80 per second

This is not only how fast the average hummingbirds (colibrí) flap their wings per second but it is also how fast my brain has felt like it’s been moving for the past 24 hours. My brain is thankfully starting to switch to Spanish but there are still so many things to process. When I landed, thankfully the person behind me ended up being another student in the program. We made our way off the plane and to baggage claim where she made me feel like I overpacked with my two checked bags, just a backpack and suitcase, to her small carry on backpack and one checked suitcase. She offered to help me with mine since she had an extra hand but I had already made it through Miami with all my stuff so I was stubborn and declined. I found my way through customs and to my host family. We drove back to the house and I quickly unpacked to find the few things I needed for our weekend trip and fell straight asleep.
My host dad and I woke up at 8 to travel to Mindo. Mindo is about two and a half hours from Quito and is a gorgeous town with huge mountains that feature a rainforest full of hummingbirds. On the drive there I couldn’t help but try to guess how tall the mountains were, trying to see if there were any 14ers (Thanks Worth!). On the way home we did see one that is 19,000ft called Cotopaxi [**Now have learned that this is the tallest and most active volcano in Ecuador**] which had a good bit of snow on top of it. We stopped at one restaurant on the way that has a bunch of hummingbird feeders out to let the customers watch them while they eat. In just the 15 minutes we were there I probably saw 30 different hummingbirds and at least 4 different species.
There are actually 30 different species of hummingbirds in that area and they are all gorgeous. (Kinda difficult to photograph but gorgeous). There were some that were “normal” sized like we have at home but also some much bigger like in the picture. One thing I hadn’t ever heard before was the squeaking noises they make. I guess the hummingbirds we have just never stay around long enough to make much noise but these hummingbirds are everywhere and squeak constantly.
We maneuvered out of the crowded parking lot to continue to the Airbnb that my host family owns at the end of a gravel driveway on the side of a river. When we arrived, it was so beautiful. They have a few little cabins and a cozy outdoor kitchen. (If anyone finds themselves in Mindo, highly recommend staying in this place).
There were hummingbirds that would stop by these hanging flowers while we ate breakfast.

After we settled in some, we went to the town to walk around. There were a lot of tourists so we didn’t stay long but did try to drop of a couple that was staying in one of the cabins at the path to hike to a water fall. There were so many tourists there that the road leading to it ended up with cars in a row of three instead of two. This was kinda crazy because it wasn’t like a normal road, this was a mountain dirt road. Thankfully I don’t have any pictures of this. We went to a little crepe shop after precariously turning around to reach the bottom of the mountain. That night we had dinner at their finca which was delicious and probably the most I had eaten yet since arriving. We stayed outside until the bugs were biting too much and we were all exhausted.

On Sunday morning my host mom and I went down to the river which is just down a little path. She had said she was going to wash her hair there because the water is so pure. I said that if I got my hair wet this early in the day it wouldn’t dry until we were back in Quito. There was a big rock on the bank that we tried to climb up. This didn’t end well and Worth, Clay and Boden would have made so much fun of me for this if they were here. My host mom had climbed up and was trying to help me but as I was shifting my weight the rock I was standing on moved and I fell and my host mom fell. She cut her finger and I scraped my knee and arm and got a bruise on my side. So after that I decided it was safest if I stayed in the little part next to the bank of the freezing cold river.

Mindo is known for its biodiversity so after our freezing cold dip in the river, we went back into town to a little bird watching station. Sadly, I didn’t know that we were doing this ahead of time so I didn’t bring my phone to take pictures but so wish I had. There seemed to be hundreds of hummingbirds flying around and even a few squirrels. The guide who was there said there are even toucans some times!! I talked with him some and at first he asked if I was Colombian and was surprised that I was from the US and asked how I learned to speak Spanish so well (Thanks Mom!!). I explained how my mom was a Spanish teacher and felt my confidence in speaking grow a good bit in talking with him. There were a few other times when people commented that my Spanish didn’t sound like I was from the US, one person even said I had an almost Central American accent. Yay for not being a complete gringa!
We went and had lunch at a cute little restaurant next to the river. They served full Talpia and other fish I had never heard of along with plantains and rice. I found it a bit difficult to try to eat around the little bones and head of the fish but the plantains were delicious!
Once we were done we headed back to Quito. I rode along with my host dad and the couple who stayed through airbnb who were from Colombia/Uruguay. I fell asleep in the car for most of the way, yay for jet lag, but woke up before we stopped at a huge crater. This crater used to be a volcano, you can tell by the walls that are left, it was giant.
We got back to the house around 6 and then at 9, my host mom, host sister and I went into Quito to see the Fiesta de La Luz. There were thousands of people going through the roads to see the lights projected on the churches and old buildings. There were parts where I felt like I was back on Franklin street after the national championship because the people around me had complete control over where I was moving and there was no place to move. It was crazy but the lights were gorgeous.

We got back to the house afterwards around 12:30 and I set my alarm for my first day of class and fell right asleep.