The Ecuadorian rainforest

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After another couple of days in Quito we went to Tena.. back into the Amazon and have had an experience like no other!
We went to a jungle lodge in the middle of the Amazon and went canyoning, climbing through small crevices in canyons. It was really fun, even if a bit frightening at some points, especially in the caves with about 100 bats flying at us!

We saw lots of exotic plants and medicinal ones, including a plant that has bark which is good for malaria and a seed that is taken as an oral contraceptive, only 3 times a year. The fruit from the tree can be eaten too. It was very interesting, just how many different plants there are.. including girls best friend - cocoa. The cocoa fruit is really Delicious.
We went tubing down the river, and stopped off to visit a local community, a tiny tribe in the jungle. .and got to taste the tradition yukka drink... fermented yukka with sugar cane and a very special ingredient.. an old Lady's spit,for extra flavour.. and to pass on her wisdom! it was not as tasty as it sounds.. and we didn't feel any wiser for it either.

The next day we went off on a trek and on the way we had our faces painted with orange plant pigments.. so we looked like we were part of a tribe...(and a bit like twats if I'm honest) then we went trekking through the jungle and climbed up waterfalls with ropes.. was loads of fun and we got absolutely soaked... the orange lines all joined up on our faces and we looked well and truly orange, Lo looked like the orange guy from an auction program and I looked like Dale Winton...Was very funny!

That night we met the local Shamen, we were due to see get cleansed and also to get a look into our futures. Well as it was a new experience and never having met a Shamen before, I was a bit star struck and didn't know what to do.. but after spending all day with him going swimming in a lagoon, we realise he was just normal..

He made us the ayahuasca drink, to help us see our futures, it took 4 hours for the soup made from the leaves of the plant to reduce down to the drink. He kept warning us that we would be sick after taking the drink then we would be fine..but he kept on all through dinner. ´don't eat too much, because you will be sick´.... We were like.. por favour...no mas! ...we took very special care to chew everything and didnt eat any carrots..
Lo was a good girl and downed her drink in one, and 1 hour later she was spewing over the balcony.. I of course was a wuss and took a few attempts to drink it, It was horrible!

Then we had our cleaning.. Enrique (the Shamen) wafted leaves around us for ages and then cleansed us, lo and I were cleansed in different ways.. with Lo he sucked the badness from her finger. For me he sucked it from the top of my head.. 3 times.. Was a brilliant experience and would really recommend. And Tena was beautiful, the jungle there is 500m above sea level so there were hardly any mozzies and I survived with only a few ant bites.. it was very picturesque, I could have stayed there for a lot longer.

Back in Quito for the final time, and luckily we got to watch the first Ecuador match in Ecuador.. and even more luckily... they won and we had a massive parties on the street! The streets were full of people in yellow tops, balloons, ribbons was brilliant!
Lo and I were even interviewed for the TV...Tu gusta ecuador.... me gusta mucho!!

We leave Ecuador now and head to Colombia. We will be in Bogota on the 10th June.
Ecuador is a lovely country with loads in such a small area, jungle, mountains, vocanoes etc.. It suprised me how western and expensive it is though - but then maybe its because we have come from Peru & Bolivia.

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Photos

being cleansed
The shamen and Lo

The jungle
such an amazing place

Lady and a weird rodent
this lady spat in our drink, the animal is really tasty apparently, they were going to eat it for their tea that night..

Water fall
We climbed up this...

Comments

[lynn hetherington]

Hey Up
Ecuador looks a nice place , pity you not gonna be there for the match against england . Keep on enjoying it