Equador, in the Jungle.

The bus from Banos to Tena was a terrifying, sweltering hot 4 hour journey which started with standing room only. The bus rocked back an forth constantly as the road went from paved to unpaved, and back again. It was a beautiful drive, and as the mountains melted away, so did we. Appartently a full bus, and high humidty is no incentive for Ecuadorians to open their windows. We arrived in Tena, a small riverside city serving as a gateway to the jungle. We booked a 3 day stay at a jungle lodge with the Amarongachi Tour company. We left at 8am in the morning for a 20min drive to the lodge. I was at first disappointed by its proximity to the city, but all my reservations quickly drifted away as we began the short hike down to the isolated lodge. The lodge itself was a wonderful open air design, complete with bar, eating area, and an entire floor of hammocks! Nothing could compare to the view, sitting 120m above the rio Napo, the rainforest stretched out for miles before us with the Andes lining the horizon. However, there was no time to relax, we were off to visit a traditional Quichua village. First we climbed down the steep steps to the river, which we crossed in a Balsa wood canoe. We then started straight into the woods, stopping every few minutes for our guide to explain the traditional usage of a certain plant, make me a ¨crown¨ out of palm leafs, or to paint our faces with the inside of a spiney looking fruit. We trekked in the stifling heat for nearly an hour, until we started to cross signs of cultivation; yucca, cocoa, papayas, bananas trees, and of course mais. Finally we came upon the village of Santa Monica. With about 100 inhabitants, the town has a small school yard, an access road built only 5 months ago, and electricity installed only 1 year earlier. The Chief of the community and his wife (Monica, of Santa Monica) welcomed us into their home with barely a nod, as she continued cleaning her yucca roots. It was amazing to see how comfortable this family had become with letting strangers into their simple home. And I mean simple, the main room had one shelf for preparing food, a few benches, and a fire pit for preparing food (and waterproofing the palm ceiling). Oh wait, I forgot the large flatscreen tv sitting in the corner. It was a bit strange, but I guess opening your community to a reputable tour company has its perks!! It was weird to think about how the new addition of road access, electricity, and money will change this town in the coming years. We were served fresh bananas, and "chica de yucca" (water mixed with mashed up yucca root). As we sat in the shade, a baby slept in a hammock next to us, children ran in and out (getting treats from some of the other people in our group), puppies played, and our guide described the Quichua culture, showing us various different tools made from forest materials. Our visit ended with an oppurtunity to buy jewellary made from seeds from the forest. It was really a great experience. The walk back seemed a lot shorter, until we hit the 120m staircase up, its always a good stategy to pick a spot behind someone slow, and then just pretend like they are the reason you are slow ;)
After a cold shower we were served a traditional lunch of soup, chicken, rice and beans. Then it was siesta time!!! There were about 17 guests staying at the lodge, and it seems like we all had the same idea - hammock time. It was a great group nap! In the afternoon, we again took the canoe to a beach across the river, and just relaxed. Unfortunately the sun had disappeared, but the water was still warm enough to venture in. Matt was first to take the plunge, and I couldn´t be out done by him, also I had to pee like a pregnant racing horse, however had been scared by tales of this small insect in the Amazon which finds your stream of pee, swims up it, into your urethra, and then sinks its barbs in. EEK!!! I convinced myself that this bug was only in the Primary Rainforest, and not the Secondary one in which I was peeing!!!! After some gentle swimming, we grabbed our life jackets, and headed up stream to do some body rafting! It was very relaxing to float down the river, just by yourself, staring up at the beautiful setting, spying a few birds, WAIT! those aren´t the colourful parrots I was promised, those are vultures circling above!!! Still cool to see some wildlife other than insects! While we were swimming, our guide was roasting some bananas for us on a small fire, I never thought warm banana would taste so good!!! After dinner that evening we spent the evening talking to the other guests at the bar, inspecting the various gigantic insects which stopped by to say hello (ie scare the living crap out of me). I had so many bug dreams that first night, it was almost worth putting up the mosquito net we´ve been lugging around (just for peice of mind), not quite worth it though, haha We were up the next morning at 7:30am for a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, Matt really enjoyed those,) We were then driven to another lodge an hour away, part of our journey had us driving right in front of the police, who seemed to care less about the 6 of us piled into the back of the pick-up truck!! At the other lodge, the old people went off for an easy walk to a local lagoon. We, the "young and able" were off for a hike to a waterfall, four Chilenos were with us, and very helpful in translating the guides´· comments into english. It turned out to be not as much a walk to the waterfall, as a walk UP the waterfall....should have realized as soon as the guide headed out with a long rope, that something was up! It was really really cool, the first half of the hike had us walking up the creek bed, hopping on stones, or just wading through the water in our rubber boots. Small