This week after a couple days of class we made the trek west through the mountains to the region of Mindo for an extended weekend. The lush cloud forest was a refreshing break from the congested concrete valley of Quito.
Leaving Wednesday morning from the Fundación, we were ready with our dramamine for the curvy mountain road.Solomon captured this gap through the mountains on our bus ride.Enjoying the hummingbirdsMore than 19 species of hummingbirds are found in this region, we saw a lot! but probably not all, I guess our goal next time will be to keep track.Klever, our SST coordinator, is a partner in a small coffee farm project located just a few minutes outside of Nanegalito. As it was right on our way, we of course had to stop by for a tasting! Klever shared with us his expertise and knowledge about producing coffee. We are currently entering into harvest season here and they hire about 20 local hands to help with the process. The project has about 10 hectares of coffee plants. There are two main types of coffee, high altitude and low altitude. Of course you coffee lovers out there know that already! The cloud forest mountain environment makes for productive plants. The major coffee producers in Ecuador are found down south in Loja. Here we are describing a machine that helps pit and clean the beans.The drying stage…. lowering the humidity of the raw coffee beans to an exact 13% before shipping or roasting. A skilled worker can know when the beans are ready just by the sound of them being moved or dropped out of their hand.Our next stop was Mindo Cloud Forest. www.mindocloudforest.org We have been partnering with this foundation for the last couple of years now and they continue to be a leading voice in regards to reforestation efforts in the region. Nina, Klever, Diego, Solomon Sitting down for breakfast.Brian, one of the founding members and long term conservationist gave us a talk about climate change and their work with reforestation efforts.After a group breakfast conversation about climate and mitigating / offsetting / onsetting carbon contributions we got to work!Ebtihal planting a tree!Amanda planting a tree!Clearing invasive grasses so trees would have more room to grow.Solomon planting a tree!Dirty hands photo! All in all we planted 50 trees, a small dent in working towards the carbon emissions produced by our flights here, but a great learning experience and good take-aways. Mindo Cloud Forest foundation has a goal to increase to 500,000 trees per year. They are working with several large global companies and the carbon credit market to secure more funding for upcoming projects.Mindo! Tubing!Chocolate Tour! Besides petroleum, flowers and bananas, cacao and chocolate is a large export of the ecuadorian economy. Quite delicious too!Casa de Cecilia where we stayed in MindoCasa de Cecilia where we stayed in MindoNina grading papers, while Ben looks onLily enjoying the sounds of the stream in the morning after breakfastTaking the cablecar across the ravine. Yadira and EbtihalSolomon, Yadira, Amanda, Ebtihal, and cool DanielKleverLilyTrekking down to the waterfalls!After a long hike a card game to relax was in orderGoodbye Mindo, Quito awaits our return
