Hola! Today (6/9) we went on a 2 ½ hour journey to Mindo! On the way there, we stopped by and stood on the equator; I laid in both hemispheres at once! We had some delicious ice cream at the equator, and mine was “fresa”.  We then went into a beetle house and I was forced to hold a ginormous beetle! It was very scary and gross because the bug latched onto my hand. We also saw some llamas eating in a corral. After that, we got back on the bus and headed the rest of the way to Mindo. Mindo is a small, cute little town with good food! Here, we are in a valley surrounded by mountains covered with trees. In the afternoon, clouds moved in and it rained a little bit. Mindo is turning out to be a moist and tropical area, and I am excited for what we have in store tomorrow!!

Buenos noches! Today (6/10) I broke down several major mental barriers today. First, we had a workshop about depth of field. After lunch, we went to a mariposario, a butterfly atrium. We saw the butterflies at their different life stages! We saw them in egg form, catapillars, and crysallists. After we went through that room, we entered the room full of about 15 different species of butterflies! There were red ones, blue ones, black ones, and new ones! There were butterflies with eyes on them, stripes on them, and blotches on them! While we were in there, butterflies would land on us, and because I was wearing a bright orange shirt, they ended up gravitating to me. It was some what creepy at first because their wings would flap around me, but after I got used to it, I liked the little friends that would land on me! While we were in the butterfly house, it started raining. After the butterflies, we were supposed to go tubing on a RAGING RAPIDLY MOVING FREEZING COLD RIVER!!! Now in case you don’t know, I have a legitament fear with certain activities (kayaking off shore in an ocean) like that. However, I was forced onto a little triangle made of three tubes, and was hurtled down the river. For the first two minutes, I was bawling crying and screaming. The river flowed down from the mountains above us; I cannot emphasize how cold the water was! After 10 minutes of the near death experience, I tried to shut off and just get through the experience… When we finally reached the end, and it took FOREVER, I was relieved, but very cold. After I got back to our inn, and I had sufficiently recovered, I went for a swim! 11 of the 13 of us squeezed into the hot tub in order to warm up. After swimming, we went to dinner and ate pizza! It was delicious; our table of nine ate 38 8/9 of pizza! On the way back from dinner, I saw an amazing sight: lightning bugs! I have never seen them before, and like Spirit, a life goal of mine was fulfilled. However, when I saw them, I got so estactic that I dropped my water bottle onto the wet mud road. Its ok though, because I am going to wash it right now! Hasta luego, mis amigos!

Aloha… Today (6/11) we had an intense day of shooting! Our day started out with us visiting a bird atrium where we saw many different species of birds, specifically a bunch of different humming birds. They were all so different, diverse, and pretty! The humming birds gravitated towards several feeders right in front of us so we sat down and started shooting away! I took several hundred pictures of the humming birds within an hour! After a while of watching the birds fly around, challenge each other, and eat, we went into town for some lunch. After a little break, we broke off into groups of three to take pictures of Mindo. My group went on the “road less traveled” and explored the back streets and creeks in the town. After an hour and a half, we went into Chocolarte and learned the process to make chocolate! The fruit , Cacao, where the cocoa butter originates from is delicious; I had a total of 10 of the beans/seeds! After we finished the entire chocolate process they gave us pounds and pounds of fruit (heaven)!! When we finished the delightful fruit meal, we had to sprint back to our inn to get our point and shoots. We then headed to dinner, and after, we went on a bug excursion! I found loads of cool insects: a gold beetle, several spiders, one spider eating a roach, several roaches, a few grasshoppers, two frogs, a katydid, and much more! Today was such an adventure, and due to the fact that I have to wake up at 5:50 tomorrow morning, I need to retire to my cot on the ground now!

Bonjour! Today (6/12) was quite an exhausting day! After waking up early, we had to embark on a fifty minute hike on a winding trail through very tall mountains in extremely wet conditions. We went on very thin trails that led us through the canopy. Personally, I would say that the hike was very treacherous! The trail was right on the edge of quite steep drop offs, and it was very similar to a very long and suction-cuppy mud pit. After finally reaching our destination of a couple of biologists’ cabin deep in the valley, we watched them mist net and assisted in recording the measurements of birds. Mist netting is when people string up very thin and nearly invisible nets in order to catch birds and record data for research. We saw 6 different birds that were caught, and we watched Luke, one of the biologists, take specific measurements regarding the bird. I recorded the data for one of the birds that they caught! After we left (we were there for four hours) and we had hiked back, we went to lunch. We had more pizza, and between the 6 of us, we ate 3 whole pizzas! After we returned to our inn, we had a photo critiquing session with Massimo, our NatGeo leader, for an hour and a half. While we were at dinner, Haley, Michael, and I reenacted nearly the entire Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie! It was quite funny if I do say so myself. On the way back to the inn, we looked for more bugs but didn’t see any L Well, I need to get to bed so I can be rested for the next long hike to the waterfalls tomorrow! Au revoir!

Ni hao! Today (6/13) Sara Jane, Madeline, Clara, Bailey, and I went on another trek through the mountains for 45 minutes to find waterfalls. We had to take a little cage like structure to the other side of the ravine; we grazed the top of the canopy. Our friend/guide Nikki, who is from Germany and lives in Ecuador, taught us many new things that have to do with biology and the plants and animals! We saw, took pictures of, and swam in the waterfalls… It was so fun! The water was so cold and refreshing that it felt invigorating! Due to the fact that I have tons of bug bites constantly torturing me and screaming at me to itch them, the several minutes I spent in the water felt like heaven.  After we went swimming, we hiked back up the trail and stopped several times to examine plants and wildlife! After we survived the ride back over the ravine, we went to lunch and had some awesome burritos; I ate my entire lunch! After we downloaded our pictures from the day and chose our favorites, Massimo critiqued our pictures that we chose that had to do with tourism in Ecuador.  After that, we ate dinner… and now I’m going to bed!

Âllo! Today (6/14) was our day of community service! We went on the long hike again to Las Tanagaras, the biologists’ cabin. There, we painted direction signs that were supposed to help people get to their house. After, I used a saw and cut some boards in order to make stairs that were meant to replace the broken ones leading up to their house. It was fun! After we did about 3 hours of service, we went back into town and had lunch. When we came back to our cabañas, Massimo gave us one last lecture, and when he was done, we took a group picture with him. Soon after the picture was taken, it was 4 o’clock, and Massimo had to leave us. After we said goodbye to him, we went up stairs and played Mafia. I love the game because it is very fun to make up scary stories that have to do with the people you’re sitting with. Once the game was over, we swapped some pretty scary, creepy, but true stories, and I’m not going to lie, I got pretty freaked out! Dinnertime arrived, and while we ate pizza, we told some more scary stories and I got chills for the creepiest of them. After dinner, we went and got some ice cream; mine was chicle, or bubblegum, flavored! On the way back to our inn, we saw a very weird spectacle: some drag queens were singing to each other in the school (we watched through the windows) and a lot of the town was in there watching them and laughing. We realized that it was for father’s day, and left. Now back at the cabañas, it is raining, and I want to get a good sleep! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite (literally)!

Hello! Today (6/15) was a traveling day for us! we went into Mindo, did a scavenger hunt, bought some pants, and ate! We then hurried back to our hostal in order to meet our bus. We rode on the bus back to Quito for 2 hours. We went to a market and bought some more little trinkets, and then went to dinner. We ate some awesome sandwiches and fries, and we had ice cream! Now, I must go pack for our 4 day excursion to the Amazon. We leave for the Amazon tomorrow, and we have a major traveling day ahead of us. Good night, I must go pack!