Here is what we did:- Took a flight from Quito to Coca, where we caught a boat up the river to the Yachana Lodge. The Lodge is an ecotourism place which supports a local high school and a bunch of other cool projects for local Quichua tribes.
- Friday night, went on a night hike to find nocturnal insects in the jungle. Saw some crazy, huge spiders, including a tarantula, and tons of other giant bugs.
- Saturday morning, went over to check out the local market, then rode on top of a truck to go birdwatching.
- Went on a 3-hour long hike through the jungle, where we learned a ton of cool stuff about rainforests.
- Developed crushes on our jungle-boy guide, Roberto, because he did things like shimmy up a tree, machete down some palm fronds and weave them into a basket tight enough to carry water. Also carved a blowgun out of a piece of bamboo and shot papaya with it.
- Swung on a vine.
- Took a ton of tree pictures (for Tre).
- Went tubing down the river. Possibly got bit by a pirahna. (All I know is this: there are tons of pirahna in the lake, but they're not aggressive. They stay in the still waters and they are attracted to blood. My possible encounter was in still water; I put my hand in the water, felt something sharp, and when I pulled it back out, a small chunk was gone from my thumb. The jury is out.)
- Shimmied up a tree and swung off a vine into the river. Looked like an idiot because I pretty much fell off the tree (and the vine), but felt pretty cool.
- Watched the sunset from the gorgeous balcony view (this is where we ate all our meals.)
- Fell asleep to an amazing jungle soundtrack on an amazing, glorious bed (as compared to the back-offending Quito mattresses.)
- Took a tour of the Yachana high school, which is like a boarding school for kids from all over the jungle. It is a pretty awesome place. All the kids speak really good English and are learning computers, agriculture, ecotourism, animal husbandry and other stuff. A really cool program.
- Got painted by some kind of plant-die to look like a warrior.
- Visited a tribal medicine men, who healed me and gave me good energy by blowing tobacco in my face and hitting me with bunches of leaves.
- Practiced shooting a blowgun and throwing a spear (I would never survive in the wild.)
- Got pulled into the river fully clothed by our other guide, Freddie. Remembered that I only took one pair of pants and so had nothing to wear for the other 2 days of our trip.
- Learned how to fold cool things out of napkins from our waiters.
- Wore these sexy rubber boots everywhere.
- Saw a dolphin in the river!
- Came back to Quito.
I'll be home tomorrow!
2 comments:
Amazing! I could do without the creepy crawlers, but what a great experience. John and Laura told us about the rubber boots. They pretty much burned all of their clothes that they wore in the jungle! One pair of pants, heh? We should have put you in scouts to learn basic survival skills.
Wow. I'm speechless.
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