Day 2 in the jungle

Feb 23rd

As we imagined, a good night sleep and a shower (although cold & we had no towels) did us wonders. One thing the travel agent forgot to tell us was to bring a flashlight & towel. Hmm, would have been good information to pass on. We were able to get towels later that afternoon & learned how to work the hot water.  And yes, the bed net worked quite well as we were not attacked by cockroaches or taranchula. 

And now, I could take some good pictures of our home for the next 3 days.

Breakfast was promptly at 8 and we had some chicken sausage & eggs, cereal with yogurt, fresh pineapple, and another local fruit juice.

After breakfast, we were all back in the canoe, heading toward the Amazon river, to go visit the Shaman.
We first walked around the grounds to see what they grow. They use everything they grow to live & survive. One of the things I found most intriguing was the cocoa plants. It was a bean shape but once opened up, there was a white sweet layer that we tasted that is over a nut. Once that nut dries, it turns into a cocoa bean in which they use to make chocolate! Yummy!

The Shaman then told us about their culture. It was interesting, but the translation wasn't the greatest so sadly, I tended to lose interest & let my mind wander, which was better than some others who were falling asleep. I wont mention any names, Connie. But it wasn't just her either.

After he told us about their life & culture, we had a boxed lunch of chicken, rice & salad. And, townhouse crackers which everyone was raving about. As we were having lunch, the sky opened up and it was a mad downpour! It was amazing how fast it came on. And, funny thing that we all left our ponchos in the boat since it was so gorgeous out!

So we all used the restroom which was really just an outhouse with a toilet seat, but let me tell you... I won't go into detail, but it was the worst I've ever seen.

We stopped at another community as well where we helped prepare a traditional food. It was very cool to watch & be a part of. It started with chopping down the leaves of a yuca plant and then pulling the roots out of the ground.  The roots were then peeled and put into a sack to take back to prepare.  Here they had something that resembled a trough. She also had a piece of metal that holes were made in. This was what we used to shred the yuca. Next, she put the shredded yuca into a burlap type thing that was then twisted & hung from a knob in the hut. She used a stick to put in the bottom of the burlap to twist it around the pole to get all the moisture out of the yuca. She caught the juice in a bucket that later they use to make soups. When she unwound the burlap, I was amazed it was all dry. She then used another homemade tool that she sifted the dried yuca to make it finer than it was. With that now it was almost finer than flour. They spread the dried yuca on there hot iron, rolled it flat with a wood bowl and a few minutes later we had something similar to a tortilla. we ate that with tuna or jelly.  It was really good. However, adding a touch of salt & pepper would have made it quite tasty.

So, one thing I haven't mentioned about this stop yet.. as soon as we got off the canoe, we see there are 2 monkeys. These are wild monkeys that have now become their pets I guess you could say. One was very tiny, the size of a rat maybe. Juan first put it on Connies shoulder and he burried himself into her hair. He did the same with me. He was a cute little thing!

The other monkey was a bigger one. I don't remember the species, but its the kind I would want as a pet. I don't have any pics on my phone, but will post some soon. After taking more than enough pictures of this adorable monkey, I saw one of the other guides holding him so I asked if I could. He ran right over to me and climbed up into my arms. I was excited to get a picture with him.  Much to my surprise, he was much more active, and "affectionate" dare I say, than I expected.  So instead of getting the cute cuddly picture I was hoping for, I got a picture of him nibbling on my nose!  then he would nuzzle his nose into my eye. And then start nibbling on my nose again!  Ok, maybe it was slightly more than a nibble. He was playful, but ended up breaking a bit of skin!  I was laughing so hard I was crying and Connie just kept snapping away and she got some good ones of the chaos!  And for those of you wanting to ask... No, I need not be worried about rabies. Apparently it is more likely we would pass a disease to them, than them to us.

On our way back, we stopped to see the tallest Samoa tree, where we also were introduced to jungle weed. You seriously take it off the tree and light it up!

We then stopped back at the lodge to quick charge some batteries, use the banos, and grab a drink and back out to search the river. By this time it was getting dark and I tell ya, I've never seen anything like it.  Juan would shine the flashlight into the jungle trees and when he would flash continually in one area, the driver knew to go that way. And every time, there was something there. Tonight, we saw 3 snakes & a black caiman. It was incredible that he would find these small snakes up in a tree. We all teased him that he planted them before bringing us out!

