Quito to Mindo

While we were having a great time exploring Quito we wanted to see some other areas of Ecuador too so today it was back on the buses. The bus stations were all slightly out of town so our host at the hostel kindly arranged a taxi for us to get out there.
It was quite an experience driving through rush hour in Quito and quite unsurprisingly we missed our bus and so settled down for a couple of hours waiting in the bus station. During which time we watched the transit police doing what appeared to be a thorough inspection of all the buses, something I don’t think has happened in any of the other countries we have been to. In fact although the buses did look old they did have treads on their tires which again I don’t think I have seen yet in South America.
The journey was fairly uneventful as we descended from Quito to Mindo and ended up in some lush, green rainforest. The place was very rustic and while touristy it did retain some individual charm which was nice. The place we had booked to stay in was lovely too and comprised of a few cabins surrounded by gardens in which lived a whole host of birds and in the eating area we were surrounded by humming birds which was fantastic.
We arrived at the hostel at the same time as another couple, Bill and Emma, who offered to share their taxi to go and see the butterfly farm (a must see apparently). We joined up with them and ended up getting on really well which was nice as they were on a very similar trip to us.
The butterfly farm was nice but not nearly as big as we thought it would be. We got told on arrival that we had to wait for a guide so we did and when she arrived she spoke for about two minutes and then showed us into a room and buggered off. It turns out this room was the whole museum and we had just finished the tour. Still it was nice to take a few photos of the butterflies.
In the evening we went for a meal with Bill and Emma and while the food wasn’t amazing the company was good and we ended up having to hang around in the restaurant while the heavens opened. We thought it was going to pass at some point but no such luck, still the next day we were due to be looking at some waterfalls so hopefully the rain would help with that. T