Back into the Jungle

The bridge has been out for about a year, so we took that thing accross the river, and started walking from there. Such a beautiful rain forest, but my poncho is close by.....

my guides walk into the clouds.....

good thing we have boots - they are standard issue here in the rain forest

we stayed with Miguel and his beautiful family. I made an instant friend with this lad when I gave him a zip lock bag - he actually skipped to school the day after, proudly with his school book in the waterproof container. The other kids will be so jealous.

hear the very primitive language of the Shuar talking aroung the campfire/living room

using a mashed plant and a stick, we decorated each other's faces. Not for everyday wear, but for special occasions and celebrations. This is my 'welcome to the jungle' face. Hey, why not, it was halloween!

a walk to the waterfall, it rained ALL day - the whole world was a waterfall. I let go, and became one with the rain forest. We held hands crossing rivers up to our chest, and were completely drenched - the ponchos were really just decoration. No photos with the good camera-had to keep it in the dry bag that day.

my guides pointed out lots of crazy plants. Some beautiful, some poisonous.

this one is the 'hair plant' ? (my guide didn't speak english - so it was mostly spanish, grunts and charades...) supposedly you mash up the bark and put it right on your hair - leave it in for a week if you can, to make your hair grow. Hmmm has anybody bottled this? They could make a fortune...

that's just a plant that looks like lips. He was always on the lookout for 'jungle accessories' 

'Jungleman' we would call him, all of 21 years, lets a spider crawl on him, and this is his new wife. They are so cute together!

We visited his village, and she served me chicha. Traditionally made by the women spitting- it can be fresh or formented. Luckily it's not made that way anymore. I still had trouble choking down two whole bowls of this stuff to be polite. Had to drink another one at the next village, too. ug.

I actually ate lemon ants. Yes, live ants! You put them on your toungue, and they truely taste like lemon. 

I had a cut on my finger from the day before, and now it was infected. I was thinking to myself that I had better get to a pharmacy when I get back to Banos. When I showed my guide, he found a tree, cut into the bark to reveal blood red sap, worked it into a irradescent balm, put it on my finger, and within 3 hours it was all better. What a great resourse the rain forest is that we are chopping down at an alarming rate!

the oil companies have discovered a pocked another 20 km from here. So they are carving up the hillside in order to put a big road through. When it rains, the right side of the river is red, and what a muddy mess this is creating. It's making it difficult for Miguel to fish and feed his family. I'm sure it's not in the companies plans to compensate any of the families living downriver for thier loss of livlihood.

I came out of the jungle on Nov 5th, so anxious to know who the next president of the United States was (president of the world they would half joke). I heard by word of mouth at this little bar/outpost - Final decision? verdad? I cried. I wanted to buy a beer to celebrate, but they had a big night the night before, and all I could get was some soggy Chips Ahoy cookies and some strange orange soda. My tears mixed with the red dirt and I experienced such a mix of emotions. Angry at the audacity of the oil companies (termite people) and fearful for all the nice families' futures I met while in the jungle, but on the other hand, I felt a great sense of hope, and was finally proud to be an American.

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Waterfalls and river rafting

Somewhere betweeen the Amazon and the Andes is a little town called Banos. Yes, that means bathroom, but it also means baths, mineral baths, which this town has many of. Some frio, some caliente, and plenty of waterfalls, river rafting, bungee jumping, canyoneering, pizza and cappaccino, to keep all the gringos coming back for more. It kind of reminded me of Sun Valley, with all the Peter Pan guides and adventure brokers. Here's a panoramic from my little $7/night guesthouse with a rooftop cafe...

a cute town, really, and I could get stuck here if I wasn't running out of time.

A nun's voice and her electric guitar drew me into the church...

for $5 you can rent a mountain bike and spend a day on the Avenue of the Cascades, or waterfall highway

and for a $1 you can ride the telefrique.....

I didn't make it all the way to Puyo, cuz I kept on hanging out and taking dips in the pools...

I was seriously running out of money, but how can I not go river rafting? Thank god we had a rippin safety boater and a good top notch guide, cuz I wanted to go rafting, not swimming. Instead of white water rafting, it was more like black water rafting, as the recent rains brought out the mud and dirt in the river. "Careful not to open mouth while punching through waves", our guide warned us.

I've seen plenty of family plots, but never a plot for a group of professionals....?

for more pics of ecuador, click on thiakonig.com/ecuador

Into the Rainforest-Headwaters of the Amazon

my favorite part of the jungle were the sounds

here's the morning birds before dawn from a canoe.....

Allison and I wanted to travel the Napo River from Coca, Ecuador to Iquitos, Peru, but realistically didn't have enough time to do it all by public transport.  After we had given up and were packing for the bus, any bus, outa there, I met Julio and his wife. They were doing some construction to get their property to get ready for tourists on their family plot in Panacocha, and we wanted to see the jungle, so we struck up a deal. Nothing fancy, no English speaking guide, but we got fed for 5 days, and the grandfather and grandson took us piranha fishing, swimming?!, and for walks in the jungle. Julio and his wife were so cute, they still hold hands after 43 years of marriage and 46 grandkids.

in their cement canoe filled with construction projects, heading into the mist......

Sacario catches a big piranha, and grins a toothless smile to match....

are you SURE piranhas don't live in the lagoon?! 

Just to be safe, I made the kid go first

huge tree is over 2000 years old

the scary monster sound in the background are howler monkeys we are trying to find....

I've never seen it rain so hard in all my life.... I guess that's why they call it a rainforest...

just a little furniture drop off to the very sleepy jungle town of Panacocha, and some sand pick up for making cement back at the ranch, and wildlife viewing along the way

heading back to Coca, no sand, no furniture means we can stretch out...

Allison and I on the 8 hour ride back up the Napo River to Coca

for more pics of ecuador, click on thiakonig.com/ecuador