Ok, so I kind of have a lot of homework right now, but due to the handful of requests I’m going to procrastinate by catching up on this blog. Where to begin…
Last Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of my host dad calling my name from outside of my bedroom door. I opened my eyes and bolted upright; the clock read 6:36. I was supposed to leave the house at 6:30. I had stupidly set my alarm for 5:15 PM (very unlike me, right?). Luckily I had only planned to allow that much time as a precaution; I was done packing and I decided that showering wasn’t that necessary since I was going to be sweaty and gross in the Amazon anyway. Luckily my host parents offered to drive me and I still made it to IES with two minutes to spare. We hopped on the bus for a very bumpy and windy ride. I attempted to read something that I had intended to finish the night before (but we had a birthday party for my cousin and I didn’t want to bail): terrible idea. I should have known better, since trying to read in the car on normal roads makes me feel carsick. I was fine, though, no worries.
Anyway, the ride wasn’t too bad. After about four hours we arrived at our first destination: the Caves of Jumandi. Unfortunately this was an incredibly touristy location (kind of like water park and summer camp combined), but the caves are very famous. Since it was the holiday weekend of Carnaval it was especially crowded. Sporting my $4.00 plastic sandals with gold finish specifically purchased for this trip (stupidly didn’t bring my Tevas to Ecuador), I headed along a trail and into the caves with the rest of the group. The sandals proved to be quite slippery as we trudged through some water and along some rocks. Luckily I had my handy miniature flashlight to keep me steady (thanks Dad!). We hiked around for a bit and then we got to jump into a deep pool of water, which was great because we were all burning up. We were in the caves for less than an hour I’d say, but you can spend hours in there if you want to cover the entire area. We learned a little bit about the stalagmites (the rock columns connecting from the top to the bottom), which grow only one centimeter every 20 years, and about how some Spaniards hid there during the conquest. Afterwards we got to hang out for a bit and enjoy the waterslides and the pool.
We briefly got back on the bus and headed to our next stop: the Waterfalls of Latas. After about a 25-minute hike (I wore my sneakers this time and carried my sandals), we arrived at the waterfalls. It was so beautiful and we were really lucky to be the only group there at the time. We got to climb behind the waterfall and up the rocks a bit and jump into the water! It was so nice to hang out there. Even though we weren’t quite in the Amazon yet, I think this was one of my favorite activities.
We had another short ride to our hostel in Misahualli, which is nicknamed the door to the Amazon because it’s a port for a lot of the boats that head into the jungle. We had dinner and took a walk around town, then went to bed. The next morning we got up early headed down to the river, where we loaded our luggage and ourselves into a couple of motorized canoes. We headed out onto the Napo River, the longest river in Ecuador, which in fact runs through Peru as well. The river is extremely low right now because of the lack of rain and we actually all had to get off onto the shore at one point to lighten the load so the canoes could get through a shallow patch. After about an hour and a half down the river surrounded by dense forest (minus a couple villages, hostels, and some excavators collecting dirt/rocks/water for construction—slightly unexpected) we arrived at a zoo. We saw lots of monkeys and parrots and tucans and more! Apparently the monkeys are quite adept at stealing sunglasses, cameras, wallets, etc,. which is why we didn’t bring our bags with us. After about another half hour on the canoes, we pulled over onto an empty and deserted shore. We walked down the path for about five minutes and came upon our jungle lodge. The only other people staying there was the study abroad group from Boston College.
We had lunch, got back in the canoes, and headed down the river a bit to an indigenous Quichua village. Our guide (who was also the navigator of our canoe and an employee of the hostel) taught us about several medicinal plants and cocoa (which looks and tastes nothing like chocolate, but is yummy!). We arrived at the home of an indigenous family where we sat around the fire, learned a bit about their lifestyle, and got to eat some delicious food (trout, plátanos, yuca, oranges, and guava). Some of the other students and I were talking later on about how the visit was cool, but made us feel a bit uncomfortable. We decided it was pretty safe to assume that the family was getting paid for the visit, but it was hard to tell whether our presence was welcomed or more of a disturbance. What made it uncomfortable for me was that the guide did all the talking while the mother of the home just sat there and served us. We were all interested in learning, but we weren’t sure if the family was equally interested in sharing or if they just needed the money. However, the kids were really cute and seemed to enjoy following us around. I don’t know….just some reflections. Sometimes feeling like a tourist is really annoying.
