Welcome to the jungle

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At the beginning of the week I arrived in Baños - the adventure capital of Ecuador. The small town is set in a valley that is surrounded by sheer mountains and even an active volcano. It is where the thrill seekers congregate to partake in the likes of white water rafting, canyoning and bridge jumping.



I set myself up a a new hostel just on the outskirts of town (which in Baños means that it was a five minute walk to the Center of town instead of a three minute one) called La Casa del Molino Blanco which was amazing. The beds had duvets on them and the cleaner not only folded all of my clothes for me, but put everything in logical piles depending on what category they fell into. The hostel also had amazing breakfasts with fresh fruit and home made brown bread, which is only exciting if you have been eating nothing but sugary white bread for the last five months like I have.



On my first morning in town I went canyoning with a guy from the hostel called Matt. We payed $25 each to go on a private tour. Basically you dress up in hot wetsuits, waterproof jackets and boat shoes and climb up an assortment of waterfalls, strap in and then repel down them. My first attempt was a bit of a fail. I started repelling down the waterfall to which you're meant to stick to the right. As I was still not fully trusting of my harness I was relying quite heavily on my feet rather than leaning back, I did not take notice of my guide constantly telling me to spread my legs (I mean what self respecting female would?) and I ended up slipping and falling straight into the middle of the waterfall. Lets just say that from then on I learnt to spread my legs.



After a couple of days in Baños I headed into The Amazon on a two day tour. The guide was a local with parents from two of the different local tribes and he shed a lot of insight on life in the jungle which was really interesting. We went to a local village and consumed a local drink made out of yams that is meant to be as potent as a bottle of rum. I just thought it tasted like shiz. Apparently in the jungle if you go to a festival and you end up bedding a local girl the following morning you have to take her back to your family and she has to gain their respect by demonstrating her cleaning skills. If her skills are good enough it is a done deal and its happily ever after. Alas, if her cleaning skills are not up to scratch it is still a done deal, however you have to go and live in another village. Although apparently this is only applicable if both people are from the jungle. If you manage to bed a tourist then there is no 'the morning after the night before' obligations and you just put it down to a good time.



Overall I had a really good time in the jungle. I managed to not get bitten once, got to dress up as a local and run around throwing spears and shooting things with my blow gun and spent many a hour stumbling around the rainforest in my gumboots. Not to mention I befriended a chicken. That being said, my two day stint was all that was needed and I was more than happy to return to society the following night.



On thing I have noticed in Baños, and Ecuador in general is that the dogs need to learn to be more particular in their breeding. The number of dogs that you see running around town that are out of proportion is just getting ridiculous. A dog with a body as long as and as big as a golden retriever should not be running around on legs that belong on a dash hound. It just looks stupid!

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