Advertisement
Published: November 7th 2005
Brain
Okay, so it's not REALLY a brain, but it sure looks like one!Today is our last official day in Quito. We met with our landlady at 5 pm and soon -- at 10 pm tonight -- we'll board a bus bound for the Ecuadorian jungle reserve, Cuyabeno (located in the northeastern part of Ecuador). Around 6 am Monday morning we'll arrive in a small jungle town called Lago Agrio. There we'll meet our guide who will take us down the river in a motorized canoe to our hut campsite. And then it's five days of monkeys, caimans and piranhas, oh my! 😊 We're all very, very exciting about our upcoming jungle adventure (as I'm sure you can imagine). I really want to see some large snakes. No, really, I do. (I also want to see a jaguar, but I guess the liklihood of that is really low, which is sad.) But supposedly we'll see several different species of monkeys, as well as freshwater dolphins and lots of frogs, birds and butterflies.
I can't wait! We're going through a jungle tour company called Dracaena (address: Pinto No. 446 y Av. Amazonas, Quito, Ecuador; phone number: (593-2) 546-590). They have on file all of our information, so if anything happens --
not that anything will! -- you can contact them. And if they don't speak English, remember that you have many people who, I'm sure, would be happy to help translate: Ray, Delmy, Charissa, Karen, Dago and Jen. But nothing is going to happen! I've got malaria pills, $4 sunglasses and a pink Steelers hat; what could possibly go wrong? 😊
Needless to say, I'm going to be out of touch for at least a week. After our jungle tour we're either going to return to Quito before heading off . . . somewhere . . . or we're going to travel first to Tena, a jungle town south of Lago Agrio. Tena is supposed to be really cool, so I think that's what we're going to do. Once we do return to the land of internet and phone, it might take me awhile to type up my journal entries and upload my photos. The first people I'm going to call (obviously) will be my family, so you can always email or call them if you're dying to know if I got eaten by a caiman -- I mean, if I returned safely 😉
On a completely different note, our activities last
weekend included wandering around a botanical garden in Carolina Park on Saturday and going up the Teleferiqo on Sunday. The botanical park was beautiful and peaceful; it was as the entire city of Quito vanished while we were inside the park. We discovered many interesting plants, including a succulent that resembled a brain.
But as enjoyable as the park was, it was nothing compared to going up the Teleferiqo. The Teleferiqo is six-person cable car that goes up Quito's local volcano, Pichincha (to an elevation of 13500'). When we first arrived at the top the view was incredible; I knew Quito was huge, but I had no idea it was
that big. Gradually, though, the clouds rolled in, and Quito was completely hidden from view. It was amazing to be surrounded by rolling hills, grass and clouds.
Ami has more pictures from the
botanical garden and the
Teleferiqo, so definitely check them out!
Well, it's just about time for me to catch my bus to the jungle. Will think of you all as I hang out with the monkeys!
Chao,
em
Advertisement
Tot: 0.161s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0863s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
pics
Why aren't you in any of the pictures?? Are you even really there?? :)