Mancora - Medellin

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We reached Guayaquil in South Ecuador at 4 in the morning after a nasty bus ride across the border- though we couldn't complain after 3 weeks of no buses!- to jump on another bus by 7 taking us to Tena, a town in the River Napo region of the Amazon. It was an intense 12 hour bus so we were more than grateful to find some food and a bed on arrival. The following morning we headed out to a smaller village called Misahualli, where we arranged a 3 day jungle tour and spent the rest of the day wacthing sinister monkeys prey upon the belongings of unsuspecting tourists. We were picked up the following morning by a 4x4 on which we met our guide Erwin and were then driven to an indigenous area called Centro Pusuno. Little did we know that we were in for a very special tour; not only was it just us with our guide, we were also programmed to stay at Erwin's family house rather than a travel lodge. We went on a 3 hour walk through the jungle that morning and ate some ants, cocoa fruit and palm hearts (guilty though we felt!) and were shown the uses of many medicinal plants. After a nice lunch and a very refreshing swim in the river that afternoon we decided to pay the local shaman a visit. He wasn't what we quite expected in jogging bottoms and a camo top but he agreed to carry out a body cleansing on us that night. It was a very interesting experience, drinking ayahuasca followed by "agua ardiente" (sugarcane spirit) before he performed the ceremony (this time in traditional clothes). The ayahuasca, a hallucinagen, made us both feel very at peace though didn't have huge visual effects on either of us,making the experience very relaxing. After he cleansed us with tobacco smoke, a chant and a brush made out of leaves he told each of us things that he couldn't have guessed about us and said he had removed evil spirits and replaced them with good ones (unsurprisingly work and study spirits for both of us!). The following day we went on a 5 hour hike to a waterfall and learnt about more medicinal plants and the uses of certain vegetation in costume making and construction. In the afternoon we went tubing, a very interesting experience as the river wasn't deep enough and had traffic going across it, alomst bumping in to 2 lorries and a horse! The following day we leanrt how to cultivate yuka and then how to make the traditional drink "chicha"out of it, which when left to ferment becomes very alcoholic and is their drink of choice in festivals. We then had a whirlwind lesson in chocolate making before heading of to wash for gold, finding a nice little piece each!

The following morning we set off to Quito where we spent only one night before heading to Columbia. The bus ride and border crossing were slower than expected so we ended up staying the night in the small town Ipiales before another epic bus ride to Cali the following day. Cali was an interesting city, though not overly attractive. we visited the gold museum and looked around the old town during the day and then decided to venture out that night to watch some salsa, Cali being the capital of in Columbia. It was pretty impressive to watch and after a few drinks we tried to join in but just looked a bit silly! The next night we got a bus to Medellin, arriving at 6 in the morning on the Saturday. We visited the centre and the Botero statues of fat people and fat animals before going on a cable car up to a library donated by the Spanish with views over the city. Coincidentally, our friends Dave and Ollie were in Medellin and were easily persuaded to stay an extra night so we hit some bars in the Zona Rosa where we met lots of great young locals and had a really good time. After a day to recover we did a good bit of sightseeing, getting up early and visiting Pueblito Paisa, a little Antioquian village on top of a hill with great views of the city. We attempted to find a few places and on the way saw some beautiful churches and sculptures before spending the afternoon looking for sloth in the botanical gradens (in vain). On the way back to the hostel we went on another cable car that took us right over the shanty towns that overlook the city from the South. The views were really spectacular, though we felt pretty spent by the end!

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