A tedious border crossing brought us into Ecuador. The scenery quickly changed to be more mountainous and tropical than in neighboring Peru.
Our first port of call was Cuenca, another white washed city filled with churches and museums. The main square, Parque Calderón was a nice place to pass some time and the river nearby was a good place for a stroll, passing deserted colonial buildings and an old stone arch bridge. Pumapungu museum and archaeological park made for an interesting (free) visit with its traditional costumes, shrunken heads and Incan ruins set amongst beautiful gardens. We also popped into the sombrero museum to see how they make Panama hats out of reeds. Cuenca also had some tasty street food like Tamales, corn dough stuffed with meat, and salchipapas, fries mixed with sausage and topped with sauce.
We spent the next three nights camping just outside of Baños, where we passed our days hiking through cloud forest to waterfalls (Machay and Pailón del Diablo), trout fishing, zip lining, playing on the swing at the end of the world and soaking in hot springs. It's a tough life, isn't it? The only downer was the drenching rain that turned our camp ground into a swamp.
A real trip highlight was the following three day excursion into the Amazon jungle from Tena. Driving through a little town on the way we watched monkeys playing on the roofs of houses and stealing fruit from the market stalls. When we arrived at our lodge, Cabañas Isla Ecolgocica Mariana Miller, we settled into our cabanas and enjoyed the beautiful grounds and hammocks. It reminded me a little bit of resorts in Thailand. The next day we had some community interaction with a visit to the school and local medical centre, a dancing performance by the students, a chicha lesson (making alcohol from yucca) and a bracelet making demonstration using parts of plants from the jungle. I also went on a night walk where we saw an ocelot footprint, tarantulas and other spiders and a strange looking yellow frog. On our second full day there we went on a three hour jungle walk where we were taught about the medicinal uses of dozens of plants. There were ones that needed to be chewed and applied, ones that needed to be boiled into teas, ones that needed to be breathed in as vapor and ones that needed to be eaten. According to our guide they could cure everything from hemorrhaging to snake bite to flus to stomach problems or wounds.The plants could also be used as households items, such as clothing, string, hair brushes and cooking foil. Enrique, our guide, was a local shaman who had an incredible knowledge about the jungle. He was doing his best to pass his knowledge onto his kids, despite the young people's growing reluctance for traditional things and methods. We didn't see too much wildlife, with the exception of bugs, but a venomous snake did nearly slither over my foot. And people say Australia is the country that tries to kill you! After lunch we tried our hands at blow darting (I even hit the target) and floated down the river in a traditional boat. Enrique and his young helper showed us how to pan for gold, while we got eaten alive by sand flies on the river bank. That night, by firelight, Enrique showed us a shaman ritual for cleansing bad spirits. Dressed traditionally (and sparingly) he whistled and chanted while waving a particular type of leaf over Jess. His singing almost lulled me to sleep so I could see how the ritual could make you feel better afterwards. Now I can't forget to mention the food, which was incredible. Two or three courses for every meal, hot soups, fresh juices and local ingredients. My favorite meals were the fish (wrapped in leaves and baked in the fire), the fried platano (like banana) with cucumber salad with chicken fried rice. Yum!
After the Amazon we stopped off at Otavalo for the night where we checked out the famous market, which was oh so touristy.
The next day we passed the Equator and stopped in for an interesting talk at the monument before arriving into Quito in the early afternoon. Quito is divided into two main parts, the old and the new town. The first night we stayed with the Tucan group in the Mariscal district, where there were lots of nice bars and restaurants. The second night our tour had officially finished so we moved to the old town and enjoyed walling around the old colonial buildings and exploring the Bascilica del Vota Nacional, which had amazing views of the city (after a nerve-racking climb up the bell towers). We headed back to the new town for a final night of fun with our friends from the tour, which ended up being too much fun because when the alarm went off the next day to wake us up for our first day of independent travel in a long time, we weren't in a good way! Luckily it was pretty easy to catch a bus to the border of Colombia for the start of our next adventure.
So after 22 869 km, 56 drive days, 350 hours on our truck, Frank, 146 toilet stops and 12 borders, our South American adventure with Tucan Travel came to an end. We were very lucky to have had such a wonderful guide, Chloe, and an amazing driver, Seb, as well as a bunch of fun fellow travellers to make it such an awesome 112 days travelling around South America in a group tour. Now to learn how to be independent again as we journey forth into Colombia.