After all that excitement it was back to the lodge for another amazing dinner of chicken & beef stew & rice, broccoli soup, yucca and for dessert... Bananas drizzled with chocolate. Again, the meals have been so great, I may just ask them for all the recipes!

After dinner, we took a quick walk around the lodge and found a glass frog. My pic below isn't the best, but when you'd shine a light under the leaf & take a picture, you could see through it like glass. We also found a few taranchulas.

Another very full day ended with a bit of socializing with our group who would be leaving, and meeting the new group we would spend the rest of our time in the jungle with.  Both great groups of people. The first group were all from other countries but would occasionally speak English. The second group all speak English even though they too are diverse. I have to admit, It was nice to have them around now. They just seemed a better fit for us.

Off to dreamland....

Our bus ride & first night in the jungle

Feb 21st/22nd

At about 11pm, We hopped on a bus to go to Lago Agrio where we would then meet the jungle at the other side.  At 5am the bus stops and I'm a bit confused. Connie said this is normal as the drivers need a break for long trips. Ok, makes sense.... Until an hour passed and we are not moving yet. Then another hour, and another.  A little over 3 hours we didn't move, nor did we know what was going on except traffic looked horrible. Everything was just stopped. The bus was hot & stuffy and now we are starting to worry we will miss the driver that is to take us to the jungle.  We then borrowed phone from the nice lady next to us to call the travel agent so she could make sure we were not forgotten. 

We finally made to Lago Agrio around noon, where someone was waiting for us. We picked up one more person, jumped in a pick up truck driven by a cute, old man who didn't speak a lick of English.  Between Connie & the young Dutch man also riding with us, they were able to communicate enough.  We then started on the 2 hour drive to get to where we would meet a canoe to make our final leg of the journey to the jungle. Here we were greeted by our river guide, Winston. He provided us with our bagged lunch which was a bologna sandwhich, an apple and apple juice.

Once we checked in and finished lunch, we jumped in the canoe for a 2 hour canoe ride to Samona lodge where we would spend the next 3 nights. On our canoe ride to the lodge, we saw monkeys, turkey, eagle, blue butterfly, an iguana, and several other birds.

We then arrived at Samona lodge where we were greeted by our guide for the next 3 days, Juan. He told to sit & relax with coffee/cocoa (so excited they had cocoa) as he gave us a quick talk on what the days ahead would consist of, how to use the hot water, where to light our candles at night (there was no electricity) and warned about the creatures we would likely find in our bungalow.

I'm pretty sure I took about 2 sips of my cocoa, and he said it was time to go. So much for resting, muchless taking a shower & getting settled in. So, We quickly dropped off our luggage, met the group we would spend the next couple days with and were on the canoe again to go pirahna fishing.  Connie caught the first one. Me, I didn't catch any. Very interesting though. You simply use a stick that the put fishing line & a hook on. We then put a piece of meat on the hook, beef I think it was. Toss it in the water, shake it around a bit and next thing you know, they are nibbling!  We also saw a river dolphin. Pretty awesome.

After the fishing, we went on night walk through the jungle. We saw a bunch of insects such as Spiders, grasshoppers, 2 types scorpions (including the poisonous kind), ants, crickets (male & female), a walking stick.  A little weird being out there in the pitch black. At one point he told us to shut our lights off. We did and just stood there and listened to the jungle in the pitch black. Was crazy to think we were standing in the middle of the jungle. We also learned that 70% of all jungle creatures are nocturnal. 

After seeing all the jungle critters...Then it was back for dinner where we had Fish, plantain, salad and a peach for dessert. The food was excellent.  Beats the box lunch with the bologna sandwich for lunch! 

By this time, Connie & I are exhausted after a night sleeping on a bus, and a long trip.  But, the group decided it would be fun to go out for night canoe trip looking for anaconda.  We weren't about to pass up any opportunity so we fought through the exhaustion, grabbed a padddle and went on a 2 hour compel trip in the pitch dark.

My goodness, LONG day(s)!  Connie and I were both wondering a little bit at this point what we got ourselves into... But nothing a good nights sleep (in our netted bed), wouldn't cure!