falls, were surmounted by climbing up logs with small notches in then, and covered in sand for traction. At the first majour falls we all stopped to stand in the massive downpour, and pose for the appropriate pictures. As we moved on we were slightly less concerned with finding dry spots to walk, as we were soaking from head to toe, having to stop every five minutes to pour the water out of our boots. Then we came across this waterfall about 7m high. Our guide disappears up it like spider man, a few minutes later a rope is dangled down! WHAT?!?! yes, our path was straight up the waterfall. As our guide is explaining (in spanish) how to "walk" up the waterfall, he motions to the pool of water collecting at the bottom of the falls, and warns not to step in it, as it is 6m deep. Immediately he jumps in and completely disappears down this narrow pool for a full 30s!!! crazy. We then each take turns pulling, and hoisting ourselves up the rockface, all the while heavy water thundering down on us. It was incredible!!!!!! So much fun. there was one more smaller falls which we climbed up, feeling like pros after the first!! It was then a short distance to the largest of all the falls, in which we all swam and tried to see how long we could stand under the water. One of the coolest things about the walk up the river was that the dog from the lodge had come with us the whole way, scaling many of the slippery ledges better than us. Every time we would go up a rock face too steep for him, he would circle around and be at the top waiting for us! Getting back to the lodge required a bit more hard work, climbing almost straight up the side of the mountain, before heading straight down it.....some bums may have gotten a little dirty. It was a really great morning!
After a deserving lunch, and a short 20min siesta, we headed out again, this time carrying large inner tubes with us. Ok well...maybe some of the girls only had to carry paddles............ after a long, hot walk down the dirt road in our rubber boots with no socks we left the equipment at the side of the road and headed to a natural lagoon. It was probably the most beautiful swimming pool you could ever imagine. The water came down in rapids from up stream and pooled in a small pond, set next to trees, and large rocks, perfect for diving (ahem...canonballing). The entire pool varied with different strength currents, either lapping you gently, or pulling you steadily to the natural infinity pool-like edge that lead to a 10m waterfall into the river below. The rocks above the pool provided a nature-made waterslide, so much fun and a little scary!!!!!! We hung out here for a while, lying on the warm rocks, before heading back to our gear. We then hiked about a 100m down to the riverside (good job carrying those tubes guys,)). Our guide then tied them all together, and we headed down the river into the rapids. They were just big enough to provide a bit of an adrenalin rush, and to get enough cold water on us so that our heads didn´t get jealous of our butts which were squarely in the cold water the whole time! The slow moving water in between the rapids provided the perfect time to enjoy the beautiful jungle surroundings, and reflect upon how lucky I feel to be on this trip. Its an amazing journey, and I´m so glad to be sharing it with Matt. He is a great travelling companion, and is even willing to apply afterbite to the multitude of bites I incurred during that lazy trip down the river! We returned to our lodge after dark, four of us being guided down wet steps by one flashlight. Half way through the hike down to our lodge, I grabbed the rope railing at the side of the trail. Our guide yells "don´t grab the rope, there are ants" he then proceeds to shine the light on the rope, and show us these monsters. Seriously, I´ve never seen anything like it, they were about 1.5cm long, at least 1cm tall, and apparently their bites give you a fever!!! yikes! As we arrived at the lodge we realized that we and another older couple from Montreal were the only guests in the entire lodge, it was kind of weird and cool!
The next morning the four of us, plus our guide, went on a hike to a canyon. On the way we spotted a small baby monkey, way up in the trees!!!! So cool! Our guide then proceeded to throw small sticks at it to try and make it move. awesome. We hiked down the side of a small mountain to reach the entrance to the canyon. The walls of rock were at least 20m high, the opening just barely big enough to squeeze your body though. Bats flew at us from every direction. Matt showed his appreciation of the wildlife by cowering with his head covered, he's a true animal lover. A small stream ran through the canyon, and when it eventually opened up, you could see small fish in it. We came upon a large cave in which hundreds of bats were sleeping, but not for long thanks to the flash of our travelling companion´s camera! We moved on to a section of the canyon that became so narrow at the bottom, that we had to climb up it. Pressing our bum on one edge, and our feet on the other, we edged our way up. It was soooo cool!!! It almost made me want to become an oudoorsy person!!! After lunch a heavy downpour put the kibosh on our plans to tube down the river, but we were happy to spend the afternoon sleeping and reading in the hammocks overlooking the view, enjoying the sounds of the forest. In the evening we were driven back to Tena. Today we left Tena, taking a 6 hour bus ride to Riobamba (back in the mountains). I was sad to leave the Oriente behind, but excited for what lies ahead. Only a couple weeks left in Ecuador! Hopefully we post again soon. Thank you all for checking out our blog. Being away from home is weird, and it´s nice to think about all the people at home wishing us well!! Take care!!

