Hola from Mindo Ecuador

Well here I am in Mindo. It was an interesting trip from the very beginnng. Yesterday afternoon I called the bus company to be sure the schedule had not changed. I got a message saying that the number I called was no longer available. I wasn´t sure what that meant for me, but I knew it meant I wasn´t going to talk to anyone.
So this morning I left my apatment an hour early to allow for complications. It is a good thing I did. When I told the taxi driver that I wanted to take the bus to Mindo and gave him the address of where to get the bus, he told me that last Saturday they had changed to location for the bus to Mindo and fortunately he knew where to take me. I got there and found it is the central bus station for the city of Quito, an enormous and very busy place. I asked around and finally found where to go and I got the bus.
The ride here was fantastic: very, very relaxing. The bus was comfortable, I listened to my iPod, and the scenery was fantastic as we dropped from 10,000 feet to about 5,000 feet in elevation where Mindo is located. What that means is we went from this enormous valley among the Andes, down to the jungle, and I do mean JUNGLE. The vegetation here is so thick an ant couldn´t penetrate it.
I easily found a place to stay: a small room, but it is clean and the bed looks very comfortable. It costs $16 per night. The town is the epitome of what you would think a small rural town in the jungle of South America would be. The streets are mud. The buildings are in varying degreees of quality from ¨OK¨ to ¨I don´t think I want to go in there¨, to ¨under construction or destruction¨ I can´t be sure which. It is quaint and laid back and peaceful. The beauty of the town is in the location and in the people and they are fantastic and so kind. What I quickly learned upon arrival is that every afternoon it rains and rains all afternoon, every day. The time for activities is in the morning. So I found a little Pizza place and had lunch, $2.50 for a pizza and a large beer, and as promised it started raining.
I will make arrangement for a guide to take me looking for birds tomorrow morning. That is the only way you can do it. To do that you have to get up and eat breakfast at 5:30 and leave at 6:00. That should be no problem for me. You do have to walk a lot, so we´ll have to see how that goes. I will be OK unless we have to climb a lot of hills. Let us Pray!!
The rain is slowing down and I am hoping I can scout out the town a little. I have a rain pancho Scottie´s sister gave me for Christmas and it is perfect for this adventure.
It will be a quiet and relaxing afternoon for sure and that is fine. Chris recommended a restaurant for supper so I will go there and see what I find.
Well, I am here, it is terrific and I am off to explore, even in the rain if necessary.
Hasta Mañana, Amigos.
Glenn+