And this light orange flower/weed called Chuquirahua, which is ingested as a tea and provides medicinal benefits (for stomach pains).
The leaves of these purple flowers resemble suede or velvet and are very soft.
These wild yellow flowers grow from an almost cactus-like stem.
MINDO ! This is one of the small village's house... I liked the white paint on the front and the red brick on the side.
Mindo folks like to live the great outdoors inside their houses, as is evidenced by the lack of walls and the inclusion of sofas on the building's second floor.
Here is another example of such a house. I have never seen anything like it in Ecuador... but then I have not been to the coast yet!
The pueblo's small simple church.
I stayed at Hostel Gypsy, which the management team (Norma, smiling lady on the left) is moving to the adjacent, newer and equally priced ($5/night) Hotel Ruby. Marcel on the right was my birdwatching guide, spoke mostly spanish but was fun and friendly to talk to (and good at finding birds, of course!).
My room... mosquito net included! (and believe me, you needed it especially at dusk and dawn!).
A relaxing break reading while swinging in the hotel's hammock.
The hotel had several (!!) dogs and a tough kitten. I couldn't help taking this picture of the kitten sleeping in a flower pot!
Alex from the Armonia Orchid Garden gave me a tour of a dozen or more types of orchids.
My favourite ones were the Dracula Orchids.
And I also liked these too... they look as though they have big gaping mouths. There is one more that had a little door inside the center of the flower which closed if you touched it (evidently these flowers are rare as they do now allow for easy access to their pollen).
These brightly coloured red flowers are seen everywhere in the pueblo. They are beautiful and flower in a spiral pattern.
These odd palm-like trees grow in the cloud forests (forests that develop in the mountainous regions at about 1000-1500 above sea level). They almost look like skeletal versions of their palm cousins. Note, there are also normal palm trees that grow in this region.
This is another beautiful - and fuzzy - plant that grows in the cloud forest. Ecuador prides itself is a variety of flowers and birds that outnumbers many countries and regions, mostly due to the geographical variety in the country (sierra, coast & amazon) -- eg. There are more species of birds in Ecuador than in the whole of Europe).
Another bulbous flower that grows from small bushes, and can be seen often in other North and South American woods.
I particularly liked these flowers as they held their small pea-sized seeds in a translucent pod.
