jungle!

HOLA!

Right so we have spent nearly a week in the jungle. The lodge we stayed in was lovely! It was all very open with no glass but netting across the windows. We had a balcony looking out on to the river. The food was amazing and there was a nice fire with chairs or sofas around it where you could sit in the evening to chat to other guests or play cards or just relax. There was no electricity so after dark it was quite hard to do anything. We had head torches so we could read in bed and they gave us oil lamps and candles too.

The activities we did in the jungle were amazing. We were given wellies and some very attractive ponchos. One boy found a poisonous spider in his boot. It would have given him 5 days of pain. After that we were all very careful to check our shoes before putting them on! We did lots of different activities and most of them at least had the option of swimming in the river. On the first day we walked to a waterfall and then got to swim in it. We hiked back to the river and then got to go tubing down the river back to the lodge. Tubing was so much fun. You basically just sit in a big rubber ring and float down the river. In the afternoon we went for another hike in the jungle. We walked back down a river and because I had shoter boots on than everyone else the guide carried me on his back but because I weighed him down the water went over the top of his boots, oops! It was really interesting, as we were going along in the jungle the guide would point out interesting wildlife such as an ant that was about 2cm long a poisonous. He also showed us how to make things out of the materials. We got crowns, glasses, a manicure and a bag. It was very clever!

The other activities we did included going to visit 2 local tribes. This was great becasue we saw a bit about how they live. We were shown how they make their local beer (and then tried some), we were shown how they make the pottery and had a go at blowing an arrow out of a pipe, aiming for a parrot on a strick. I was ribbish and never even managed to hit the stick never mind the parrot. With the other tribe we were given some kind of ritual by a man who was 100 years old and also shown the local dancing. We were made to join in the dancing, we had a go but were not very good! We also went to an animal rescue farm and a butterfly farm. These had lots of intersting animals in and the butterflies were really pretty and colourful! We also did lots of swimming in the river. Once we crossed the river to get to a tarzan swing that then dropped you in the river. It was OK to cross the river becasue the tarzan swing was down stream of where we had stopped to eat lunch but swimming back upstream was really hard work. It was worth it though because the tarzan swing was fun. We also jumped in off many different rocks. The lodge alsways used the river as a mode of transport. We would always get to the tribes, animal centres etc in a canoe. It was really nice to be able to see more of the jungle from the river.

We finished at the lodge yesterday morning but managed to organize to go white water rafting through the lodge but with a company in Tena. It was only on grade 3 rapids but it was so much fun! Lizzy was the only one on our raft who managed to fall in accdentily! We did manage to (on purpose) tip the raft upsdie down by flipping it over backwards. We got very wet and now have some lovely soggy clothes that need washing but it was definately worth it!

Last night straight after rafting we manage to get a bus to Banos. We then got a bus to Riobamba and then a bus on to Cuenca. We were told we would get in at 7.40am to Cuenca but helpfully got in at 4.30 this morning. Anyway we mamanged to find somewhere to stay tonight and left our big bags in our room. We have been looking round Cuenca today and are looking forward to an early night before heading off on another bus to Guayquil tomorrow. We are then hopeing to be over on the coast ofr a couple of days before and then get back to Quito on Thursday so that we can have a few days htere before we are off volunteering.

So that was my jungle experience and it was fab!
I will update you again about the rest of Ecuador soon!

Adios xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx