Sorry for the hiatus, things have been kind of crazy since we got back from the jungle. We left Sunday the 16th and came back Friday the 21st.
After a 4 hour bus ride to Tena and a 45 minute taxi to the east, the only way to get to our compound is by Tarabita (just like the ones we rode in Mindo and Baños). This one was powered on board by a manual engine and tended to be a little temperamental.
I made friends quickly with Tarzan, an adorable new puppy on the compound. The compound itself is relatively comfortable. Rooms that fit 3 that have a cabin feel with a porch outside, hot water in the showers, an eating area, a small bar, and hammocks. Everywhere. I spent a lot of time in hammocks this week. No internet, which was a welcome break.
Here's our guide for the week, Don Matilde. He just goes by Matilde, and it's pronounced Matildo, but I'm using the only spelling I've seen of his name. Anyhow, he's quite the character. He was born right when they were building the paved road through this area, so he was part of an indigenous group that was seeing a lot of changes. He worked in Tena and spend 12 years panning for gold, which is the first thing we did. Fascinating guy. After trying our hand and finding a few specks of gold, we swam in the river, relaxed, ate dinner, relaxed, played some cards, and went to sleep.
The pattern of the days went about like this: wake up at 7:45, eat breakfast, class from 9-11ish, break until 11:45 or 12 (Monday I napped from 10:50-12:20 in a hammock), class until 12:30, lunch, some activity from 3-5, swim in the river, eat dinner around 7, and chill in the hammocks until we went to sleep. It was such a relaxed schedule--I loved it.
So Monday's activity was a hike through the jungle where we learned about all kinds of fun plants. This tree was like something out of Jungle Book. All kinds of animals use it for shelter and food, tribes communicate by banging on the panel-like roots, and it's great for furniture. It's also fun to climb up the vines.
Following Matilde through the jungle is a hoot. He grabs leaves off just about every plant we see, except for the ones he tells us not to touch. He starts chewing on half of them and encourages us to do the same, explaining all the uses for them from cures of prostate problems to re-hydration. This particular plant is very useful because it is very strong and has no oils on the leaf. He showed us how to fold it into a cup, they use it as a bag, a plate, to cook (you can even cook the leaves inside themselves over a fire and eat them), as shelter, you name it. His knowledge is incredible because he learned it all from his parents and grandparents who lived off the jungle. He also knows his way around a machete like no one I've ever seen.
Apparently there are flowers for all kinds of birds in the jungle. Here are Laura and Ryan sporting the Parrot flowers.
Toward the end of of our hike we came across palms that look exactly like the ones we use on Palm Sunday. Matilde wove a crown and bracelet for Sophie. These palms are also good to eat at the stem and they're used to make roofs. You can also make a backpack out of them, they're incredibly strong.
After our hike: river, nap, eat, sleep.
Tuesday we went tubing down the river through several sets of rapids. I don't have any pictures because there was no way to take our cameras. But trust me, it was a blast. We had 2 rafts made by tying 5 tubes together. Dan fell out of his raft a few times trying to pull Sophie off of ours. Good times.
Wednesday was my favorite activity. We did some canyoning, but it was different than what we did in Baños. We started by hiking down a hill into some dense jungle. We started following a creek upstream and as I looked around I felt for the first time like I was really in the Amazon.
The creek travels through some incredibly narrow canyons. It's done a wonderful job of carving them out, so we had to do some chimney climbing to get up in some points. I almost got stuck once or twice. Here I'm in a little cave off to the side of the creek.
At this point we're probably about 10 feet above the creek. Lots of scooting was required to get through. I'd guess the canyons went on for maybe a quarter or half mile. There were also bats which added to the fun because I can now affirm that they are truly blind. I had to duck a lot to avoid getting hit.
Immediately after I took the above picture I realized that I was doing you all an injustice. The flash made this experience look way too easy. So I took this picture without the flash. Sometimes the light barely filtered through into the canyons but for much of our climb we were in the dark. I loved it!
Another thing I loved: the rolls we had in the mornings. Matilde lives in another part of the jungle so on his way he picks up dozens of these things at a local bakery. We always had tons left over so I would save them to snack on during our down time. Soooo good. I ate a lot of food this week.
Thursday afternoon we hiked a short ways to the "farm" which is really just a bunch of yuca and beans planted in the middle of the jungle. We pulled up some yuca, peeled it with the machete, and brought it back to camp for dinner.
We also found some grubs in a rotted tree. For anyone that was wondering, yes, they look exactly like they do in Lion King. We packed them up in the universally used leaves to cook with the yuca.
More leaf uses. The yuca is boiling under the leaves on the left (they cook faster with the leaves under the lid of the pot) and on the right the grubs are tied up in the leaves as well. Kind of a steaming technique.
We mashed up the yuca to make an alcoholic drink common to the indigenous people. Traditionally it's chewed and spit out to speed up fermentation via saliva, but we thought mashing would be a better way to go. The grub packets are open on the left.
So anyone that has shared a meal with me probably knows I'm not crazy about potatoes. Yuca is almost identical to the potato, it's just a little softer and starchier. I much preferred the grubs. I have a little of each on my fork here. The grubs were delicious, in my opinion. A little salty, crunchy, and a great taste. I ate more grub than yuca.
Thursday night we had a bonfire on the river bank and just listened to Matilde tell us stories about his time in the jungle. It was so interesting to get the world view of someone that has lived his life in the jungle but has been integrated into society as well. We discussed everything from volcanoes to extraterrestrials to family life to fishing to gold mining...you name it.
Friday morning we headed to the bus right after breakfast. We came back to Quito and had pizza in Guapulo, an old part of the city to the north. The view was spectacular because Guapulo is built on a steep hill. I tried to go to sleep early but it wasn't happening--too much sleep in the jungle! We got up early Saturday to got to Otavalo where they have the largest artesenal market in Ecuador. Post coming soon!
Hey there! Last weekend we all went to Baños for two incredible days. We traveled with Hugo, and I slept the whole 4 hours there. I was exhausted after the soccer game and school the day before. Our hostal was awesome though; it connected to a bakery where we went right away to get this amazing apple cinnamon chocolate cake. Great way to start the day!
Our first move was to book activities for the weekend. We settled on a package that involved viewing waterfalls via bike, white water rafting, a Chiva bus, and canyoning. We biked along the cliffs leading down to the river and saw 4 substantial waterfalls in addition to a bunch of smaller ones. I had a blast on the bike despite the rain. It was fun to zip down the mountain roads.
Included in our bike trip was a ride across the river in a Tarabita similar to the one we rode in Mindo. This one was a lot faster and we just rode across and came back. We had a great view of the river and the waterfall on the other side.
Here I am halfway across the river leaning out for a picture (much to the chagrin of Sarah). I love moving quickly at dizzying heights. Such fun!
So at the end of our ride I had cold, wet fingers and warm, dry hair so the result is pictured here. Laura insisted. More pictures of me, mom!
El Pailon del Diablo (whirlpool of the devil) is in the background; we got a closer look on Sunday.
After our ride we were picked up by van and zipped down to the Pastaza river for our rafting excursion. Here we are decked out in our wet suits and helmets ready to go.
Everyone in the raft! We had 3 people who had never rafted before so it was a great time. The rapids were class 2 to 3 so it was nice and gentle, perfectly challenging for our group.
Note here that Elaine is sitting on the front of the raft. Our guide Paúl instructed Ryan and me to push her in at a calm spot in the river.
Then we all jumped in after her. We were in a natural whirlpool so we just hung out here for a while revolving in circles. Paúl was a fantastic guide. He knew exactly when to make us paddle so the raft would throw out three or four people with him still in the raft laughing at us gringos. We always had to be on our toes! I got thrown twice.
Another relatively calm spot in the river where Paúl encouraged us to stand on the gunnels of the raft. He had a waterproof camera to capture our graceful and not-so-graceful moments.
We were all pretty hungry after our biking and rafting so Paúl took us to his home town of Rio Negro on the way back to Baños for a late lunch. Here he is with the Dueña of the restaurant. She was hilarious, the kind of grandma everyone wants to have. She was joking with us as we ate (the meal was awesome, by the way) about Paúl growing up with her kids and all the kinds of people she meets in the restaurant.
After a shower and a quick nap we caught our Chiva that was headed up the volcano. A Chiva is basically a bus that has been transformed into a discotheque. There are strobe lights and speakers that blast English music. It was quite the trip as we wound up the steep switchbacks.
The view from the top was beautiful. Apparently when the volcano is active (which happens frequently) you can see sparks and lava at night but it was quiet when we were up there. We all got canelazo, which is a traditional Ecuadorian drink made of naranjilla juice, cinnamon, sugar and sugar cane alcohol. It's served hot which was great because it was cold up there. There were two comedians that we sort of understood performing in the middle of all the food stands. Good times!
Rosa highly recommended eating at the hostal for breakfast and we were very glad we did. They had breads baked from the bakery next door with homemade marmalade. The menu also had American delights such as french toast and pancakes. I stuck with the breads but Elaine got a stack of pancakes stuffed with fruit that would rival any in the U.S.
Our last booked activity was canyoning which roughly involves following a river down a mountain. This means rappelling, jumping, sort of swimming...all kinds of fun stuff. So after mass we donned our wet suits and helmets this time with harnesses instead of life jackets. We were a good looking bunch, let me tell you. We took traditional Ecuadorian transport to the river.
