{"id":2777,"date":"2015-09-10T14:42:39","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T14:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/?p=2777"},"modified":"2025-05-02T17:25:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T17:25:15","slug":"mindo-on-a-budget-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelcake.net\/nl\/mindo-on-a-budget-ecuador\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindo for the broke, Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tucked away in the cloud forest on the slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes lies the sleepy town of Mindo<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a lush, misty haven perfect for all kinds of adrenaline-pumping activities.
Tubing, canyoning, mountain biking, ziplining, hiking… you name it, Mindo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got it.<\/p>\n

But not for me.<\/p>\n

Due to a physical limitation, I was unable to partake in any of those thrills \u00e2\u20ac\u201d so I had a very different Mindo experience than most visitors. And yet, it became my favourite place in all of Ecuador<\/strong>.
There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something magical in the air in Mindo.<\/p>\n

\"lodge<\/a>
our cabin in the cloud forest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t chase waterfalls at full speed, I came up with my own itinerary \u00e2\u20ac\u201d let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call it \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mindo for the Broke.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/strong>
Now, to be fair, we weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually broke. But I figured this was also how I would explore what Mindo if I had run out of money: without splurging on pricey (albeit relatively cheap) adventure sports.<\/p>\n

Turns out: it was wonderful.<\/p>\n

My ‘Mindo for the broke’ itinerary mainly consisted of…<\/p>\n

Eating. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Broke or not \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to eat, right?<\/p>\n

Mindo may be tiny, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s packed with excellent food<\/strong>. I made it a mission to eat in nearly every caf\u00c3\u00a9 and restaurant in town \u00e2\u20ac\u201d not hard, given the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s small size \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and every single dish blew my socks off.<\/p>\n

Granted, we arrived after spending nearly two months in a remote beach village with very limited food options, so that may have heightened the experience. Still, some meals were truly next-level:<\/p>\n