Sunset on the River Napo

It`s hard to believe that in just one week my time in the jungle will be over...time flies by very fast. Currently Tena and the rest of Ecuador is celebrating Carnaval, which in most places means TONS of water fights. I have been relatively lucky and haven`t been targetted too much, but I have seen kids dumping buckets of water on people´s heads from rooftops, middle-aged women standing in their doorways with super-soakers, and teenagers launching water balloons at passing buses.....not that many buses have been passing anywhere lately, due to strikes in the province that have complicated things for the past week. It looks like things are finally resolved, and buses, cars and trucks are running normally again.

Last week, when I spent time in Tena posting pictures, I was getting over some stomach issues....my trip to Quito wasn`t much fun, since I got sick on the trip to the city...by the time I got there, all I wanted to do was sleep, so I didn`t even leave the apartment we stayed at during my day in Quito. I went to the doctor here in Tena when I got back, since I sensed that I had amoebas....my stomach felt similar to how it felt 3 years ago when I had them, and sure enough the doctor thought I was right. He prescribed a shot in the butt and three different types of pills...it seems like they did the trick, since now I am basically all better.

This past week I spent most of the time in the jungle...a nice couple from California was here for four days and I helped translate for them even though their Spanish was quite good....I had a lot of fun with them. We spent two days at Amarongachi Cabins, where we hiked the waterfalls and then continued on to a 4th waterfall that I had never seen before. We also played lots of cuarenta and went tubing a bit on the Jatunyacu....icy cold but lots of fun.

On Thursday we spent a day at Shangri-La, where we joined up for a morning hike to the canyons with a GAP tour group of 1 American and 4 Brits. The hike was nice and pretty uneventful up until halfway through. Matildo (guide from Shangri-La) was in the lead, followed by Gary (from USA), followed by me, followed by 7 others. Just as I was about to take a step, I looked down and saw a snake, coiled up and sleeping in the middle of the trail. Gary, who hadn`t seen it, had stepped only 10 centimeters away from it. Matildo hadn`t seen it either. I quickly stepped back and told everyone to wait a second, then called to Matildo to say that there was a snake. Matildo looked at it and quickly determined that it was an ´equis´ snake (a local name for a type of Fer-de-Lance), which is a very very poisonous snake (i.e. if it bites you and you don`t quickly eat a special medicinal plant or get medical help, you have only a few minutes to live). All of us crept passed the snake (luckily it was quite small and sleeping soundly, and there was plenty of room to walk around it). Then we watched as Matildo, with a single stroke of the machete, killed the snake. After the snake was dead, Matildo opened it`s mouth for us to show us the fangs and the little sacks where the poison is stored. It was pretty cool but also pretty gross. I was mostly just happy that no one actually stepped on it...I was talking on IM just now with my Dad who found this link about snakes. Check it out for a picture and a description of the snake family:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/snakes-5.php Fer-de-lance


In the afternoon, the GAP group went tubing, but I went with the American couple to Santa Monica, the Quichua community, where they tried chicha de yuca and we chatted with the people there. It was a nice sunny afternoon and the walk was very pleasant. In the evening after dinner, we were playing cards with the GAP group and I went down to my room to get something....just as I got to my door, something scurried across the porch floor....I assumed at first that it was a cricket (which are often very large), but when I looked I saw that it was actually a tarantula (the same type that is in the picture). Actually, I now know that this is not a tarantula exactly, rather a spider called a ´monkey spider´ due to its ability to run quickly and even jump at its prey! I called Matildo, who came down to see the spider along with everyone who was playing cards....we all watched as Matildo killed this too, since it`s quite poisonous and it was hanging out dangerously close to the cabins. It was the second time in one day that I came close to stepping on a poisonous animal! After the excitement was over, Gary noted that it was funny that we had killed practically all of the wildlife we saw that day!

Yesterday was a relaxing day since there were only two tourists....I went tubing in the afternoon which was relaxing...today I have a free day, and it looks like on Monday I`m going whitewater rafting again. Sweeet. Now Ì`m off to the market to buy some fruits and vegetables...I`m going to try to cook Thai food tonight (papaya salad and massaman curry). Wish me luck!

