High on the 'Feriqo!

Meanwhile, back in Quito... conditioning for our upcoming Cotopaxi trip, we took the Teleferiqo (gondola) up to a 13,500 foot lookout over the city. Quito is so long--or wide if you go by their maps--you practically have to turn 180 degrees to look from one end of the city to the other. We rode the 'feriqo up and hiked a bit more and froze as we watched a huge shadow devower the city as the sun set over the surrounding volcanos.



Side note: we had really hoped for a romantic ride up in the gondola alone: there was absolutely no one behind us in line. But a split second after we got on the thing, a fully armed cop-type dude came running up and jumped in the cable car. It freaked us out at first, but we calmed down after about ten minutes of the guy constantly whisper-yelling "Charlie-veinte, Charlie-veinte" into his walkie talkie. Not funny, haha, at all...well, actually it was pretty damn funny, but strange.

Equator in Ecuador....Who Knew??

From Tena, we bussed it straight to Quito arriving a little ahead of schedule, giving us a couple of days to goof off. So, we headed straight up to the actual equator that made Ecuador famous and, of course, we kissed whilst simultaneously standing on both hemispheres. World travelers: worldly kissers.

And obviously, while we were at the Ciudad Mitat del Mundo, we took in a few miniature museums and an Ecuadorian Soul Sista concert...for free!!!

Remember Shooter's?

Anyone reading this blog that lived in Durango, Colorado in the nineties might get a kick in the memory lane pants from this one.

Thumbs Please

After meeting Mr. Locos, and drinking the sacred 185 proof jungle juice, we had our choice of taking another afternoon "walk" in the jungle, or cutting out after lunch. We opted to catch a ride back to Tena to tell the tour operator about some of the things I didn't talk about here, and to try to get some of our money back (I try to break free from complainy-pants mode in this blog, though I don't do all that well). He was very receptive to the complaints and suggestions; however, when I mentioned a refund, it was as though he was pretending not to understand what I meant, even as he was understanding every word I was saying. Anyhoo, I try not to drone on, and only plug places and services when we feel they really deserve it, but I have to give Amarongachi tours two thumbs down. Don't get me wrong--we had a great time. I don't want this blog to be viewed as a delivery system for negativity, and I won't go into the complaints we had. I just needed to get this off my chest: Amarongachi = 2 thumbs down.

Shangrila, however--which, ironically and sadly is run by Amarongachi--gets four thumbs up!!

Blame it on the Hooch

On the last of our days in the Amazon, we set out into the jungle in search of the long lost indigenous tribe of Santa Monica. Actually, we drove an hour and a half down a small dirt road to a village inhabited by about forty people. All related to and/or sired by--the larger percentage of them of the latter group--the Shaman of the village, aptly nicknamed Huevos Locos.



Our to do list for the day:
-Meet the shaman, who was drunk from his homemade grain alcohol (185 proof)
-Drink some of Huevos Locos's hooch (hey, we didn't want to offend him)
-Drink locally made and recently fermented yuka wine
-Eat the big, fat larva of an elephant beettle (not good; not good at all)
-Buy a locally made neclace to "help" the community
-See, for the first time, a cocoa tree
-Pick and peel cocoa fruit
-Analyze and eat a cocoa bean
-Appreciate chocolate made in Switzerland
-Appreciate never having to eat beetle larvae again (hopefully)














































Yeah, go ahead and put a check mark by every item on that list.

Day3--Jungle Walk Part 2

I was not prepared for the canyoning turn in our jungle tour. Neither mentally, I've always been a little claustrophobic, nor physically, I'm fat and claustrophobic. But I fit through, if not barely--anxiously scraping my appendages were they bend the whole way--and we were not turned into vampires (there were hundreds of bats in the caves that would fly right at us and sometimes fly right into us). There also ended up being some free-climbing sans gear, which again, had us a little freaked out as to what the hell we or anyone else would do if we were to fall. Again, survived. Yay!!

Day 3--Jungle Walk Part 1

The third day we took a guided jungle walk that consisted of two parts: nature hike and canyoning. During the hike we saw some cool flora and some freaky fauna, and learned a little about how the two get along and how humans utilize that harmony for medicine and ritual. Most notable, were the ants. These things were huge, and could kill you with their venomous pinchers. Luckily, however, we now know that if you were to get bitten by one of these things, you could counter their venom by squishing the same type of ant and rubbing it's bodily juices into the bite.

This is definitely good to know, especially if you were to participate in the local male coming of age ritual in which you are covered head to toe by the ants, getting bitten until you pass out. (What the hell??!!)

Shangri-La

On the third jungle day, we were so thankful that we headed to the second lodge in the morning instead of the afternoon. This lodge--named Shangrila, with free potable water, toilet seats, hot showers, and plenty of manners--was perched atop a two hundred foot cliff, which looked over the Napo river as it winded it's way through the Amazon.























Just sitting and enjoying the spectacular view from this place was a highlight of the tour--although getting that long hot shower, after walking through the very hot very wet jungle for two and half days in the same clothes, wasn't all that horrible either.

