Next adventure

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We have had a wonderful time in Ecuador thus far. Getting used to the altitude wasn't too bad at all. Getting our 6 month visa was a bigger deal, but that's done too. We have managed quite a few high-adventure type activities, mostly in Mindo. We went zip-lining, which lived up to the all the great things we'd heard about it. Flying along on a cable hundreds of feet above the ground is pretty exiting, doing it 12 times is pretty impressive. Dave, Steven and Katrina did a rappel called canyoning down a 40 meter waterfall, and we all went on a tubing trip down a very raging river, and were completely blown away by the acrobatics of the guides who throw themselves between the tubes and the rocks repeatedly redirecting the 7 tubes tied together. Dave and I had a very sweet time with a birding guide, and saw lots of mot mots, a quetzal, toucans and toucanettes, and lots more. We also took the kids to a soccer match, which turned out to be two games for one price, and the excitement in the stadium grew constantly, as many thousands of fans in their favorite teams jerseys chanted, waved flags etc. Sometimes it must get too exciting and break out into trouble, as there were riot police everywhere, crowd monitors, a moat and razor wire in strategic places. Oh and Great soccer too.
We have now descended from the Andes on a hair raising bus ride through rich green countryside, on a new looking highway that showed evidence of hundreds of mud and rockslides. Looking out of the windows on some of the corners and cliffside bits was pretty scary. We are now in Tena, and day after tomorrow we will meet up with the volunteer coordinator for Yanapuma. There are two projects here we hope to be helping with, an animal rescue center call Al Arca, and a support program for neglected children. Oh yes, a few trips into the jungle and some white water rafting. The only problem will be finding a river that's not world class difficulty!
All the best!

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