Buenos noches, mi amigos...

Day 3 - Climbing Cotopaxi...

Tuesday, Feb 21 - 8:30pm

So we hopped on a bus about 7:30 this morning with about 18 others to head  Cotopaxi for our volcano climb. The bus was supposed to leave at 7, but apparently in Ecuador, we were right on time.

The first thing I found so interesting was we stopped for gas.  One would typically think that would be done before the tour started. No harm done, was just interesting.  And by the way, gas here is $1.48 a gallon. Hmm. Maybe we should use the same supplier as they do... (should be that simple, right?)

We made a few stops along the rest of our hour and a half journey. The first was at Papa Gayo's. A cute little restaurant off the side of the highway that also is the place we picked up our mountain bikes and out guide. After picking out our bikes and making sure everything worked on them (most importantly, the breaks), they tossed them to the top of the bus and we were on our way again.

Next stop was just before the Cotopaxi park entrance.  It was a simple little shop off the highway where we picked up some water & snacks. The guide was really pushing the chocolate.... A little energy for our hike, perhaps?  Then back on the bus.

Now, inside the Cotopaxi area, the volcano was visible. Actually it was on and off visible as the clouds moved through quickly. It looked so awesome that the guide had the driver stop so we could take some photos.  Another 30 minutes later, a drive through a small river, we stopped at the base of Cotopaxi where we could buy hats & scarves if needed.  And yes, as you may have guessed, I bought a hat. I had to support the locals and trade them my $4 for a cute knit hat. And back on the bus again.

About 45 minutes later, we found ourselves at the Cotopaxi museum where we learned about the area and the volcano.  Some interesting facts about Cotopaxi:
- it is the largest active volcano in the world & the 2nd tallest in Ecuador
- it was said to erupt every 100 years and the last eruption was 128 years ago. Hmm.
- if it were to erupt, the lava moves at about 600 km/hr and would reach the pacific coast in about 2 hours, killing everything in its path.
- Coto means throat, Paxi means fire. Throat Fire

Back on the bus one last time before our final destination. Here, we found ourselves in a parking lot at the base of the refuge. Altitude 4500 meters. The refuge was visible at a mere 4800 m. It didn't look that far away, but it was much higher than we were! All bundled up as it was chilly and windy. Temp was 0 degrees c.
The terrain was a thick, redish sandy rock. It literally was like walking up steep stairs, without benefit of the stairs. I was winded after about 10 steps. I thought this would be a cake walk since we already acclimated ourselves with our first volcano hike a couple days ago. Apparently, it takes more getting used to then that. It's just amazing to me, the difference it makes. I think it took us about an hour & a half to reach the 4800 m refuge. It is just hard to explain but I would guess it was about a 45 degree incline in volcanic dirt & rocks. Conversations were sparse. All oxygen was saved for simply breathing.

Once we reaches the refuge, we took about 10-15 minutes to catch our breath before making the final flight up to 5000 m.  This part wasn't quite as steep, but much more treacherous.  As the incline was still at least 45 degrees, but we walked sideways and up at the same time.  It was bigger rocks and also snow so you needed to be sure your foot was secure before placing all your weight on it. With each step, you would see snow and/or rocks falling. One wrong move or loss of balance and you would find yourself on quite the sledding experience that would quickly be ended by the big rocks or a steep tumble off a cliff.

I was a bit nervous about this last part for a few reasons... 1) I'm afraid of heights and clumsy - not a good combination. 2) I was carrying my camera (this was a photoshoot one could not pass up). 3) I was at 5000 meters on a Volcano! (which is where the pic of me below is at). It was truly breathtaking!  I would have loved to just sit up there, at 5000 meters and just stare at the beauty. It was amazing.  Unfortunately, some clouds were moving in quite quickly and our guide told us to keep moving due to the weather...

I was actually more nervous about coming down, but surprisingly, it didn't bother me as much as going up. Perhaps it was partially because I put my camera in my backpack for the desent.

As you can imagine, the entire trip down was much quicker than the climb.  However, Connie & I took an amazing amount of breaks on the way down for photo ops. We even made snow angels!  The clouds changed so much, and it was just that amazing that we couldn't help it.  The guide kept telling us to "vamous" as the clouds coming in were full of snow/hail. That they were, but we still couldn't help wanting to take in all we could and as many photos as we could.  We also wore out the battery on 3 cameras and both cell phones by the time our trip was over!