We navigated four waterfalls, each in a different way. Here I am rappelling down the first one. Our guide Alberto belayed from the top while anchored to a rock. It was really cool to rappel with the water rushing over you. With about 2-3 meters left we jumped and splashed down on our backs. The water was freezing so we were thankful for our wet suits.
Waterfall number 2. This was the smallest and we didn't have a belay. We went 2 at a time, side by side, so I went down with Hugo.
The third waterfall was like a water slide. Alberto controlled our fall. Here's a video of me sliding down.
At the bottom of the third waterfall Alberto hooked all of our "lifelines" together. Here's the whole crew leaning out against the lines.
Waterfall number 4, the largest by far at 45 meters. The water actually falls a few meters out from the rocks so we basically just jumped off and Alberto let us down by the rope. The height was a little intimidating looking down from the top and I thought we might have some in our group opt out but we all did it! I loved every minute.
After lunch we went back to El Pailon del Deiablo for a closer look. Hugo told us it was well worth it. There is a system of 3 waterfalls (pictured here is the third, dumping into the pool) and the volume of water moving through is incredible. We navigated some questionably constructed bridges to get a very close look. Pictures don't do it justice though. Here's a video.
Getting so close to
the falls reminded me of "Journey Behind The Falls" at Niagara on the
Canadian side. I've always been fascinated by the power of water. Its
ability to carve out canyons, generate power, and thwart most of humans'
efforts to redirect it.
The path we took down required crossing a bridge that may or may not have been completed. I noticed some scaffolding that took a more direct route so I decided to climb back up in a more vertical manner.
Here's a picture from inside the tower when I was almost at the top. If anything it was a reminder that I need to join a gym when we get to Chile.
Speaking of which, we'll be there in two weeks. Where has our time gone?? We leave for Tena today where we'll spend a week in the jungle taking classes and exploring. I hear there will be monkeys involved. I won't have any access to internet so look for a post in the week following. Thanks for keeping up with my antics, keep the feedback coming, it's always great to hear from the states! Peace and love to all.
Ok so rewind a week. Tuesday the 4th of September Ryan and I returned to conquer Pichincha. Here I am standing at the peak! I would have taken more pictures except we were inside a cloud and there wasn't much to see. People that say it doesn't snow in Quito haven't been inside a cloud at 15,500 feet.
Also there are roller coasters at the base of Pichincha at VulQano Park. $2 to ride. This is the bigger of the two, called "Montaña Rusa" which means roller coaster. The other is a kiddy ride but of course I had to ride it. How many times do you get to ride roller coasters in Ecuador? My count is up to 203 now! Anyone that wants the excel spreadsheet is welcome to it.
Friday the 7th we went to a preschool which I'm certain has the cutest kids in Ecuador. I think some were hoping for a school with older students so we could get a taste of what we'll see in Chile (I still don't know what age I'll be teaching) but I loved every minute. The students range from infants to 7 years old. I hung out with the older students.
It only took about ten seconds to find the mini Noah Franske. Sebastian was quite the little mover. He loved to jump and run and climb and do anything that involved danger. My kind of kid. We got along just fine.
I learned a valuable lesson on Friday. If you pick up, toss, hug, piggy back, or shoulder one child, you must be prepared to do the same for 25 of them. Probably two or three times. And then your back hurts at the end of the day. But it was great. Unconditional love is a wonderful thing, and having 7 gringos come to your school is very exciting. We didn't stop moving for 3 hours. Great fun!
Friday afternoon we went to watch the Ecuador vs. Bolivia soccer game. Soccer is a religion here. I was at a bar tonight talking with and Ecuadorian about how I wish we had something like soccer to unite Americans. Sports that anyone cares about all seem to be contained in our country with the exception of the Olympics, but we don't even get all that jazzed about them either.
We sat in the same end a few blocks over from the crazy fan section. They shot confetti, blew colored smoke, and unfurled this giant flag to show their support. There are lots of cheers including "Si se puede" (yes we can) and "Vamos Ecuatorianos" (let's go Ecuador) as well as a song and some cheers that don't need repeating directed mostly at the ref.
When Ecuador scores people go nuts. Mostly beer flies everywhere.
But I really didn't get to see a real goal. The only goal of the game from either side was scored by Ecuador on a penalty kick.
On Tuesday the 11th Ecuador played Uruguay. Once again, the only goal scored by Ecuador was from a penalty. There should have been a second penalty shot when the goalie tripped our striker but hey, you can't win them all. Uruguay scored a real goal so it ended in a tie. Good for one point each, which keeps Ecuador in 3rd. Top 4 teams go to the world cup in 2014. The next game is against Chile on October 12th, so I might have to root for the other side! It's hard to believe we're leaving Ecuador in 2 weeks. Time flies when you're having fun!
