Ok so i´ve given up on documenting every day on here as im like 3 weeks behind.. ¨haha... i knew that would happen¨ I can hear Toby saying right now... :)
The Amazon Jungle, Ecuador
So the first place i went to with the Kumuka group was to a hostel called the Anaconda Lodge (inspiration for the name of ¨The Anaconda´s¨ beach volleyball team, possibly playing at next years olympics.. keep an eye out). Although the amazonian aspect of the trip probably wasn´t as deep into the jungle as i had hoped to get i still had a great time.. To get to the lodge we caught a bus from Quito to Tena (which was our next stop on the tour) and then to a river where we caught a boat with all our luggage to the lodge..
Here at the lodge we took a walk thru the jungle and visited some local houses and a lake.. On the way back we got to stop in one of the houses and see how they lived... Although there was a shotgun sitting on the roof we were all safe and the mother of the family showed us how they made a local drink.. The family was very welcoming and it was a great experience to be able to see inside their house.. After this we built (or more appropriately, the guides built..) a raft that we floated on down the river for 2 hours back to the lodge...
We also visited a animal rescue zoo called AmaZOOnia where animals that have been smuggled out of the Amazon rainforest and then captured by the authorites are taken and rehabilitated and released back into the wild... Upon arriving at the zoo we were greeted by about 30 or so monkey who were very friendly.. I had wanted to see monkeys on this trip and this was the first place that i saw them so it was quite exciting..
Tena, Ecuador
Well the accommodation in Tena was interesting, i had the worst accommodation (of my life) and the best accommodation (of my trip) in two consecutive nights.. When we arrived at the hotel we were staying at had overbooked, so me and Andrew were really really blessed and were able to stay in a hotel that was just tops (sarcasm alert). Theroom was about as big as two single beds and there were two single beds in the room.. and the toilet/shower, well i wont go there.. And the matress was about an inch thick and i spent the night with the wooden slats of the bed across my lower back... good times..
The next night tho we got a room in the original hotel that we were going to stay in, which was very nice.. and we both got a double bed each.. After not having a hot shower in about a week i was very excited about a hot shower as everyone was raving about the showers.. but in another blessed moment there was a blackout and there was no hot water.. yay..
Moving on..
Chris´ travelling tip number 1: If you have a big bus trip early the next day, have some drinks and stay out late that night so you can easily sleep in the uncomfortable bus the next day.. (copyright 2007)
We all went out on the second night in Tena to one of the two bars of the town and then later in the night crossed the bridge to the second bar in the town.. It was a good night out and i got home at about 2am in an attempt to adhere to the travelling tip i had recently discovered and it worked well.. The next day on the bus to Baños i slept the whole way and it didn´t even seem like the bus trip even happened..
Baños, Ecuador
Baños was in one word gorgeous.. Tree covered mountains, a river running through the area surrounding the town, crazy huge tunnels that looked like they had been dug out with a shovel and were ready to callapse at any moment, a volcanic backdrop, waterfalls everywhere, hot springs... Basically there wasn´t much to complain about..
We spent a few days in Baños.. We all on the first day went and saw a big waterfall. Me, Kate and Pete went for a walk up one of the mountains and got a spectacular view of the city. Me and Val took a cable car over the valley and saw what it was like on the other side of the river. And on the last day we went to the Hot Springs..
Chris´ travelling tip number 2: If a 60 year old guy comes up to you in a hot spring and has a conversation with you and asks ¨Where are you staying?¨ followed by ¨When are you leaving Baños?¨, end the conversation because he most likely has alterior motives. (copyright 2007)
Needless to say, i ended the conversation and went and hid behind Pete for the rest of the hot springs experience after these questions were asked..
Baños was very relaxing as we were staying about 20km´s out of the town.. There was a guitar at the Hostel and after not playing guitar for about 7 weeks i stayed up after everyone went to bed drinking beer and playing guitar which was very fun.. Also adhereing to chris´ tip number 1 as we were leaving ealy the next day for Cuenca..
Cuenca, Ecuador
Cuenca was the last town we visited in Ecuador.. We didn´t do a lot here.. On our first day we went to a Panama hat factory and i bought a panama hat for $20 american, which i like but apparently other people dont.. (*cough* so *cough* phie *cough*)
Other than that i pretty much just looked around the town and took photos and i bought a shirt.. Thats about it.. Oh yeah
Chris´ travelling tip number 3: If you are going to order a vegetarian pizza from a Argentinian steak house, expect it to be really really really really big because i don´t think they realise that eating products other than meat can actually fill you up. (copyright 2007)
I ate 3 slices of the 8 slice pizza and was about to throw up, and got the rest to eat in the bus the next day when we would cross into Peru..
Onto Peru where i was soon to get robbed..
