With 20 people from our Spanish school we traveled northwest from Quito for the weekend to Mindo. The lower altitude made for a pleasantly warm climate. We hiked up a hill for two hours then made it to a beautiful waterfall area. It could be described as an eco park without the formalities necessitated by the American lawsuit system – no forms to sign, no liability waived. It was implicitly understood that you are responsible for yourself, make appropriate risks as you are able to handle. Matt braved a 35 feet cliff jump into the base of the waterfall, descended via rope the rocks next to the waterfall then jumped from a rock and I rode the concrete water chute. A friendly young local made gestures of body posture, dropping rocks to indicate where to land in the water and other unknown comments in Spanish. We learned later this was our guide. We passed on the run off a cliff/free fall zip line that was facilitated with only one shady looking piece of dynamic rope, no back up and rusty carabierenrs. The Norwegians went full force ahead and we were pleased to just record viedo footage of them being adventuresome. 
We had the entire hotel to ourselves which allowed us to blare salsa music, take another instructional lesson and attempt the dance steps again. We went into town for a salmon and pork dinner and played volleyball in the streets with the locals. Stayed up late at the hotel soclizaing and going for a late night empanada run.
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