Blogs from Tena, East, Ecuador, South America - page 9

I woke as excited as a child before Christmas. It was still dark outside as I hauled myself and my eternal travel companion, the backpack, to the bus stop. I´m headed to a Jungle community in Ecuador. It´s remote and it feels like a true adventure. I have to catch the bus for 6 hours, then a canoe, then walk into the jungle. The bus drops me off at Puerto Rico, the rich port. There isn´t much there, a church that looks like a fruit crate and a man with a face like one of those puppies with hundreds of folds on the skin. They multiply when he breaks into a shining smile and gabbles away at me in some kind of Spanish, no kind that I recognize. But the universal sign language of his pointing ... read more

Week 3 There were also plenty of bird species in the jungle (anhinga, black vultures, parakeets (pacific parrotlet and cobalt-winged), scarlet macaws (three foot, bright red with yellow patches on upper wings) and toucans (white throated, black billed mountain toucan), butterflies (memelaus morpho - male is bright blue), spiders... In fact, our host brought in a tarantula one evening - they apparently lay their eggs on the undersides of banana leaves which then stick together. The next day, we went on a jungle walk to discover the medicinal properties of plants in the area. I discovered that the loud cacaphonous calling that woke me each morning belonged to chacalacas´... that the red flower hanging on plants similar to banana tress were heliconias...the pink blossom like flowers I´d noticed lining the river are yutzos and act as ... read more

Arrived at our jungle base yesterday after a stop off at the doctor´s in Baños to treat Judy for a wounded eye and me for inflames sandfly bites (again). We were under orders from Lynette to get up early and go and surprise/scare the crap out of Judy by jumping on her and singing Happy Birthday, for the big day had finally arrived. After a shambolic attempt at doing this, we had breakfast and headed off for our jungle trek, with our guide, Juan. The jungle we were visiting stretched along the Rio Napo, a tributary to the Amazon. The walk was however a little disappointing and we didn't see much wildlife other than varying sizes of spiders and some huge ants. In the afternoon, we visited the Kichua Indian museum and learned about their hunting ... read more

Hello everyone, I've just gotten back from about 4 days in the Napo Province of Ecuador. This is part of the Oriente region of Ecuador, a chunk of the Amazon to the right of the Andes. All of the YFU students (about 45 or so) met in Quito on the 10th. Buses here are great, you pay 9 dollars for a fare to Quito. The trip is about 9 hours long, but it isn't too bad. The "ejecutivo" bus system means that you won't be mugged, stabbed, have your baggage taken, stuff like that. Plus, there's air conditioning, usually you can have two seats to yourself, it's pretty comfortable. I've found that the roads in the coastal region are the second worst in Ecuador, rivaled only by the roads in the oriente region. The roads in ... read more

Tena is a way station south east of Quito on the western fringe of Amazonia. Having arrived we are in a most noisy hostel .The place is so close to the road that I have to blow the street dust out off my keyboard since working in the restaurant for two hours. The room is in the basement with no out side window, just a screen open to the stairwell. Karen put Chad and I in this space. She and the rest of the group have gone to the jungle. We will meet them on the 8th in Banos. Chad is spending three days learning to kayak. I am visiting the Parque Amazonico. And have made a new friend, taken the bus to Serena, working on my blogs, walking to the cemetery … only thing open ... read more