgeous, the locals are friendly and the delicious breakfasts cost just two bucks and come with coffee and thick freshly squeezed juice.

I’ll have to go back soon anyway. The town has led the world in annual bird species recorded for four years running. But of course my traveling companions were not bird watchers so instead of wandering around in the forest all day gazing up at tanagers, toucans and mot mots, we ended up doing boring touristy stuff like this.

We did drop by an orchid garden with a butterfly house one morning and got to see some stunning mariposas.

They also had a row of hummingbird feeders around which hundreds of kolibris swarmed like bees.

It was another good opportunity to play with my new camera. I could never get these guys to sit still so close to me in the forest.

The Ninos have made it up the hill in one piece, so that’s a good start to the week. It looks like I’m not going to have to be as hands on with them as I previously thought, which will give me time to draft my proposal to the San Diego Orchid Society.