yes we have been to the amazon and survived malaria, jungle fever, tarantulas, aaaaaaaaand rabies! hoorah!
there has been so much happening in the last few days and so much to write, but this keyboard is so stiff and is giving me the shits, so hopefully i will get it all down before i throw the computer out the window. so here goes.
we last left you in Quito, Ecuador. i did love that place but i was ready to move on and begin some real adventures with the new friends we have made on our tour. the next adventure was to the amazon jungle. the bus trip took 5 hours to get to Tena, a town just outside of the jungle. there seemed to be a lurgy and stomach bug already beginning in our group, so for some the bus ride was very uncomfortable, especially through the windy roads. strangely it was the four people that went to the markets that have been sick, so its probably a good thing we got lost and didnt make it in the end. phewf!
The bus trip to Tena was AMAZING. the scenerary of the Andes and the jungle region is indescribable. i cannot beleive my eyes as enormous mountains and valleys stretch out in every direction. once we hit Tena we stopped for a bit of ecuadorian lunch at a little cafe. the menu for us; beef soup (consisting of only the insides of cows) and chicken rice stuff. needless to say, NO SOUP FOR ME! ew. actually only two people got the soup, and only one actually ate it. hehe.
The next bus was so jam packed, and as we reached the humidity we were all basically on top of each other sweating like pigs. great imagery really isnt it? the guy behind me kept putting his elbow in my face..oh what fun.
We finally arrived at our jungle lodge Coto Cocha. SO beautiful. I thought that it would be extremely basic, but there was a bar and it was pure luxury. Sally and I had our own cabin (number 11) and we were pretty keen to change out of our sweaty clothes. once we did this we took a small boat ride down the Napa river in the jungle and stopped off in an indigenous Quechua tribe. here we were shown how they lived, and made their pottery and panned for cold (cue someone on our tour saying "why dont they pan for gold this way, its far more efficient, it seems silly they would do it that way"...followed by all of us wanting to cringe. yeah there has been alot of things that this particular person does that makes us all uncomfortabley laugh and cringe on this trip so far).
we also got to play with the traditional blow guns, and i managed to hit the target, even if it bounced off. we had our faces painted by the tribes (although our tour guide painted mine. we have decided he is an epicly awesome guy, i will get to that more later though).
we then took the boat back to our lodge and got ready for dinner. it was such a great way to get to know everyone alot better, and then we all sat around a camp fire talking. turns out our guide diego (more of a friend rather than a guide now) loves Glee (which continued with enthusiastic conversation by the both of us) and he thinks Aussies say "G´day Cobber" and "cool bananas". truth be told i do say "cool bananas" so he was half right, hehe.
I also forgot to mention the most important part of the evening. it began to storm and rain in the jungle, and we sat on our balcony only with a candled lantern enjoying the sounds of the jungle amidst the rain. for all of you who know me well, you will know how this was such a significant moment for me, and i began to feel more free than i have in a long time.
either way, we went back to our room with the hopes that there were no spiders in our room, only to find a giant green grasshopper, which we named Gerald. our deal with Gerald was that he could stay in the room, as long as he didn´t crawl all over us in our sleep, which he happily kept.
We woke up in the morning so refreshed, only to find that Gerald invited a friend along. a Giant brown grasshopper, which we also named, Harold.
The next morning began with a big breakfast of fruits and eggs and fresh juices, before we got into some gumboots to take a big hike through the jungle. The day was ofcourse humid as to be expected in the jungles, and we set off. it was absolutely beautiful scenerary again, and i cannot even begin to describe it. we were shown local plants and their remedies, and even were shown the plant used to make roofies...lol? also before we knew what it was, they described how to make it, haha, so i am now a whiz at making the drugs.
