Biggest Feet In Ecuador

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This is the part that I had been waiting for -- the jungle trek! Very much out of my comfort zone (and even more so out of Jarrod's) but I figured, when in Ecuador...

I found our guide in the Lonely Planet, his tours were touted as extremely well-run with a cultural slant. Our email exchanges arranging the trek were pretty interesting and I knew that we were indeed in for an adventure.

Luis deposited us at Shacay's 'office' in Banos after an rather uneventful trek south, interrupted only by a little volcanic debris that made one of the roads impassable. Fresh off a 5-day stint in the deep dark jungle with a much more adventurous couple, Shacay was a 20-something member of the Shuar tribe (best known for their practice of shrinking heads). Our own personal Tarzan, he laid out the itinerary for the next few days, handed us a couple of release forms, and loaded us into the van where we were joined by our Spanish driver & Shacay's girlfriend Priscilla.

We needed to get from Banos to Puyo, the home of Priscilla's family and our jumping off point to the Amazon. Along the way, we passed some stunning waterfalls, stopped for a delicious lunch at a roadside restaurant serving fresh trout caught from the river below, and visited an animal refuge -- mostly monkeys displaced by oil companies destroying their habitats. Our first encounter with wildlife was pretty wild -- the highlight being a young monkey falling for my sweet smelling conditioner and attaching himself to my head for about 5 minutes, only to be pried off amid giggles by all bystanders.

Priscilla's family welcomed us warmly in their modest home; it was our last stop before stocking up on supplies & heading out. Three generations greeted, interrogated, and attempted to outfit us in the rubber boots needed for our journey to their homeland -- they determined the most remarkable thing about us was the size of J's feet. They were declared the 'biggest feet in Ecuador' and they wished us luck in finding some boots in town. We loaded in our last trekker, Priscilla's 5 year-old nephew Kengu, hit up the grocery store and market for provisions, a few shops in search of the 'muy grande' size 44 boots, and were off.

After a short tromp through the lush jungle, we arrived at our 1st stop -- a few rustic cabins built on stilts on the bank of a rushing river complete with hammocks for the all important r&r. There were a few other 'campers' from far & wide (Israel, Germany, Russia) and a local indigenous family -- with more kids & dogs than we could count -- maintaining the site. We got comfortable in our rustic (read no electricity, bare-bones plumbing) accommodations and were treated to a truly gourmet meal prepped by our guides -- at that point, all signs pointed to a fantastic adventure ahead.

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