Mission
Cinto Cloud Forest is matchless because of the beauty of the Forest. Our mission is to help protect the forest through consistent sustainable environmental and cultural practices. This also entails educational outreach efforts of our Mindo cultural region to our online and onsite visitors. We are proud to have stayed small, cozy and personal. Our humble vision, through a unique personal touch, is to assist in providing a rejuvenating experience in this cloud forest.
Cinto Cloud Forest is operated solely by Mindo region families who are all linked together by farming cooperatives and common objectives.
Welcoming You
Cinto Cloud Forest welcomes all, families, partners, couples, friends, researchers, student groups, ecologically focused travelers and backpackers. It is our hope that with more visits to this wonderful ecosystem we will be able to further promote knowledge and conservation of this area. All our lodgings although modest, are comfortable, natural and thoroughly relaxing. We have taken care not to impact the forest except for the lodging itself and for the creation of gardens, fish ponds and plots for our consumption.
The Lodgings
The main house is where most of our visitors stay. Our rustic lodging is the utterly delightful rock lodge on the Cinto River. Near the main house is the all-natural smaller lodge surrounded by gardens and crops.
The Main House
The main house is a beautiful, cozy and spacious two-story hard wooden home built in 2006, decorated with exquisite bamboo and guava branch decors used for supports and natural aesthetics. The 2,100 square foot house contains:
* A broad
open kitchen
with sinks,
stoves,
cabinets
and storage
area
* A dining
area adjacent
to the
kitchen
* 2 large
living
room areas
in each
of the
floors
* 6 medium/large
bedrooms
* 3 long
balconies
with hammocks
* A large
all-stone
bathroom
with flush
toilet,
sink,
shower
and enlarged
tub.
* An orchid
and flower
garden
and park
* An entertainment
gazebo
Our water system is piped from one of our natural undisturbed mineral-rich springs. The architecture of the house has been designed to flow naturally with the surrounding environment. It is open throughout both floors so that the gentle breezes keep the interior dry and cool. Feng Shui philosophy and elements have been implemented when building the home. Except for the durable zinc roof, only local and natural materials have been used in its construction to keep with our sustainability efforts. Its materials are local hard woods (structural, walls, doors), bamboo (aesthetics throughout), guadua (kitchen ceiling) and guava branches (rails for balconies). Everything in the property has been built and hand-made by our caretaker Efrain and several other families from Mindo, including the cabinets, tables, chairs and beds.
The Gazebo dwell (Guadua and palm thatch)
Adjacent to the house we have the bar/social area gazebo that is open to the environment and built entirely with material from the property, including guadua (a harder, thicker and larger bamboo) columns and beams and kade (palm thatch) for the roof.
Greenhouse, orchid, flower and herbal garden
An herbal and spices greenhouse, an orchid and flower garden, and the caretaker’s cabaña are situated near the house. Orchids and local flowers abound throughout the ½ hectare dwelling area.
Meals
All meals come from our organic gardens and property in general. There is very little that we need from the Town of Mindo. Although there is no red meat in our menus, we do provide organic free-roaming chicken and duck as well as white water fish. Our diet is highly nutritional, organic and utterly tasty and fresh. We have tomatoes, greens, herbs and spices for our salads, as well as a great variety of fruits for juices and snacks. Olga is an experienced local cook and will always surprise you with something different, nutritional and delicious.
Crops
About 2 hectares are being used for organic production of maracuya and tomate de arbol, two popular fruit varieties; and sugar cane. Some of the other crops throughout the property for year-round consumption are bananas, plantains, lemons, tangerine, oranges, papaya, guava, sugar cane, avocado, bamboo, guadua and kade (for roof palm thatch), as well as yucca, peanuts and blackberry bushes scattered throughout and near the main house, and property in general.