Photos from the Jungle!

It took quite a while, but I managed to post 3 more pictures. Enjoy



Luis, one of the guides at Shangri-La, stands under the waterfall next to the staircase to the river.



A view of the Anzu River from the beach below Shangri-La Cabins



The tarantula from Cabin 10 and Luis´s hand. The tarantula was already dead at this point.

The Dinner Table at Shangri-La

Finally, I have posted a picture....it actually didn`t take THAT long so I will try to post more now...click the picture to see a bigger (probably bigger than necessary) version.

Pinchos

The weather today is beautiful. It´s about 80 degrees, and as I walked up from the cabins this morning to wait for the bus, the smell in the air reminded me of a perfect August beach day in Massachusetts. Today I have a free day even though I basically had a free day yesterday too!

Yesterday, January 12th, was the culmination of the Festival del Tena, which has been going on all week. In the morning I was in the center of town, and it seemed like almost everyone else was too. Tena is not too big, so I ran into several people I knew as I watched some parades and walked throughout town. I had lunch with a girl named Sarah who I met through Eduardo Jr, she´s from England and is currently working near Baños...she was in Tena just for the weekend. After lunch (and after doing laundry), I helped her claim a seat on a bus to Baños. The long distance buses here are also used as short distance buses, so the bus was filled with people 30 minutes prior to departure. I managed to claim a spot in the aisle (since I was only going 10 km) and Sarah got a ticket with an assigned seat. The bus had some problems leaving Tena since the police insisted that the bus not be too full. No one made me get off though, so I was all set, and made it back to Shangri-La at 2:30 or so. In the afternoon I decided to go swimming, so I walked down the 341 steps, swam for a while, then climbed back up. It was a sunny afternoon, so by the time I made it back up, I needed a shower to cool off! In the evening, I played cards and ate dinner with Victor (one of the 5 guides at Shangri-La) and then, at 7, we headed back into town for more celebrations.

Some of you, especially those who read my Malaysia blog, might have noticed that I haven´t been writing about food too much lately. Food here is very good, especially at the cabins, but it´s not particularly exciting either....lots of potatoes, plantains and yuca, and some good salads, meat, fish and TONS of rice. Fruit juices are the highlight, and there is always fresh squeezed juice at the cabins: passion fruit, pineapple, babaco, tomate de arbol, orange, lemon, melon. A common street food, which I never ate until last night, is the pincho, which is basically meat and veggies on a stick, grilled in a little cart on the street. Different pinchos have different ingredients, but in Tena most are the same. Last night, after drinking a cold beer in an outdoor bar, I bought a pincho despite my worries about how my stomach would take it....today my stomach is still fine and the pincho was delicious! I bought a pincho that had already been cooked, but it was reheated on the grill when I ordered it. The pincho consisted of a piece of chorizo, a piece of green pepper, a large piece of platano maduro, and a thin strip of steak. All were seasoned with some spices and plenty of salt, and the whole thing was topped with a drizzle of garlicky mayonaise. YUM. Especially good with beer.

Victor and I spent the night in Tena wandering around, listening to music, drinking beer and really gross peach wine, chatting with people (some we knew, some we met) and playing cards. The festival is in honor of Orellana, the dude who ¨discovered¨ the Amazon and traveled from Ecuador to the Atlantic....kind of ironic that it´s the big holiday here. Regardless, it was definitely a huge party in Tena last night...thousands of people, tons of street vendors, kind of chaotic but fun....there were several different stages with music and areas for dancing, and I was glad I got to go. We were supposed to meet up with other guides from Shangri-La and some other friends, but we never found them...oh well. At midnight we caught the bus back to Shangri-La even though the festivities were still going strong.

Tomorrow I am off to Quito for one night to pick up a tourist there! Hopefully that goes well! Hasta pronto

Cabin 10

Last Monday I found out that this weekend (which we are at the end of now) would be very full at Shangri-La, and that I would have to switch from Room 16 (which is part of the main complex) to Cabin 10 (which is farthest from the main complex with a separate bathroom down below). The good thing about Cabin 10 is that it has a view, so at first I didn´t mind that I had to go there.

