Lloa to Mindo: An Ecuadorian Adventure

Last weekend, Lauren, Francisco, Stephen and I decided to try out a hike going from a city named Lloa to a city called Mindo. The hike, we had heard, was pretty easy. It is mostly downhill for the entire trek and incredibly beautiful. Some people actually hike the entire way from one city to the other; however, this takes 3 days. We wanted to finish in one weekend so we decided to have Francisco's cousin drop us off at the beginning of the trail which is actually about 30 minutes from Lloa. This left 41 kilometers for us to accomplish in two days. It seemed like a pretty easy thing to get done despite the fact that it was through a rain forest and supposedly wet.

We arose at 5am on Saturday morning. However, due to the Ecuadorian tendency towards being slow and the obligation for Francisco to sit around talking to his family (we stayed the night at his cousin's hosue), we weren't dropped off to start the trail until about 7:30am. The first 11 kilometers or so were amazing! The landscape was beautiful and it seemed like a pretty simple trail. Just follow it down hill. We were keeping a good pace and enjoying each other's company (though the rain boots that were purchased for this trip were becoming bothersome). We reached our first major river crossing. There was a small swing that one person could sit on and two ropes for the other people to use to help the person cross by pulling on the ropes. I was volunteered to go first and I reached the other side without too much difficulty, though, three Ecuadorian men who were hiking together had to help out a little. It was Lauren's turn to cross. When she was almost across it got a bit difficult to get the person over the flat ground. It went up a little so it was difficult to pull the person. I went over to help try to pull her all the way. Unfortunately, I just added to the weight of her backpack and she tipped backwards. She was hanging onto the swing with her legs as she dangled from the swing. To help correct this, I tried to pull her backpack up quickly and ended up slipping and busting my ass on the rock below us. We were a sight. Lauren dangling from the swing and me sprawled out below her on the ground. I finally got myself back up, managed to right her and bring her across. However, I think I may have done more harm than good and I think I provided a good bit of entertainment to the boys on the other side. Stephen and Francisco were brought across without any trouble.

After this, we hiked a couple of more kilometers until we hit another river. The Ecuadorian men had passed us and when we arrived they were in the middle of being taken across by a random man with a donkey. We looked up and down the river, but it was wide and a bit of a rager. If we crossed by ourselves, we were bound to get everything completely soaked. So, even though the man was charging the ridiculous price of $5 per person, we paid and were taken across the river on a donkey. By this time, it was around noon and we had made pretty good progress. We stopped and had lunch by the river. We had roughly 16 more kilometers to go before we wanted to set up camp. After chowing down on tuna, bread, and vegetables, we started again in high spirits. We were confident the hike wouldn't be difficult and we could do more than halfway the first day.

After a few more kilometers, we hit the spot where our rain boots finally came in handy. We came across parts of the trail that had a lot of water and mud. Our boots were sinking in to about knee deep. I hit a spot where my boots stuck and I lost my balance a bit. My hand landed in the mud. For the rest of it, I had to keep pulling on my boots to unstick them from the mud. Not really what I had been expecting from the trail, but the mud cleared up and we were able to stop by the river to clean off my hands and feet. The mud made us move a little slower, but we regrouped, hoping the mud was done and continued on our way. We hit a point where it was unclear whether the trail was going left or right. So Francisco pulled out his GPS and determined we should probably go right. We followed the trail right up to a point that led into the actual river. Thinking we took the wrong path, we retraced our steps and went the other way. Eventually we hit a point that was a muddy, 90 degree angle up the mountain. There was no way anyone was making it up that. At this point, a little frustrated, we turned back around to find the correct path. As we were coming down, I hit an especially muddy spot, slipped, and a long stick that was coming out of the ground jabbed into my throat. I was in shock and scared of the damage that could occur. However, Stephen and Lauren reassured me there was no blood and that it was just a scratch. But man, did it hurt and my mood began to sour.

We retraced our steps all the way back to the point where the trail ends at the river. Stephen and Francisco decided to go off into the river to see if they could find the trail. While Lauren and I waited, it started to rain. Rain ponchos came out and we continued to wait. Finally they came back and told us they found the trail. We had to go through the river and then there was a rock. At the rock, we would have to use a rope to help us rock climb up the wall. Stephen said he was confident every one would be okay but mad a joke that if someone falls, they fall into the river and die. Not the best joke to make. We decided to continue with the trail and we waded through the river to the spot with the rock. Stephen climbed up the rock. My fear of heights began to set in, coupled with the fact that the rock was wet and it was still raining and there was a raging river below us. I began to express doubts that I could make it up this rock. Francisco went up another trail next to us to see if there was a way I could go without using the rock. Unfortunately, there was no other way. I had to go up or hike all the back the way we came. Lauren went up and my fear increased to the point that I was shaking. I really started to freak out and feel that I was unable to accomplish this small task. They convinced me to take off my backpack and said that Stephen would come half way down to help me. So I sucked it up and tried. I worked very slowly all the way up and paused frequently to freak out. Did I say that tears were streaming down my face? Unhelpful in the whole being able to see where I was going department. In the end, with Stephen helping to pull me up, I made it all the way up and immediately started hyperventilating.

