While I was teaching in Quito I traveled to a place called Mindo (also known by tourists as the cloud forest). I flew in a cage above the forest and river, (seen
here ) which was incredible. We were supposed to take a hike to two waterfalls but, alas, there had been a landslide so the path was covered. In Mindo there is a butterfly farm where we got to see hundreds of butterflies flying, mating, sleeping, being born, and dying. The whole butterfly 15 day life cycle contained in one room (poignant, huh?). There are also lots of birds on the property, which had me entertained for some time. There's nothing harder than trying to get a good shot of a hummingbird on a rainy day in a dark cloud forest. I thought the cocoons of the butterflies were the coolest thing, so here's an explanatory post.
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| The green cocoons are for butterflies that live in the trees. The metallic ones are for butterflies that live by water. How cool is that? So they blend in and are reflective like their surroundings. So cool. |
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| Closer look. Is it just me or could you see a really beautiful jewelry interpretation of this? Leave it to me to look at nature and see necklaces. |
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| Chillin |
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| Feeding time. Look at those translucent wings. Wow. |