We headed back for dinner and later that night a Shaman came to perform a spiritual cleansing ceremony. The ritual begins when the Shaman drinks a cup of sugar cane alcohol and a drink made from ayahuasca, which we learned earlier in the day can leave you bed-ridden and hallucinating for up to a month if you don’t have the power of a shaman to control it. Apparently the Shaman was still recovering from the ceremony he had performed the night before and almost didn’t make it. A couple of students got to volunteer for the spiritual cleansing. I considered raising my hand, but after the first girl went and the Shaman appeared to be hacking up some phlegm and spitting it on her head, I changed my mind.
We had been really lucky with the weather during the day—although perhaps we would have been slightly less drenched in sweat if it had rained a bit—but we got a pretty heavy rainstorm that night. I had my earplugs in and might not have noticed that it was raining, but I awoke to some raindrops on my shoulder. I sleepily realized that there was a hole in the roof above my top bunk, but all I could think to do at the time was move over slightly. Needless to say, within the course of about 20 minutes I was sleeping in a pool of rain, which continued to spread and soak my sheets. Because it was pitch dark and I was half-asleep I was trapped on my top bunk and attempted to stray dry and get some sleep scrunched up in one corner of the bed. Luckily I was able to laugh about it the next day and they moved my bed before it rained the following night.
The next morning we went on a three-hour hike, which was awesome. We learned about some more plants and saw some cool insects, and our guide showed us how to make natural animal traps and natural paint with rocks and water. He also made some baskets and hats out of plants. Overall it was awesome, but I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see more animals (the other group saw a poisonous frog!).
That afternoon we got to build our own rafts (with some pre-prepared re-used material). We were split into two groups, so it immediately turned into a competition. We set out on the river (don’t worry, our canoe guides were navigating), and the teams began trying to sabotage each other’s rafts. I must say, it was pretty amusing. We eventually all ended up in the water pushing the rafts to go faster, but it got really shallow and I jammed my toe (I thought it was broken for about 15 minutes, but it wasn’t). At that same moment, the current started to pick and we were told to get back on the rafts. A few of us couldn’t make it in time, but the water was too shallow to swim in and too rocky to walk. We attempted to casually float without hitting the bottom. We all got nervous for a minute, but the current really wasn’t a big deal and the water got deeper. We made it back to the rafts and proceeded to float along the river singing nineties hits as loud as we could. Unfortunately I was a bit preoccupied about my toe, but still had a great time. That night we were supposed to have a night hike, which would have been incredible, but it was pouring. I was really bummed about that, but instead we got to hang out and I learned some new fun games (Ninja, anyone?)
The next day we had to head out early, but on the way back we stopped at a museum (which was mostly a zoo), and another actual zoo. At that point we were all a little disappointed that we had seen so many caged animals and not so many in nature, but oh well. It started to rain and we were running a little late, so had to skip our last activity. We were supposed to hike to see some petroglyphs (ancient rock carvings), which would have been pretty cool, but we were all pretty tired at that point. Overall it was a great trip! But I must say, I was happy to come back to the climate of Quito.
Bad news: I came home and got a stomach bug. I think I ate something funny because some other students got sick too.
Good news: It wasn’t that bad and I recovered quickly!
Best news: My bug bites are mostly gone already!
Other news: 1) I’ve been doing the whole English tutor thing, which seems to be cool so far. 2) I went to see Valentine’s Day (the movie) last night – it was cute! 3) I’m going to climb another mountain tomorrow! (which means I should go to bed….)
Great Blog and Pics, Em .. you should be a journalist and photographer. I could relate to rainy hikes and leaky tents from my days at Camp Dudley.
ReplyDeleteSo Proud of you. And great Rock Climbing pics too ! :-0 !! ;-))..
AWESOME !
What was that movie .. "Gorilla's In The Mist " ? You look so natural and happy there sweetie .. Dad.
ReplyDelete