On Tuesday I went to check the cabin out, since I would be moving there on Wednesday or Thursday. The room is not bad at all, but it´s far away from everything which for me is not ideal. But it seemed nice enough until, as I walked out, I noticed a huge tarantula sitting on the wall in the corner by the door. This tarantula was not small. In fact, when spread out (which it was), it was about the size of my hand.

I went and found Luis, one of the guides at Shangri-La, and he came back up to Cabin 10 with me to look at the tarantula. He immediately remarked that that particular type of tarantula is one of the most poisonous kinds and then, with a broomstick, he proceeeded to kill it. Normally I am not a fan of killing animals, although I will admit in this case that I felt much better about killing it (and knowing that it would never return) than capturing it and moving it (and wondering, in the middle of the night, if it would be back). So after Luis killed it we took more pictures of it, legs spread out, as proof that it really was as big as a hand. Even Luis said it was one of the biggest he had ever seen. I still felt a bit uneasy about switching to Cabin 10, but I knew it would happen on Wednesday or Thursday.

On Wednesday, a group of tourists arrived from the USA, but since the place would be filling up on Thursday, they all had rooms assigned to them (and not rooms with a view). Their very demanding Ecuadoran guide insisted that they all have rooms with a view. This meant, ironically, that two nice women switched from Cabin 11 (a perfectly nice room with hot water) to Cabin 10 (a room with a view). I helped them get settled in, but I didn´t mention the tarantula.

As it turned out, on Thursday I headed off to Amarongachi Cabins, so I spent Thursday night and all of Friday there too....I still had to move out of Room 16, but I didn´t have to go to Cabin 10 or any room for that matter...by the time I got back to Shangri-La last night, Room 11 was the only one left. Sweeet. Needless to say I enjoyed the hot shower...

Amarongachi Cabins were fun, I did the waterfall hike two days in a row, the second day we had to climb the waterfalls without a rope which was somewhat challenging (and very wet) but luckily the tourists and I were all pretty brave and good climbers. It wasn´t really all that dangerous, but it´s definitely safer and easier with the rope. In the afternoon on Thursday I translated for a tour of medicinal plants, and on Friday I basically had to lead the whole thing myself (the guide on Friday was a 16 year old who didn´t explain anything, which left me with nothing to translate). I still am NOT good at using a machete (even for cutting things like limes and palm leaves), but I am getting better. Luckily I remembered a lot of the explanations from Thursday, so my medicinal plant explanations weren´t terrible.

Now I am off to the market to buy some fruit, then back to the cabins....perhaps I´ll be tubing down the river this afternoon, otherwise just relaxing for a while and helping with cleaning, etc.

Hasta luego...

The Girls from Santo Domingo

Orquidea Poema
Guayusa y Canela
Así es mi Tena

On Wednesday, after spending a relaxing morning and early afternoon in the city (eating bland chinese food, chatting with tourists, using internet), I headed back to the Shangri-La cabins. I showered, got dressed and left my room just at the same time that a large group of Ecuadorans arrived from their afternoon hike. I knew that a large group had arrived at the cabins, but what I didn`t know until Wednesday evening was that the group consisted of of 24 students: 2 guys and 22 girls! After chatting briefly with one of the girls, I determined that they were all from Santo Domingo de los Colorados (about 2 hrs west of Quito) and that they (all 20-22 year old students studying tourism in a university) were on a class trip to the Oriente!

I spent almost the entire evening hanging out with the chicas....lots of fun. After dinner, some musicians came to Shangri-La to play for everyone, and we cleared out the common area on one of the decks for dancing. Everyone drank guayusa (a traditional type of herbal tea, but in this case prepared with aguardiente and sugar) after shouting ¨Upishoun¨ (Cheers in Quichua). The party also celebrated a birthday of one of the girls (named Araceli), and the homemade birthday cake was vanilla with bananas and raisins. Lots of fun, dancing, singing, etc....the other guests that night (a group of 3 from USA and Ecuador, and a family from Chile) were also included in the festivities. So was the bus driver from Santo Domingo!

