Mindo - Hike to La Reina - Fauna

I think I have read somewhere that beetles make up a disproportionate number of species in the world. Seeing what we have while living here has most assuredly borne that statement out. In Otavalo, there are some really just freaking huge beetles. Like the size of small pill bottles. Here in Mindo, there were just some really strange looking ones.  The most amazing thing I saw we were unable to capture on film. It was a tiny bright blue flying fairy. I swear. It had a tiny, slim body, kind of like a miniature dragon fly flying upright instead of horizontally. And it just kind of hovered in the air, with translucent blue wings. I promise, it looked just like those little fairies on the covers of the books that Audrey reads. 


















This was one of the cooler beetles we saw. It is hard to tell from this photo, but the metallic blue spot on its back was actually very bright and shimmering.  And it looked just like a pill with some legs and antenna.















We also saw some pretty big centipedes, or milipedes, or whatever they were. It is said that nature tends to color red those things that are poisonous or otherwise dangerous. It was not moving all that fast, so I put together another rough scientific measurement photo.















This worm with many legs was the non-lethal cousin of the former. I thought about taking it home and toasting it up to see if I could augment my protein intake, but the kitchen at our rented house was sub-par.