After an amazing time at San Tadeo Birding, we set off for our next stop. We drove thru the town of Mindo and down a short dirt road to a little parking lot and this place.
You see the name of the place right?
Yes, Mariposas de Mindo is a breeding and conservation project for the butterflies of the Cloud Forest.
We were escorted to the enclosed butterfly garden.
Where we were instructed on which butterflies are ok with humans and if they land on you, how to handle them. You never, ever touch their wings!
The amount of colorful butterflies fluttering and gliding around us was mind boggling!
All the colors, shapes, and sizes…..
And of course, one of the main purposes of the farm is breeding…..
And in case you’re not into the butterflies; right around the garden are all the birds!
Such amazing vibrant colors!
Another amazing stop!
It was getting close to lunch time; so we headed back to Mindo proper. When we first headed out, our driver/guide asked us if we’d had chocolate in Ecuador yet. I mentioned having visited Yumbos in Quito. Which was very helpful for him; because I guess there’s a Yumbos in Mindo as well. Instead, we headed to El Quetzal de Mindo, which is the restaurant location of Mindo Chocolates.
The menu was quite interesting, many dishes featured chocolate , but it seemed quite fusiony – touristic in a sense.
We started with some fried plantains which came with a very tart, mildly spicy Aji de Tomate de Arbol.
Our favorite dish of the meal was the Hearts of Palm Ceviche.
The earthy hearts of palm went well with the tangy-tart-sour-citrus forward sauce.
I was quite curious about the Cacao BBQ Wings. Which were much too sweet for my taste.
Somewhat earthy in the flavor, the wings were really tough and chewy. Really enjoyed the fried cassava.
We also got the Pollo al Chocolate. The chicken was overwhelmed by all that cheese and hardly had any chocolate flavor.
We figured that the chicken might be dry and tough, which it was….but we were interested in what that chocolate sauce would be like.
It was an interesting meal to say the least. Which was followed up with a chocolate tour.
Since we had done a pretty indepth tasting at Yumbos, we were more interested in the whole chocolate making process. From the various cacao plants.
There was an interesting variety, from the one’s that are native. The preferred species is the native Cacao Nacional, which is very slow growing with a low yield. We were told that it has the “best flavor” of all the cacao. Which is why most chocolate producers use CCN-51 Cacao which does well in direct sun, has a large yield, and is more resistant to disease. We were told that it now makes up close to 90 percent of the cacao used for chocolate in Ecuador. There are some reservations and worries about the growing use of CCN-51.
We were walked thru how cacao is made into chocolate.
Which culminated in a tasting.
We must be wimps, because we still enjoy chocolate with less than 7 percent cacao.
We were also given a very rich and sweet dessert as a finale.
El Quetzal de Mindo/Mindo Chocolate Makers
9 de Octubre
170167 Mindo, Ecuador
From here it was an over 2 hour drive to the airport. And our flight wasn’t leaving until 1130pm, plus we had a two-and-a-half hour layover in ATL. Luckily we were flying first, so we had lounge access. And the lounge at Mariscal Sucre Quito International Airport was nice and peaceful.
And our flight from ATL-SAN was right on time as well.
All the waiting and flight time gave me a chance to reminisce about what an epic trip we had. From arriving in Quito and checking out the TelefériQo and visiting Latitude 0°0’0 and the Basilica to spending seven amazing days cruising the Galapagos and then feeding the hummingbirds by hand at San Tadeo Birding…..man, we’ve been blessed to have experienced all of this!
And thanks to all of you who’ve allowed me to be able to share these moments!
We ordered the meat rare. but only the large piece was rare, the rest were medium-well, skewing things to the tough side of the scale. The meat was well seasoned, though the "sauces" really didn't go well with the proteins but was necessary for the really dry "garlic bread" bites in our opinion. The Bloody Mary aioli was interesting, but pretty bland; the BBQ Sauce was too sweet. 
Not much has changed since the last time, or even from 1947, when The Barbecue Pit first opened in downtown San Diego.
Other than the prices and having a daily availability of brisket (used to only be on weekends).
Walk up, order, pay and you walk away with your tray of food. Efficient.
Find a seat.
Go back to the condiment bar and beverage station. Remember to grab utensils!
A bowl of Navy Bean Soup-filled with beans, carrots, celery and bits of ham. An excellent version almost always ordered (except when I really want the Pea Soup)..
This went well with a beef sandwich. (Soup and Sandwich, $11.99). This is Pit Barbecue-slow cooked over oak-not overly smoked (there is a smokey BBQ sauce available on the condiment bar). The sandwiches are 1/2 pound, the bread is lightly toasted. It all comes together in each bite. 
The Mister ordered the chopped burnt ends plate ($10.99) which included two sides. The burnt ends are meaty, not fatty.
We decided to share a slice of pecan pie ($4.99) which had an excellent, flaky crust, not too sweet filling and still crisp pecans. A nice treat. 
I went in and chatted with the nice folks at Poseidon and they told me that they were starting BBQ on weekends starting on the 5th of August, running from Fridays to Sundays.
The rib and tips both had a very nice, deep, distinctive smoke ring and a decent, almost "crisp" if uneven bark.