One strange thing about the group from Santo Domingo was that they were extremely divided into two different clicks....this was explained to me early in the evening by Araceli and Paulina, both part of the larger click. According to them, the 7 girls in the other click were more elite and mean, the type who talk behind others` backs, drink a lot, complain about things, etc... and the split had occured about one year earlier when something happened between a few of the girls. Since I made friends first with the larger group, I ended up not speaking to the other girls at all. The divide was sometimes painful to even watch and the whole thing was pretty immature. The 7 girls in one click literally did not speak to the other girls...as far as I could tell, the only people who crossed between the two groups were the 2 guys and the professor who was with the class on the trip. The clicks ate dinner at different tables, and the smaller click didn`t participate in the birthday festivities or the dancing, and they slept on a different end of the Shangri-La complex.

I ended up staying up late (11:30! haha) which was not so smart since we all had to wake up at 6:30 for whitewater rafting. Julio, my boss, had informed me the day before that I would be accompanying the large group (and the 2 chilean kids) on a whitewater rafting trip.....my job is awful, i know, but someone has to do it...

All of us piled into two pickup trucks (The Chileans and the two guys went with one click, and the profesora and I went with the other) and drove to Tena, where we picked up the rafts and all the gear. Eduardo Jr from the Amarongachi Cabins was one of the guides, he was funny as usual. We started the rafting trip on the Jatunyacu River just between the lagoon and the Amarongachi Cabins, so the first 10 minutes of the river was familiar to me....in the rafts we traveled all the way down to Puerto Napo, so the end of the trip (where the Jatunyacu meets the Anzu to form the Napo) was also familiar.

My boat was very fun, so I had a great time rafting. I forget the name of our guide, he has a complicated name, but he was very good. In my raft were the two Chilean siblings (Francisca who is 20 and Edgardo who is 15) and 4 of the girls (Wendy, Katty, Jackie and Churitos, whose nickname came from the curls in her hair). Everyone was at least a decent swimmer, and lots of us spent lots of time in the river! The rapids were never too intense, but still lots of fun. The water in the river was cold....when it started raining at one point the rain felt really nice since it was so much warmer than the river! In certain rapids, we took turns riding on the front of the raft, and sometimes we could swim down smaller rapids. At one point we purposefuly flipped the raft over, and at another point it almost flipped over cause of carelessness (most of us, including me, fell out, as did the paddles, etc) So despite being a slightly rough ride, we had lots of fun.

After the trip, Fabian (one of the main drivers for Amarongachi Tours) gave me a ride back to the Cabins. I had to say goodbyes to everyone, I got lots of email addresses and phone numbers and hopefully in April or May I`ll get a chance to visit everyone in Santo Domingo. I managed to get very sunburned despite wearing sunscreen, and I also now have a MAJOR teva tan. Last night I was exhausted, and I went to bed early. Today I rested, didn`t feel too well, but in the afternoon felt okay enough to come to Tena...and here I am! Now I`m off, got to catch a bus to get back in time for dinner!!!

Las Cascadas

I have another day off (or at least a morning off) today which is pretty nice. I spent last night in Tena after a long day at the Amarongachi Cabins. I left Shangri-La cabins early on Tuesday morning with 2 Dutch guys and a Peruvian woman (the three were traveling together, although one of the Dutch guys was clearly a third wheel (en español, tocando el violin). The idea was for me to translate, but the guys didn`t speak much English either so my translations only helped a little bit.

In the morning we went on my favorite hike, to the cascadas (the waterfalls). Eduardo Sr. was our guide, and we were also accompanied by a girl from the United States who had been at the cabins the night before. The first part of the walk is along the road, but Fabian, one of the drivers for the tour company, happened to be on his way back from dropping off some whitewater rafters, so he gave us a ride. The real hike begins where the Rio Pimpilala (Pimpilala is a type of butterfly) crosses the road. The first half of the hike involves literally walking up the stream, climbing a bit on rocks and fallen trees....the first waterfall is very tall impossible to climb. It makes for a great shower though, and everyone enjoyed standing under it. After a few minutes, we backtracked a few meters to head up the trail, which winds up the hill around the waterfall. At the top of the waterfall, the stream once again becomes the trail.