Once we were back to the bus, we hopped on our bikes and make the 14km ride to Laguna Limplopungo. It was 11km of a very bumpy, windy, downhill dirt road, and 3 km of a very bumpy, still somewhat windy, flat dirt road. I wanted to stop every 3 minutes to take another picture because the view changed so much, but I refrained and only stopped a couple times in our hour plus bike journey to the Laguna.

Also worth mentioning was our ride back to Quito. First, we needed air in a tire so we stop at this little place right on the highway. But, needing air in a tired quickly changed to needing a new tire, so they changed the tire with 20 people on the bus. Strange how different things are here. They seem so much more efficient. 15 minutes later, we were back on the road.

Second, Because of Carnival. Like I mentioned before, they like to prank each other. Our guide & driver where no exception. They were pouring flour, water & coke over one another. Also, as we are driving down the highway, there was a guy sleeping in the back of a pickup. They tried to get close enough to dump water on him, but their attempt failed. But, it was quickly followed up with another opportunity when there was a man peeing on the side of the highway. They slowed and doused him with water. It was hilarious.  Ecuadorians know how to have some fun!

One last thing worth a brief mention...  Seems odd to say, but for the first time in my life, I sunburnt my face. With the weather at freezing, at 5000 meters, I burnt my face. I guess we were a bit closer to the sun!

I'm not sure what to say about the day than Wow!  I need to come up with another word to explain all of this but I feel somewhat speachless, like words can't describe...  Maybe incredible. Amazing. Breathtaking. Take your pick.

Stay tuned...

Our day today was filled with stories, but no time to write it all out before we hop on an over night bus to the jungle...  If we get wi-fi there, I will post when I can!

Saying goodbye to our first Hostal...

Tuesday, Feb 21 - 6:30 am

It was a little bit cute, had some charm, but certainly not the Ritz!  That all would have been ok, but the people were not overly friendly or helpful there.  3 nights was plenty.  I have more pics of the quaint part. As you can tell from the photo, the room wasn't it!  But, for $24 a night, it was perfect.

We bid farewell to our hostal, L'Auberge this morning at 6:30 to embark on our next adventure... Climbing Cotopaxi - the worlds tallest active volcano.

Day two comes to a close....

So much to write about, yet so tired!

Today, we woke up early so we could be at the travel agency when they opened.  We were successful and now have the rest of our time here mostly planned out.  It did not go quite the way we had planned, as we lost part of yesterday because we were told the agencies weren't open all to find out this morning, the one we found was.

Since we do not have time to do everything we want while we are here, we had to decide to choose between many things.  We decided not to do the overnight ice climb up Cotopaxi (the 2nd tallest volcano). There were 2 reasons for this... 1) we have so many things we want to fit in and this would take up 2 full days. And 2) after our volcano climb yesterday, and the reading we did that even experienced climbers only make it 50% of the time. With that said, we feel we made a wise decision to fit more in and we will now be waking up early tomorrow to do a 1 day expedition to Cotopaxi which will entail hiking and mountain biking.

After we had everything settled with the agency, we embarqued on our own expedition to find Tucanopy where we would go zip-lining.  Because the bus system yesterday did not end successfully, we hired a taxi to bring us the hour and a half there, wait, and return us safely back to Quito. Although he didn't speak a lick of English, and Connie only a little Spanish, we somehow learned to understand one another. Not sure why I said "we", as it was really Connie. God bless her soul! I am trying to learn a little though... My brain is just not a sponge anymore!

The drive was beautiful and we saw the terrain change a lot as we made our way to Nanegalito.  Although it took an hour and a half, it was only about 40-45 miles away, but as you can imagine, the mountain roads are very windy.   We also drove across the equator line so I can now say I've been in both hemispheres in the same day!

