MUCHO FIRE!

I WENT TO THE JUNGLE!!! Wooohoooo!!!

Last weekend, the Ambateñitas and I journeyed east into the Oriente for a jungle trip organized by the volunteer who lives there, in the town of Tena. We met some other Quito volunteers there, too, so it turned out to be a group of 10. The bus ride there was one of my least favorite so far...the "road" between the cities of Puyo and Tena is less than pleasant. Some sections are basically just a path of dirt and rocks, with some occasional cliffs that we thankfully did not fall off. On top of the bumpy and HOT ride (this is where being on the Equator sucks), we had probably 100 people on our bus. At one point, the bus driver´s assistant who collects the money was hanging out the front door holding the bus with one hand and a kid in the other. There were pregnant women galore on the bus, and it really made me wonder about the availability of contraceptives. I´m pretty sure the population of Puyo and Tena and all the town in between is about to multiply tenfold.

Anyway, once we got to Tena on Friday night, we found our hostel and hung out for awhile. We played cards and sat on the patio talking. Once we got hungry, we found a restaurant and did a little exploring. Last weekend was the city festival of Tena, so there were a ton of people out in the streets and music in the main plaza. We went out for a drink at night and hung out with some other gringos who were living in Tena as part of a study abroad program.

Saturday, though, was the best part of the adventure. We went whitewater rafting! We hit up the class III section of the Rio Jatunyacu, which means "big water" in Quichua and ended in Rio Napo. Due to our ever-present separation anxiety, all of the Ambateñas were in one boat, with a friend of a friend who also joined our trip. Our guide, Tarquino, was incredibly awesome and definitely a big part why we had so much fun. I was pretty sure it was going to be a good trip when I met him and he was singing Michael Franti songs. During our 26 kilometers of rafting, I´m pretty sure we spent as much time outside the boat as we did inside the boat, both from flipping our boat in the rapids and being pushed out by our friends and Tarquino.

We had time to swim in the river when we stopped for our lunch on a beautiful secluded beach. We also played a game of ultimate frisbee in the sand and used our paddles as goal markers. I don´t know if it was just because I was starving, but we had the most delicious lunch of vegetarian burritos and fresh fruit and cookies. All of us ate until we couldn´t eat anymore, and I´m pretty sure our boat sat a little lower in the water after lunch. The only downer of the lunch stop was the amount of bug bites that we all got, even after applying a cancer-causing level of DEET bugspray. Sand flies are nasty and each of us had at least a little bit of allergic reaction to them, some worse than others. It was totally worth it though!!

After lunch we got back into the boat to paddle down to Puerto Napo, which took another 3 hours or so. We carried up all our gear and then were rewarded by ice cold beers. I´m definitely going to head back there for another trip soon. Hopefully next time I can try river kayaking, because that looks amazing. I´m sure it´s much more challenging than the rafting, but it´s probably a great experience too.

We spent the evening walking around the town to see the festivities and drank a little bit more. I think it was Kat who had the ridiculous idea to ride this gusanito (little caterpillar) train ride through the streets of Tena. It was a children´s ride that was out of control! The driver had his cart on 2 wheels as we are going through the city streets, which were not closed, and still had regular traffic on them. Another Quito vol and I were in a card with some little Ecuadorian boys who were having a great time and making dolphin noises. It was definitely worth the 75 cents for a 20-minute crazy ride! We left the festival becuase it was so crowded and went to hang out at a little street vendor with tables to drink a few beers. We crashed early and we were all so exhausted that we slept through the ridiculous amount of noise happening outside our window.

On Sunday we headed to Misahualli, which is a tiny little jungle town on the Misahualli river. We went to the mariposario, or butterfly house, and saw monkeys on the river beach. Our trip back was uneventful until the last half hour, when a whackjob took a contraband Amazonian bird out of cardboard box and let it roam free on the bus. When he attempted to strike a conversation with us, we all just pretended that we didn´t speak Spanish and artfully avoided the situation. There was also a man yelling at the bus driver to stop the bus because his 10-year old son was puking, and mentioned something about how us "tourists" wouldn´t like it because it didn´t smell like perfume. Still not exactly sure what was happening, but there was a lot of yelling, vomiting, and wildlife around us. Needless to say, we got off at the first stop possible and left that bus behind.

With all the good and the bad and the weird, it was pretty much a typical Ecua-adventure. This week I´m heading to another indigenous market and then looking forward to our Thanksgiving celebration that is being hosted here in Ambato. I can´t believe my classes are wrapping up in just 2 weeks...I have a lot to get done before then! I´m off to do some lesson planning and grading. I do have a job here, too, you know!

Chau!