The hike proceeded, and we got to see some interesting bugs, and birds and butterflies, and even a tarantula cave (no spider...THANK GOD!). it was quite muddy and there were alot of rocks to climb over using every limb in your body, so it was quite slippery so we had to take it fairly slow. Diego tried to help me over one rocky, muddy area, and i was like "thats ok i am fine"...i really should have taken him up on the offer as i proceeded to stack it big time and fell on my ass in the mud. yes...there was laughter.
Once we had gotten deeper into the jungle, we came to a beautiful little waterfall and we all went for a much deserved swim, some jumping off the rocks into the water, or just a relax. it was an amazing experience, and i loved it.
we began our hike back through the mountain all wet and muddy to get back to our boat.
This is where we hopped into giant donuts and just drifted down the Napa river for about an hour. so relaxing and so much fun, although i kept going down with the current when we were supposed to finish up, as i couldnt make it to shore in time...woops! so the men in the boats had to come get me. hehe. I also managed to get a little but sunburnt (as did Sally) but it was definately worth it.
After some lunch we were going to go visit an animal refuge. where they saved the animals from the black market and kept them save and gave them a chance to heal.
We waited for the local bus to come pick us up, but it was so late and when it finally did arrive it was jam packed. so the driver suggested we sit on top of the bus, on the roof. we thought he was kidding, but apparently not, so we climbed the ladder and sat on the roof. Diego seemed to have a few reservations, trying to figure out if he would get in trouble by letting us, but he soon joined us. and yes there were boxes of beer on the top of the bus (no that we could drink any of it) but we proceeded to spend half an hour sitting on the roof of a bus driving through the jungle areas. it was amazing!!! i have never felt so liberated and free and i knew then, that the adventures were really starting. it was perfectly safe there were grates to hold on to. but i cannot describe how much fun it was. those who stayed back at the lodge were definately missing out.
WE made it to the refuge in one piece :)
there were so many cool animals, such as an anaconda, and monkies just running around and playing. i managed to pick up the monkey, but he was definately determined to give me a few nibbles, hehe, but it was cute. i also got to cuddle and hold a 9 month old leopard. it was the cutest thing, it sucked on the ladies fingers like they were a babies dummy.
We were shown around the refuge and finished at a lake watching the sun set. Two of the guides from the lodge were with us, and they made us girl some pretty head dresses from the reeds, it was so sweet. they also (with Deigo) made this huge speech about how they had a gift they wanted to give one of us because they liked our group so much, and how the gift will bring luck for everyone on the trip, and they gave it to Stef, a girl on our tour. she was so happy to get the present and so shocked, so she proceeded to unwrap it from the leaves they had wrapped it in. once she did she burst out laughing. they had made a giant black penis out of mud and roots, as a joke present. IT was sooooo funny, and so unexpected, and you could just see them chuckling to themselves in the corner. many many jokes about the present proceeded afterwards, particularly because it was make from spikey roots, hehe.
We had to get back to the lodge for dinner, but we found out that the bus didnt come for another hour, so we were stuck by the side of the road waiting. Now alot of people here in South America travel in the back on Utes. its alot of hitch hiking, so a truck came past and they pulled over and we all hopped into the back of the ute. when in south america, why not do as the south americans do. This was turning out to be my favourite day by far. after many jokes about how close we all were from each other, and how one of the guys was sitting on Diego´s lap, we made it back in one piece. one thing i really love about this tour, is it is all about sustainable travel and doing things locally. which includes transport.
We went back, and had some dinner and the workers at the lodge found a tarantula to show us...i did not want to be near that thing at all.
It was such a good chance to talk to everyone in the group as well, which i really enjoyed, everybody here is really awesome.
We went back to our room after some time, only to find that Harold had brought a friend in for a party. A BIG HAIRY SPIDER!! this is the part where we became like girls and shreiked and spent quite alot of time trying to figure out what to do with it. we then heard the voices of the guys in the cabin near us saying "yeah, we arent gonna help u with the spider, sorry girls!"....Dam them! hehe. once i found enough courage to get out the door (the spider was on the door) i went back to the common area and found Diego. he is our hero, he came back to our cabin and got rid of the spider for us, and he shall now and forever more be dubbed, Diego - the real spiderman. our hero. hehe.