-Caroline

Equador, in Baños.

We're now sitting in an internet cafe in the city of Riobamba, and thought it was time to post another update on what we've been doing down here. We caught a bus in Quito to Baños, which is where we were when we wrote the last post. Baños is a beautiful little town in a valley surrounded by tall, green mountains, and a (recently active) volcano. The name baños means baths in Spanish- there are natural hotsprings around the town heated by the volcano. It's a haven for tourists both local and international, and it's a centre for tour and adventure companies, whose businesses line the streets and offer whitewater rafting, mountain biking, ATVing, trekking, and all kinds of other things. One of the latest things they have come up with is what they call "puenting"... puenta means bridge in Spanish, and what they do is attach a rope to the middle of a bridge over a deep canyon, of which there are many in the area, attach the rope to a harness, and jump off the bridge, free fall for a second or two, and then swing on the rope like a pendulum under the bridge. It's kind of like bungie jumping, except that the rope isn't elastic, except for a little bit on the end so your spine doesn't snap in half when the rope grabs the harness. Sounds like fun, hey? For our first outing in Baños, we rented mountain bikes and rode out of town along the carretera heading east, which runs along a spectacular canyon, making a few stops along the way. The first was a bridge, where I tried some puenting, which really got the adrenaline going.. we made a couple of stops to enjoy the view as well. Our eventual destination was a waterfall called the "Paillon del Diablo", which we hiked down to the bottom of from the road. It's an incredible sight- 100m high. There was a narrow space in the rocks below the waterfall that we climbed through, which places you directly under the falling water... an incredible experience. After that we hiked back up to a small village, and were looking for some dinner when we were approached by a woman who brought us to her front yard, where she had a makeshift store set up with a table and chairs (this is very common in Equador) and made us a great dinner, after which we jumped into the back of a pickup truck with our bikes and a couple of German tourists and hitched a ride back into town. We visited the town's most popular thermal baths that evening, called "La Piscinas de Virgen" (you'd be amazed at the kind of things that get named after the virgin Mary here!), which were crowded with locals, but great. We were lucky during our time in Baños to have a great hostel to unwind in, with a great rooftop patio filled with interesting characters to talk to, not to mention $1 bottles of beer! The next day, we hiked up the mountains to the south of the city.. it was a steep trail and a hot day, but a great hike.. and the lookout points along the way, and at the top of the mountains, were well worth it, with a view of the entire valley. We were exhausted, so another trip to the baths was definitely in order. The day after, we got up early and went to an agency where we had booked a whitewater rafting trip, where we were met by a couple of British guys who were staying at the same hostel we were, and two girls from Montreal. The six of us got into a van with a couple of guides and drove to the river outside of town, where after a brief tutorial we were quickly into some harrowing class IV rapids... an incredibly challenging, terrifying, and yet incredibly fun experience which I definitely want to try again back home. That evening we went out to a bar with our rafting crew and a few others from the hostel who tagged along. We had a fun evening and got to know some great people. The next day, we took it easy at the hostel in the morning.. one other great feature of the hostel we stayed at is the steam baths they have.. the bath consists of a combination of sitting in a wooden box pumped full of steam with just your head sticking out of a hole in the top, and being doused with ice-cold water in between.. a great way to wake up in the morning! Caroline could only handle one.. but I made it part of my daily routine! We took it pretty easy that day, we went out for a walk in the afternoon, and found a spa that offered $20 massages.. the perfect end to a action-filled week. We met up with our friends from the hostel one last time that evening, and headed off to the city of Tena, in the amazons, the next morning. As I write this, Caroline is sitting at the computer next to me writing a post about what we did after that.. we figured with the amount we had to cover we would both go at it at once! We're unfortunately not going to be able to post photos now, since the computers at this internet cafe keep having strange spanish virus alerts pop up every few minutes and we don't want to risk messing up the camera. We'll go to another place and upload some photos soon. Thanks for reading, hope everyone is well back home, and we'll try to keep the posts coming.

-Matt

Equador, the first Week.

Hola
So we have now been in Ecuador for 1 full week, and figured it was time to start our blog (also our hostel has free internet). We arrived in Quito a mere 14 hours later than planned, due to bad weather. The good news is we were put up in a wonderful room in the Hilton in Guayaquil (a town on the coast), where we enjoyed a full 3 hours of sleep before we had to be back at the airport. Nonetheless we made it safely, and spent 5 stressful days in Quito, trying not to be hit by the crazy drivers, who announce their arrival into busy intersections with a honk, but no deceleration. The busy city grew on us as we learned to navigate the bus system ($0.25!) and did some exploring.
Our first major outing was to the city of El Mitad del Mundo, through which runs the supposed equator. We visited not one, but two museum/theme parks which both claim to showcase the real equator (the proof is in the paint on the sidewalk). One of them was quite cool, giving a tour with lots of experiments ¨proving¨ its latitude, including tubs with draining water and eggs balancing on nails, although no gps. It was actually a cool tour, also giving lots of info on Ecuador´s history and Quechua culture. The whole day was really nice, and also our first day with sunshine (that´s right all you Vancouverites, you needn´t be too jealous, we had a good 3 days of steady rain).


The internet here is free but it is not unlimited, and sadly that is all we can post for today. Although the adventures we´ve had since the equator trip have been far greater, one of us is a slow typer....grrr. Alas, we will return with further updates. Thanks for checking our blog! More photos to come as well... they take a long time to upload so we could only do one today, but there´s many more to come!