Jungle--Day 2--Lagoon

More Jungle walking. This time to a lagoon made by a decent sized rushing stream that carved a natural swimming hole out of the huge rocks before it spilled over into one of the major rivers. The stream created a cool little slide in the rock at the top of the lagoon. But, again as with the falls, we had to be super carefull. There was a hard current in part of the peacefull lagoon that could take you over the leathal waterfall at the bottom of the lagoon, and the fun little slide poured right into the current. But you probably guessed it; we survived...again!!

No pictures of the lagoon, but snapped a keeper on the way.

Jungle--Day 2--Waterfalls

On the second jungle day, we strapped on those big black boots once more and set out from the lodge, deeper into the muck and mist, to find a stream of freshly flowing jungle aqua. We followed the stream up and up, and as we went, the up got upper and upper--as in every twenty minutes or so, we ran into a rushing waterfall. The falls were fun to see and cool to stand under; but the crazy thing was, we were actually climbing up the rocks that the falls were shooting over. There were ropes set up, and guides to assist, but the reality of it was: don't slip, or else!! It was more death defying than any picture I could show, because I didn't have the camera out when I thought we were climbing for our lives. But some fun pics made it through nonetheless.

Jungle--First Night

So, after the rafting on the first jungle day, we strapped on our newly issued black rubber boots and trudged through the jungle mud and mist to the first of the two lodges we stayed in. The lodge--nameless and without potable water, toilet seats, functional mosquito nets, or manners--was the perfect contrast to the second lodge, which allowed us to more properly appreciate that super sweet second lodge.

Don't Monkey Around

At one point during the rafting, we pulled over to the shore and hiked up a little cavern to participate in a local tradition of face painting. The two rafting guides ran up ahead to find and mix the paint, which, of course, was a mixture of river mud and monkey sh!t; or at least that's what they told us right after smearing it all over our faces. I'll let you guess as to whether or not they were full of the monkey stuff themselves.

Eat Simple in the Jungle

The second best part of the rafting trip--the best part being the actual white water--was the lunch we had on shore halfway through the day. The lunch consisted of stale tortillas, freshly diced avocado, onion, pepper, and Doritos, with fresh cut pineapple for dessert. We stuffed the diced ingredients into the torts and chowed like there was no tomorrow. It was, hands down, the best meal we had eaten in Ecuador so far. So simple, yet so tastey--but the point isn't really how good it was, but rather, how good it was compared to everything else we ate in Ecuador. Perhaps it's our own darn fault for refusing to eat guinnea pigs, but it just seemed impossible to find decent food. So, we savored every bite, and even cleaned up after ourselves.

Amazon

On the first day of our four-day jungle tour, we did some white water rafting down the Napo river. It was the best day of all four days, for many reasons, not the least of which was that it was, we felt, the least life threatening activity we ended up doing during the tour. Even though towards the end, in very flat water, we hit a bump or something and lost control of the boat, as you can see in the photo.

Tena

Our next stop was Tena (pronounce it however the heck the you like, I heard at least ten different pronounciations from the locals alone). Tena was pretty much just an entry point for our jungle tour. So, as planned, we got there, found an arguably good tour agency, spent the night, complained to each other about the accommodations, and set out for the Amazon.

Something of note: Tena was built at the junction of two medium sized rivers. About two months before we got there, a heavy rain increased the water level in those rivers by over twenty feet and flooded the entire city. Workers were laying down brand new cobblestone streets on their main avenue while we where there. Laying them, hunched over, by hand, in the rain; it did not look fun...at all!

Casa Luna

On our last night in Banos, we went up to a little cafe that literally hangs off a cliff looking straight down on the little town, and had an early dinner and watched the sun set. It was another one of those awesome experiences that we are so glad we got to enjoy.

A funny thing: right at dusk, from afar, the soft glow of the electric lights make it appear as though there is hot lava flowing through the streets. Which is quite fitting, as Banos sits directly below an active volcano and is evacuated frequently.

Stairway to Heaven...

...or at least a shot at heaven, as the odds of surviving a walk down these stairs seemed slim.

Rio Verde

After a few hours of coasting and pedalling, we arrived in Rio Verde, not a town so much as a dirt road and a river. But the river produced some amazing waterfalls, and we hiked down to a very rickety, very high, very scary Indiana Jones bridge to get a great view of some of the falls. In the end, we paid a taxi-truck three bucks to take us back up to banos with our bikes.

Banos Bikes

One of the other things we planned to do, and did, in Banos was ride mountain bikes from Banos to Rio Verde. Essentially, coasting from the Andes to the Amazon. Well, it was not all coasting, I'll tell you that. But, I knew what they meant when they said "all downhill," because I now speak South American altitude, thanks to our Colca Canyon guide et al. Regardless, I'm not that adverse to exercise--especially in this form--and the trip was as it one might think: once in a lifetime!!

Banos Zoo

The animal prison, as I mentioned, was tucked into the side of a mountain, not so much just outside of town, but rather, just accross the huge gorge that ran along the edge of main downtown. The ride there and back, and the general layout of the facility were way more impressive than the prisoners on display. Which of course = you had to be there, but I'll post pics of the cute and strange animals anyway.