The next morning he proceeded to tell everyone that we were afraid of the spider no bigger than a penny. lies. all lies, it WAS HUGE!!! hehe. I spent the entire of the jungle stay making a net out of my sheets so that nothing could get in and kill me. paranoid perhaps, but we have made it out of the jungle alive.
The next morning was BUCKETING down with rain. oh i wanted to dance and flail in the rain while we waited for our bus to leave the jungle. needless to say we all got drenched completely, especially Diego, as he was being chivalrous and did all the bag transport stuff for us, so that we could stay on the buses nice and dry. The scenery was again so pretty on this bus trip, but the roads were extra windy which didnt help the people who were still sick. we made it to Baños alive and the rain had stopped. we had a nice lunch together as a big group and some people went for a hike up the hill to the volcano, and us girls decided to wander through the town together. we had a coffee or coco tea at this cute little shop and just enjoyed being a bit more relaxed. it was so nice to chat to everyone, and again get to know them better.
We then had dinner all together and decided to sit on the roof of our hotel in the rain drinking wine from boxes. even classier than cask wine. It was me, Tim, Sally, Diego, Jo and Ilsa who had great conversations (sometimes more information than actually required by some haha) on the roof while drinking and listening to music under the rainy and yet still starry sky. its moments like these that i will forever remember!
The next day was to be a busy one, and we had also learnt how to say " i am hungover" in spanish, haha, very important. we decided to hire out some mountain bikes in the morning and ride up to several waterfalls. who would have thunk that i would VOLUNTARILLY bike ride mountains for 17kms...and then do a hike at the mountains. INSANE, but it was definately worth it and the waterfalls were amazing! we even got to crawl up in this little cave to stand behind the roaring waterfalls, and got absolutely soaked. we hiked back up to our bikes where a few of us got picked up by a bus to spend the afternoon going white water rafting between two national parks.
Our guide was really awesome (and quite cute actually!! haha) and we had an amazing time going down the rapids. sally got to sit on the front of the raft during some bigger rapids, and kept falling back into the boat and snorting the water, haha. there was a group of Americans and Canadians on another raft at the same time with another company, and everytime they got close we had splashing wars with our paddles. i loved watching the expressions on our guides face, because there was alot of child like cheekiness going on, and he would be splashing everyone with a look on his face that i could only describe with the words "doo doo doo, wasnt me!".
There was also a giant rainbow over some of the scenary, and it was just so amazing.
we got off the rafts later and drove in the little bus all the way back to baños. our guide pumped his CDs loudly, (practically house music and stuff that we listen to in clubs) and it got me revved up to go out that night. so we had dinner and decided to go out on the town. we went to this cute little bar/club that was called lepracaun and it had so much fantasy pictures all over and an open fire place/bon fire out the back. we didnt dance but we definately had a few drinks and spent a while chatting to Ilsa and Diego, who both have so much interesting stories to tell (ilsa is from Latvia and has been living in IReland for the past 4 years). Diego took hold of Sallys camera and went a bit snap happy, so we now had photos of down his top, his beer bottle and a few of us. our rafting guide also showed up and had burnt on cd photos for us from our rafting, which was so nice of him. All in all it was such a good day and we are literally having the time of our lives.
Today we are still in Baños writing this blog for you, and letting you all know we are alive. we are also going to the thermal baths, and perhaps going out again tonight. Tommorrow we are off to Cuenca, and we are so excited to see what other adventures are in store for Ruby and Sally.
We miss you all alot, and hope you are well.
Much love
Ruby xoxoxox
ps i know have RSI from typing all of this, you better appreciate it, haha.
pps, i managed to not throw the computer out the window. hoorah!
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