The second waterfall is really two smaller waterfalls which are climbable. Eduardo Sr. went up the first part of the falls first and tied a rope. The rest of us used this rope to help pull ourselves and climb up the waterfalls. Needless to say we got very wet. After we all reached the top of this, we immediatley had to use the rope to climb the second half of the falls. This climb begins in water that is up to the waist, so rubber boots get filled with water. I was the last one to head up, and since I was standing in the water so long, my boots also filled with pebbles. At the top of the falls we all emptied out our boots and coninued.

The third waterfall is in a small pool that is just deep enough to do a bit of swimming, but the waterfall also makes a great shower. We stayed there for 10 minutes or so before continuing the hike. Yesterday it rained all morning, so many parts of the trail were actually quite dark and we were getting soaked even when we weren`t under the waterfalls. It continued to rain for almost all of the hike. The cool thing about this hike is that the entire trip is through primary forest....lots of green, lots of bugs, huge trees, etc. Very cool. After the third waterfall, the trail leaves the stream and heads up, up, up to the top of a hill. Next it heads down, down, down back to the road near the cabins.

The hike up wasn`t too difficult for anyone, but the Peruvian woman had a bit of trouble getting down the mountain. This was mainly due to her attitude, not any lack of ability. About halfway down, a huge cricket landed on my chest (about the length from the ´p´ key to the ´f´ key on a keyboard), and the Peruvian woman was right next to me. She got so scared that she let out a little scream, then fell and slid down the mountain about 4 meters in the mud! Luckily she thought this was very funny, as did I.

Back at the cabins, we got washed up, changed, had lunch, then at 2:30 or so headed with big inner tubes up to the lagoon. By this time it was sunny out...when the weather is nice here, it feels like the perfect summer day in New England....not too hot but just right. Pretty awesome. We dropped off the tubes and lifejackets halfway to the lagoon on a path that leads down to the river Jatunyacu. The lagoon was very nice but cold, I had a nice swim and did my best to avoid the mosquitoes and flies. On the waterfalls hike I got bitten by an ant, and the bite really hurt in the water. Today it feels better though.

For the tube ride back, we were joined by a woman from England, Eduardo`s nephew and cousin, and Eduardo`s son Eduardo Jr (who I will call Junior). Junior, who was my guide 3 years ago, told me three years ago that he was 21. This was a lie (Betsy and Brenda, are you reading this?) since he is only 20 years old now! Anyway, he`s somewhat crazy but also pretty funny. Eduardo Sr. tied four tubes together in a diamond shape and we ended up fitting 8 people on them, including the Peruvian woman who didn`t know how to swim! We all had lifejackets, but the rapids were somewhat large so the trip was a bit exciting and very smooshed. Eduardo Sr and his nephew steered the ´boat´ and I was squished between everyone else, except for Junior and the cousin who went down in their own tubes. Junior has a waterproof camera and he took some pictures, so maybe I`ll get a hold of those eventually.

The river was very fast, so the whole tubing trip back to the cabins only took 10 minutes...back at the cabins we changed again, had some dinner, then headed off.....I slept in Tena last night instead of heading back to Shangri-La...I drank a delicious batido de mora for dessert at Cositas Ricas, then used internet, then went to bed. I got a lot of sun yesterday, and after taking a lovely hot shower I felt almost feverish last night....I slept pretty well though and today I feel better. It looks like I am going whitewater rafting tomorrow which should be pretty cool....today I am going to relax! Being a volunteer here has lots of perks.....

If anyone you know is coming to Ecuador or is in Ecuador, tell them to come to Tena! There`s lots to do here, and depending on how good their Spanish is, maybe I can be their translator!!!

Adios