May the 1st is a national holiday in Ecuador. It is Labor Day here. So we had a long weekend to rest up and..... play!!Becca turns 17 tomorrow, so she decided that she wanted to celebrate by taking some friends to a little town called Mindo last Friday. Mindo is a tourist town with lots of Eco-tourism available for visitors. Some of the attractions include river rafting, zip lines, a butterfly farm, nature hiking, swimming in local rivers, an orchid farm, etc.
The kids decided to start the day with a little river rafting. They had a large enough group to have their own raft. The rafts are really several inner tubes, tied together. They each get a life jacket and a helmet for the ride. It had not rained much the day before, so the river was not too high. Our youngest, David, was allowed to go on the raft too, but had his own guide to make sure he was safe on the ride. The trip lasted about a half hour and as you can see, they all had fun.
After the river, it was off to the zip lines. There are 10 zip lines that criss-cross up and down the jungle valley. You ride above the jungle canopy and look down on the vegetation and wildlife. The longest of the zip lines is 1500 feet, so it is quite a ride. Guides take you through the series of lines and at the end of each line there is a short hike to the next launch point. It takes about an hour and a quarter
to make the round trip back to your starting point. The guides will even strap you to them and let you do the zip line upside down (called "the butterfly") or headlong (called "the superman").Everyone had a great day and were pretty worn out by the time we got back to Quito. It was a great time to get away and enjoy an extra long weekend.
Doug
1 comment:
wow - and it actually looks safe! a great activity to keep in mind when Nathan gets a bit older (like in 18 years or so! ha, ha). Looks like they all had a great time!
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