Mindo
The town is a popular tourist destination, with its many parks, rivers, and waterfalls, and is home to a variety of birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Visitors can go bird watching, hike, swim, and explore the nearby caves. Mindo also has some fantastic restaurants, serving local Ecuadorian dishes, as well as international cuisine
Town of Mindo
Sony A7 IV with Sony 24-240 mm. F3.5-6.3
Sony A7 IV with Sony 24-240 mm. F3.5-6.3
Making fine chocolate
In this trip, I visited the Yumbos Chocolate Factory and I learned a couple of things that I didn't knew about the harvest and refinement of fine chocolate. I wasn't aware of how major brands use low quality ingredients to decrease production costs. Mixing different cocoa beans and replacing the cocoa butter with cheap vegetable butter seams to be common practices in the industry...
After tasting some samples of Yumbos chocolate, you can immediately feel the difference in flavor and texture.
"Post-harvest processing has the biggest impact on cocoa quality and, consequently, on cocoa taste. The farmer removes the beans from the pods, packs them into boxes or heaps them into piles, then covers them with mats or banana leaves for three to seven days. The layer of pulp that naturally surrounds the beans heats up and ferments the beans, which enhances the cocoa flavor. The beans are then dried in the sun for several days."
Yumbos Chocolate Factory
Sony A7 IV with Sony 24 mm. F1.4 GM
Sony A7 IV with Sony 24 mm. F1.4 GM
Macro Photography at Mindo
I find that butterflies are perfect subjects to practice macro photography. They tend to remain still when they land on leaves or flowers and you will have enough time to focus and frame your pictures.
I remember that for my first macro shots, I used an F2.8 aperture... I barely had something in focus due the very shallow depth of field. After a while, I came to realize that when using a macro lens, you need to stop down your aperture at least to F22. Light sources will be required and there's a good chance that you will also need a tripod with a ball head, and a remote trigger.
Led lights (with an intensity regulator) mounted in front of the lens usually produce good results while being easy to carry around. Check your pictures and verify that your subject is correctly positioned in your focal plane.
Butterfly Farm at Mindo
Nikon D600 with Tokina ATX 100 mm. F2.8
Nikon D600 with Tokina ATX 100 mm. F2.8
Sacha Urco Lodge
Sacha Urco Lodge protects 130 hectares of cloud forest on the slopes of the Mindo and Cinto rivers within the Chocó Andino Biosphere Reserve, declared by UNESCO in 2018.
This vast territory preserves different types of montane forests giving refuge to more than 450 species of birds, hundreds of tree and animal species including umbrella species such as the Andean Bear, thus ensuring key ecosystem services for rural and urban populations that work together for their conservation.
Sacha Urco Lodge was comfortable and the hosts were very nice during my stay. I definitely love places that are not crowded and I was lucky enough to be the only guest at that time.
There are bird feeders around the main house, a beautiful viewpoint near the river and a lot of trails to explore the cloud forest. It's very easy to spot toucans and colorful tanagers in the morning.
Sacha Urco Lodge and surroundings
Sony A7 IV
Sony 24 mm. F1.4 GM
Sony 200-600 mm. F5.6-6.3 G
Sony A7 IV
Sony 24 mm. F1.4 GM
Sony 200-600 mm. F5.6-6.3 G
Birds from Sacha Urco
Sony A7 IV with Sony 200-600 mm. F5.6-6.3 G
Sony A7 IV with Sony 200-600 mm. F5.6-6.3 G
Night creatures from Sacha Urco
Nikon D600 with Tokina ATX 100 mm. F2.8
Nikon D600 with Tokina ATX 100 mm. F2.8
Hummingbirds Paradise
There are a lot of places that are worth visiting if you are interested in hummingbirds. Mindo, Tandayapa, Nanegalito, Pacto, and Pachijal are some examples. In all these places, lodge owners tend have areas with bird feeders that will allow stand very close to the action.
Sachatamia Lodge is one of my favorite places. The place is very nice, the food is exquisite, and they have a loooot of bird feeders that attract hummingbirds (and many bees too). They also have some woden structures where they put bananas to feed tanagers and other birds that eat fruits.
Please, try not to use flash lights. I can't imagine how annoying it must be for birds... Be patient and wait for the right conditions or look for places with enough natural light to take your pictures.
Hummingbirds from Sachatamia Lodge
Sony A7 IV with Sony 200-600 mm. F5.6-6.3 G
Sony A7 IV with Sony 200-600 mm. F5.6-6.3 G
