Life in the Jungle

I don`t even know where to begin since there is so much to write about. But basically the general idea is something along the lines of ¨Holy Shit! I live in the jungle!¨

I arrived in Tena 1 week ago Sunday, and since then I have seen and done so much. The trip to Tena was faster than I expected, only 5 hours from Riobamba. To my surprise, my bus took the direct road from Riobamba to Baños, which was closed for a while due to mudslides caused by the volcanic eruption of Tungurahua. The road was still in bad shape, which meant for some scary moments, especially when the bus crossed bridges that were literally just two boards placed next to eachother. The rest of the ride from Baños was less exciting, and I got to Tena without any difficulties.

Since last Monday, I have been working as a volunteer for Amarongachi Tours. As I might have mentioned, I took a 3 day tour with this company when I was here 3 years ago, and I have been in contact with the head of the company since last May or June. As a volunteer, my job is to help translate tours for tourists who don`t speak Spanish and do speak at least some English. I live at the Shangri-La Cabins, which are about 10 km south of Tena. The pictures on the Amarongachi Tours webpage do not do the place justice...in real life it is much more beautiful. People generally go on tours that last from 1 to 3 days, so in the past week I already have met and worked with several people. Activities here are tiring but really really fun.

On an average day here, tourists do 2 activities. At Shangri-La there are several different short hikes through primary rainforest. One of them goes through some canyons where there are tons of bats. Apparantly the Discovery Channel was filming here sometime recently and the program will be airing in February....I think something about rabies and bats in Ecuador. Apparantly there isn`t too much rabies. Anyway, other activities include walking to a local Quichoa village (to try chicha de yuca, among other things), tubing down the river, swimming in the river, and visiting zoos and other local attractions by pickup truck and/or canoe. So far I`ve already gone to two different zoos which are really more like animal rescue centers where they try to reintroduce animals into their natural habitats.

At the other cabins (Amarongachi) where I have been twice this week (and I will be going again tomorrow), there are shorter walks to learn about medicinal plants, but there are also longer walks to some waterfalls (the trip involves climbing up them and standing under them and all that fun stuff) and to a lagoon which is great for swimming and watersliding. There`s also tubing down the river there....the Amarongachi Cabins are on the Jatunyacu (Rio Grande or Big River in Quichoa) while the Shangri-La cabins are on a cliff overlooking the Anzu River. These two rivers join together to form the Napo River just west of the small town of Puerto Napo (which is just south of Tena). The Napo is one of the biggest tributaries of the Amazon. Since arriving, I have spent short amounts of time in Ahuano, Misahualli, Archidona, Tena and Puerto Napo. Now you can consult your atlas...

The first 3 days I was here I wasn`t translating, so I wasn`t doing much in the way of work. I went on a tour with 2 Germans, and Ecuadoran guide (who is now here again with some other German tourists, a Spanish teacher from Quito, and his student, Rachel Lindsay. She went to Wesleyan and not surprisingly we have several friends in common (you know who you are). Also, she is now living in Hadley, MA, so hopefully I`ll see her when I get back to the USA. My first real translating job was on Thursday, but it was only translating during the morning for 2 Australians and 1 British guy at a zoo near Misahualli. My first long-term group arrived on Friday, a group of 5 adults (45+ years old and all family - three siblings and two parejas) from Sweden and Finland. They were very nice and seemed to have a great trip. They just left today, which is why I am Tena (taking the afternoon off). Translating is sometimes hard work, and also helping out at Shangri-La isn`t always easy. I am quickly learning how things work, where I can find things, and am taking on all sorts of roles when I have spare time or when guests ask me for things. The other day at the lagoon I had to rescue two of the Swedes who started to panic in the strong current...so apparantly I`m a lifeguard! Also, I`ve been serving lots of beer and other random beverages, so apparantly I`m a bartender too! All of this will look quite good on my resume :)

The people at both Shangri La and Amarongachi are really nice and also funny and somewhat crazy. I think things will be very interesting as I get to know people more. I am already starting to teach some English which is cool, and the guides are also teaching me Quichoa....later I am going to type up a vocabulary list I created the other day. The people who run the hostel, restaurant and travel agency here in Tena are also nice...since I am a volunteer I get to eat for free at the restaurant, which makes very good juices (Maracuya, mora, piña, melón, etc.). I`ll be heading there when I`m done with internet.

There have been lots of interesting adventures already, but I`ll describe this morning which will probably give you an idea of what things are like on a daily basis:

I woke up at 7:00 AM, and then ate breakfast with the Scandinavians and 7:45 AM. At 8:15 we headed off to the Quichoa community in the pouring rain. Roberto, the guide who was with this group (each new group that arrives gets a different guide, there are 5 in all at Shangri-La) led us down the 341 stairs to the river...since there were no plants to protect us we got soaked. Next we had to cross the river in the wooden canoe. The current was very strong because of the rain, and all 7 of us went in the canoe together. I was a bit worried about this since I have been known to tip canoes occasionally. As we pushed off from the shore, Roberto noticed a conga ant in the canoe, crawling toward one of the tourist´s hand. This kind of ant is very large and a bite can make a person sick (fever, vomiting, etc) for up to 2 days! Mara, one of the tourists, flicked the ant away from her husband Rolf, and we thought that the ant was gone. Crossing the river was a bit scary, especially since we weren`t wearing life jackets and I knew that one of the tourists was not too good a swimmer (which is why I had to rescue him from the lagoon on Friday). We ended up making it across just fine, and then tied the canoe up and started the hike through the rainforest. Just as we started to explain something about a tree, I noticed the conga ant was on top of Mara`s head! I signaled to Roberto, who flicked it a bit more so it landed on her glasses...then Roberto grabbed her glasses and shook off the ant. It wasn`t until this point that Roberto told the group how dangerous the conga ants are.....anyway, I was glad that no one got bit, although obviously it`s much better than drowning or getting bitten by a poisonous snake. Things worked out well for the ant too...it got a free ride across the river!

The walk to the Quichoa village was very wet but not bad at all...this was my second time this week in the village, and I`m starting to like the chicha de yuca a bit more (to make it, they use purified water that we bring and now don`t use the traditional method of chewing the yuca to start the fermentation process). The trip back to the river brought us through fields of yuca, maize and plantains as well as some forest. There are some beautiful lillies along the trail which smell wonderful as well.

By the time we got back to Shangri-La for lunch, the sun was out, so the climb back up the 341 steps was hot...back in Shangri-La, I showered quickly in my cold shower and then ate lunch with the tourists. Then they packed up and I reminded them to check for all their belongings. Shangri-La is a lot like summer camp for adults, so my camp counselor experience is serving me well. After this, we left for Tena (me in the back of the pickup truck, like usual). I`m spending the afternoon here and will head back tonight after dinner....weather here has been rainy a lot, but sunny sometimes too...it can change pretty quickly from one to the other. At night it gets down in the upper 60´s and the hottest it ever gets is about 80 degrees. So basically weather is perfect (but a bit wet)

Anyway, this ended up being quite long. But things are good, I am getting tanner and stronger and more knowledgable every day! My swimming chart is going to be much longer by the time I end my time here...Hopefully I`ll have another chance to write sometime soon....maybe even post some pictures!

Here is a link to the tour company web page: www.amarongachi.com

Check out the pictures there to get more of an idea of where I am and what I`m doing