Blog Post – Marisela Nunez – 7/11/09

Saturday, July 11th marked a great day. This is very true because this past weekend a group of Foothill and UCLA students and staff took a trip to Mindo. We left Friday evening after work and arrived in the warm and humid Mindo Friday night. A small group of us stayed at a Hotel/Restaurant/Cafe by the name of Kascaffesu. Beautiful place with delicious food, coffee and dessert. The hotel is owned by a wonderful couple and if staying in Mindo I would highly recommend this place.

Saturday morning we awoke to the shinning, warm day and enjoyed a great breakfast. After a leisurely, early morning we headed out to face all that Mindo has to offer. The town is small, so walking around was quick and sweet. We met up with some other students in the central park and planned the day. We ate lunch at the Dragonfly hotel. I had a tasty BLT sandwich and mango juice. Others had pesto pasta, mmmm. Then we decided to be daring and headed to the white water rafting office.

Despite the reluctance of a certain student to hit the river (whom will remain nameless Editors note: very funny, Marisela), we bought our tickets and prepared ourselves for nature. We rode in a truck through a thick rain forest until we hit a bridge. We proceeded to the large inner tubes and hit the water. I was scared out of my pants but decided to keep quiet. It was well worth it because we all had a blast. The ride consisted of almost three hours of calmly floating in the river, sudden rushes of chaos ( in a good way) and amazing sights. The thick, green forests were all around us and behing them, the breath taking mountain landscape. Along the way we saw cool wildlife including a toucan!

After our aquatic adventure we dined at Kascaffesu. Most of us gobbled down black peppered steak while others drooled over the Trout. We finished it up with brownies a la mode and shakes.

If in Ecuador, Mindo is definitely worth a weekend.

-Marisela Nunez