Hello from the rainforest!

We left our hostel in Quito on Sunday for the six hour bus journey to the rainforest. It sounds a horrendously long time, but the busses were extremely comfortable with (almost) lie flat seats (really puts National Express to shame, I imagine) and the scenery was nothing less than spectacular, as we wound up the hills of the Andes and saw all the lush vegetation.

Home sweet home.

We arrived late on Sunday afternoon at our jungle lodge. Our hut was somewhat palacial, with a large open space with lots of hammocks and several rooms which had two or three double beds in each. All around us were wild animals who had taken sanctuary, including parrots and monkeys.

Meeting the neighbours!

At supper we were introduced to our host family. They did a presentation about each of them and what their roles and names were. All could not have been more friendly and hospitable. What was of interest to us was that there is, what seems to be a well to do, American woman who has fallen in love with one of the jungle tribesman, and lives in the lodge as well. We have been conspiring to no end!

The team assisting the community.

So onto the work. We are building a fence around the lodge in order to keep all the wild animals who have taken refuge and keep them at bay from predators. The work has been, in a word, ARDUOUS. Extremely. All week we have been lugging bags of sand and stones up and down a steep hill (fortunately I came up with a production line mechanisim which made life so much easier) and digging trenches for the fence. How mistaken I was thinking that it would be cutting a bit of barbed wire and hammering it in! After a couple of days, most of us were completely drained from the work, which really does take its toll. Fortunately we have finished our week’s labour and are now in the local town of Tena for a bit of relaxing during the week end.

Well earned break

It hasn’t been all work though; yesterday we went tubing down the river for FOUR hours. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to bob down in a tyre down the river and take in all the wildlife, indigenous communities on the river banks and sounds of the rainforest. We all made it in the end, some desperate for the loo (we were told to not pee in the river as there are fish which stick into you and you need an operation to remove them….although I gather the girls did not adhere to this advice)!

I must pay special mention to Lucas, the native monkey, who is far too friendly for his own good. He wakes us up at 6am in the morning and jumps into Angus and James’ room, which isn’t completely monkey proof. He steals anything and everything that comes his way and knows only too well how much it annoys us (this spurs him on more!). Although, he is rather cool and snuggles up in your lap and pulls your hair and jumps all around (he is friends with the other monkey Franco).

Lucas strikes again.

We are keeping ourselves occupied with lots of fun activities, including bonfires and dancing on the beach, GHOST stories (mine went down a treat), cards and movies in the evening…

Yesterday we were up bright and early as we were going to go white water rafting. We jumped in the back of a pick up truck (taxis are all like that over here) and made our way to the river. We had requested to be on level 4 rapids (out of 5)! And with the starting gun fired, we embarked on the mammoth 23 km trip. The first stretch was extremely exciting and we were thrown about all over the place (with our feet firmly in the foot loops). Commands of ‘adelante’, ‘atras’ and ‘en el centro’ were shouted left, right and centre and we paddled hard. We hit rocks, went down rocks, were thrown to the side and had a real roller coaster ride, but it really was such brilliant fun and I enjoyed it enormously. I don´t think any of us had laughed so much in such a long time.

Definately the tortoise approach then?

Naturally, all sorts of games were played by our instructors. We were far too gullible. We were all made to stand up around the boat and balance, to see how athletic we were. NOT! It was a mere ploy to throw us in the water.

It was a tortoise and the hare affair. Whilst the grey boat lagged behind, we beat the blue boat to the end, without ANY of our team thrown over the edge because of the rapids (unlike another boat…ahem). We did make some pit stops along the way, including to a waterfall all the way through the jungle which was spectacular (we also made use of the opportunity to cover ourselves in mud, of course to blend in more in the rainforest). We made it back home at 5 o´clock, just in time to collect our laundry from the launderette (I slightly feared it had closed and then would be forced to wear the same clothes for a week). All my clothes were nicely folded and clean…..super duper.

Back to bed for a well earned rest.

We were invited to the father´s birthday party of our guide. It was an experience. We went to his house, which was rather dilapidated, without a roof, but there was a large kitchen with music blaring. We all sat round in a circle and talked (it was a little awkward intially). Anyway, after the food was handed out (which consited of RICE and SOUP, just what we were hoping to get away from), and lots of whisky and juce, everyone got up and danced. It was hilarious. He danced away with Izzy and India (Hamish – watch out!) and after a few numbers, we headed on our way.

Why not follow Freddie’s blog more closely and see if the Ecuador Leap might just be your perfect gap year… 

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