Mindo, Ecuador

Here are random photos in and around Mindo, Ecuador.  Mindo is a small friendly town west of Quito, Ecuador just south of the equator at about 4100 feet MSL; there are no traffic signals, unleashed dogs amble the streets peacefully or rest in the shade sharing the world with the humans, chickens, roosters, and the occasional cow.  It always surprises me how well dogs and other critters and people can get along if you let them -  I think we humans cause most of the problems by trying to control the world the way we do - there is another way and it does work.  Maybe not as orderly and manicured a system as in the US but definitely a more natural system.

An Ecuadoran couple strolls toward downtown Mindo on New Year's Day.  New Year's eve saw partying by young and old complete with the burning of effigies in the street and throbbing Latin bass music until the first hints of dawn this morning.

This property known as "the Yellow House" is owned by a reportedly original founder of Mindo who arrived in the valley a generation ago and began what is the Mindo of today. 

Here we are finishing lunch at a "sidewalk cafe" in downtown Mindo at 1:11pm on 1/1/11. The sidewalks are narrow so most pedestrians walk in the street since the tables block the walkways. It's part of the charming ambiance of a life lived in a more relaxed way - without all the choking rules and regulations and codes and zoning often encountered in the US.

Tomorrow we leave the rainforest area of Mindo and head to the coast.  Amy is dropping off a final batch of calendars with photos taken by the children of SALEM as part of her Cameras for Kids in Ecuador program (see earlier blog posts).  Susan Alban, owner of  CassKaffeSu with her husband Luis, hopes to sell some of them to her clients at the hostal/restaurant/cafe they operate in Mindo and give the proceeds to SALEM .