Let me pause in the story at this point. Let's recap my life:
1) Went to a new school with new students every year of my life until high school
2) Went skydiving on my 18th birthday
3) Moved to Korea (even though Brian was there and I knew him)
4) Ate a live octopus that could suck onto my throat
5) Moved to Turkey where I didn't know a single soul
6) Have been ziplining
7) Have been bungee jumping
8) Have gone through not only a haunted house but also a corn maze

And yet, never in my life have I ever been so scared. It's weird sometimes, the things that catch you off guard. I feel a bit bad for my friends having to spend so much time in that spot because I let fear get the best of me. But, in the end I did it and I can say that I didn't turn around.

However, the relief of accomplishing that only lasted for so long. Shortly, we were in a field covered with water and mud. We were back to boots getting stuck in mud and very slow progress. The rain was continuing to beat down on us and at this point, my boots were killing my feet. I sank into a low depression. I was completely wet, my boot kept getting stuck, at one point my foot ended up in the mud while I was trying to pull the boot out. I was freakin' miserable. Added with the recent traumatic stress and I was beating myself up for agreeing to go on this trip. I was also starting to worry about camping. This part of the trail seemed endless, it was getting late, and there was no ground that wasn't covered in muddy pond water. But, finally, out of nowhere, a house appeared. There was a small wooden house and then behind it, a bigger one. We stopped to talk to the guy in the small wooden house. He turned out to be the same guy who had given us a ride on his mule across the river. He lived in the small house and took care of the other house for the owner while he wasn't staying there. He said it was another 45 min hike to the reserve but also offered to let us set up camp on the porch of the bigger house for $5 apiece. At this point, I think we were all miserable. Not just me. So we agreed to pay this guy again. He ended up making $40 off of us in one day. We got to change out of our clothes and start dinner. All spirits rose. Stephen also brought along some rum that we sipped on, which of course, helped to cheer at least myself up if not the others. We found a nice, dry place to camp! I could survive this trip! The guy, I guess was lonely, and stuck around just watching us do our different activities. So we felt bad and ended up offering him dinner. That guy really took us for all we had. Finally he left, we had tea, played a total of two rounds of cards and then fell asleep by like 8pm. Not a joke at all. I wish I could say the sleep was magical, but I didn't have a pad, so I'm sure you can imagine how wonderful the sleep was on a hard ground all night. But, I was dry, so I was happy.

We got up around 6am the next day. We made breakfast and packed everything up. We were a bit nervous because we knew the buses left Mindo kind of early on Sundays and we wanted to make sure we made it on time. Fortunately, there wasn't too much trail left of the mud. Plus, with a new day, most of the water had gone away, so it wasn't quite as miserable. We finally reached a better part of the trail that wasn't too bad to hike. After a couple of hours, we reached a bridge we had to cross and then came upon the road part of the trail. We were ecstatic to change out of our rain boots. At this point, I had the equivalent of rug burns on my legs from where the boot rubbed my bare leg. I also had skin torn off of one ankle where the boot kept rubbing. I wanted to burn the damn boots. It was wonderful having my tennis shoes on again. However, after walking around a bend, we pretty much immediately came across a river. At that point I didn't care anymore and I just walked straight through it with my tennis shoes on. When I was across, I stopped to see how Francisco and Lauren were going to react to the river. They both groaned then bent down to take off their shoes to wade it barefoot. Uhm.....maybe that would have been smarter than charging in with my shoes still on. Probably should have thought that one through a little longer.

We had heard the last part of the trail was a highway. This, ladies and gentlemen, was no highway. It was a gravel road. We were also told that we'd come upon a small town. Apparently small town means a house here and there. Our hopes of hitch hiking from the 'highway' to Mindo were quickly dashed. After an hour or so we stopped and talked to a man at a hostel. He told us it was another 3 hours to Mindo and it was about 12:30 at this point. We groaned in despair. We were tired, the backpacks were heavy, and we were scared of missing the buses. Also, the owner told us we were about to have to hike up a mountain....My spirits were hitting a low point again. Luckily, a little ways up the mountain, a truck pulled up next to us that had the three Ecuadorian men that started their hike at the same time as us. They picked us up and drove us to Mindo. Thank gooooooddddddd! I don't know if I would have made it up that mountain or to Mindo. We bought our bus tickets for the 4pm bus. We were there a little bit after 1. We ate lunch and then quickly realized we should have gone with an earlier bus. We could hardly move. Our bodies hurt and the packs had reached an unbearable point. We didn't want to carry them anymore. So we basically ended up sitting on benches in the park for 2 and a half hours. I'm not kidding. It was almost impossible to walk at all. Everything hurt. 4 o'clock, we were on the bus and two hours later, home sweet home in Quito.

This was definitely the most challenging hike I've ever been on, but it was totally worth it. It was amazingly beautiful and I accomplished things that I would have previously thought I couldn't do.  I'm so happy I went and I may even go back.....in dry season. Apparently it's wonderful and mud free in that season. Who would have thought?