In Clouds

It's the first day in Mindo, and yet again don´t know if the clouds signify that this is but a dream.

IF YOU GO

highlights of your journey there will include:

• Machetes
• Using cab drivers´cell phones to reach half your team who got lost in another cab going to the wrong bus station. HINT: know more Spanish words than Terrestre, No Bueno, and Muy Delicioso.
  
• Waiting for 75 minutes on the side of a highway for the last bus to Mindo. HINT: It comes after you give up and walk back to the bus station.
• Unknowingly tracking dog shit into the van-taxi and blaming the driver for smelling like a diaper.
• Not knowing why your driver wants to pick up ¨his friend¨to go with him on the ride. You´ll sweat as he winds back through the streets of Quito, wondering if he is leading you to a pickpocket den of his strongest amigos where they will beat us, take our passports, and sell our ovaries.
• The sensation of sweet American shame--- when you discover ¨his friend¨is just his wife.
• A hot argument with driver when he stops 3 miles outside your agreed destination. We call this one: ¨midnight in the jungle without a ride¨

highlights of being there also include:

• Waking from your treehouse bed to the sound of birds whispering.
• Hiking through waterfalls and sliding into a freezing pool upside down.
• Gliding over deep valleys in a rusty cable car in the mist.
• Riding in the rain standing in the back of a pickup truck and dodging branches and clouds.
• Warming up with local grown coffee and chocolate made from cacao beans roasted and ground here. You´ll help make the syrup that you pour all over bananas and strawberries. All for $1.50.
• Using rehearsals to explore the character of a mysterious Baaronness, her many lovers and their strange disappearance over 80 years ago.

Good Night, Day One.