Tucanopy was tucked away off the main mountain road by  a very bumpy dirt road that was probably a couple miles, or so it felt.  Once there, we were greeted by a very nice British gal who brought us to the 2 guides who would take us on our zip-line tour. With them, was 2 couples also out for the same adventure.  We very quickly made friends with them.  They all were from Quito, but spoke very good English and very kindly translated for us what our main guide was sharing. (I could go on for hours about what we learned and will likely come back and add some of it in.) It was amazing though, this place is very eco-friendly and part (half I think) of the $18 fee goes to conservation of the Tucanopy (zip-line), which is in what they call the Cloud Forest.  Yes, we zip-lined through the clouds at one point.

I was a bit disappointed my camera wasn't working so Connie & I were trading hers back & forth to try to get pics of each other.  (I'll leave out the part that I later discovered the battery was in backwards.  Hey.. another reason why I don't like point & shoots!)  Anyway, One of the guys in the group had a nice camera and they decided to take some photos of us to email later. They were seriously the nicest people. We couldn't have had a better experience!

We went down 7 lines, if my memory serves me.  Some were shorter, some longer.  Some were faster and some were slower. Well, one was really slow.  They did warn us that it was the slowest so not to break at all. I didn't break and felt like I was moving at a pace good enough to land me at the base, but then I see the guide jump on the line by the base & started bouncing (apparently this was supposed to help me gain speed as he felt I was moving too slow). Next thing I know... I not only come to a stop, but am now moving BACKWARDS!  And I felt like I was moving as fast as I had been moving forward. Then, all of a sudden, I was at a dead stop, stranded in the middle of of this zipline!  So the guide at the bottom hooks himself on the line and comes to my rescue, which, was no easy feat!  I was a ways out there and he had to climb upwards. I figured when we were finally hooked together, the weight of the both of us would bring us down quickly. Nope. We had to pull ourselves down. I finally get to the bottom and everyone is having a good laugh about it, including myself! (ok, maybe not the guide who came to my rescue because he was exhausted by his heroic efforts, but really, he was great about it).  Seriously, who gets stuck in the middle of a zip-line? 

On that note...  I should get some sleep as we have an early morning tomorrow to head to Cotopaxi for our hiking & biking adventure in which I should get rested for. 

Our first day comes to an end...

Wow, what to say... It was a crazy day from trying to find someone to help us book the adventures we wanted to try (yes, we are still searching for help.)

So, after we couldn't find an agent to help us book our adventures... We hopped on a bus for 25 cents that would take us 1/2 way to where we would zip-line. After the 45 minute standing sardine bus ride, we discovered we likely wouldn't have time to wait the hour & 1/2 for the next bus to take us to the zip-line, so we grabbed a taxi. The taxi pulled over about 10 miles down the road telling us we were at our destination.Um, no we weren't!  (Yes, for those of you wanting to know... we are experiencing a bit of a language barrier!)  :-)

So instead, we had him drop us at telefériQo which is a 2.5 km (about 1.5 miles) sky tram that took us up the flanks of of Volcán Pichincha to the top of Cruz Loma (a mere 4100 m or 2.55 miles). From there, we started the hike to the top of jagged Rucu Pichincha which is at 4600 meters or about 3 miles. (and they are not kidding when they say jagged, but they should have added in straight up. No joke. It's a mere 3 hour hike. Ha! I'm in damn good shape, but this one got me. Literally we had to stop (a lot) to catch our breath. Did I mention it was
STRAIGHT up? I felt I was walking a treadmill at the incline of 25! We should have read the travel guide first as it warns not to make the hike if its your first day in Quito as you should allow yourself to acclimate. Oops! We made it about 2 1/2 hours up and thought it was in our best interest to turn around so we wouldn't get caught up in there the dark (the last bit we heard was even worse than what we had already experienced). It took us an hour to come down.  We ran into rain on the way up... until, that is, we got above the clouds.  We also walked through the clouds on our decent and yes, more rain after we broke through them. What an experience though. Yes, for a moment (or many) I wasn't sure if make it, but it was amazing. To get back to the bottom look up to where we were was astounding

Then, the trip back... We couldn't find a taxi, so we hopped on a bus we knew would get us close. We then took our map started walking.
At one point, we stop to read the map and a motorcycle slows down and all of a sudden I'm doused (hard to tell in the pic) with foam (kind of like silly string without the string). Later we found out this is very common for 'the carnival' and no one is exempt. We got a good laugh.

Now we are figuring out the rest of our trip and both exhausted from our day.

Good night my friends and loved ones...