Semana en la Selva

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!