Blogs from East, Ecuador, South America - page 28

Well, a journey and a half to Banos, what with a blockage due to volcanic eruptions and the (actually very nice) peasants revolting about their lot. The white knuckle ride for the end of the journey turned out to be in a 4 x 4 over a lava field - no photes, too scary to take out the camera. All in all a very interesting journey here. The Posada del Arte is an unusual little hotel with a great view, and very comfy. Maybe it´s the warmer weather down here- only 6500 ft up. This morning we were up early, as always and had a splendid walk in the hills around Banos. Quito seems a lifetaime away already, it's so esay and relaxing in Banos, just a small town in the foot of a volcano. ... read more

The last day of our Amazon adventure and what better way to spend it than with a bit of whitewater rafting. This part of Ecuador hosted the 2005 rafting world championships so we thought we'd get some decent rapids here. Luckily, we're both experienced rafters - Gemma went once on a family holiday 10 years ago and Ed went on a whitewater rafting holiday with his school in 1990. Yet again we struck gold with the weather and had a day of glorious sunshine, which is by no means an everyday event here. The rafting was absolutely amazing and one of our best days so far. We fell out once or twice and ended the day in pain, but for pure fun it'd be hard to beat. The company we went with is called 'Rios ... read more

Putting on wet and smelly clothes was not a highlight of today, but it was worth it as our morning activity was 'canyoning'. We started with an hour long walk learning very interesting facts about different plants and creatures, their medicinal qualities or their uses in rituals and so on. All very interesting and it is impressive how much the people here use from the jungle. We even tried some lemon ants - and it is amazing how much they actually do taste of lemons, a bit like lemon sherbet! Then we walked down into a river bed and into primary rain forest (you can tell this because there are no yuka or banana plants growing there) and followed it for about 2 hours, climbing over bolders and fallen trees. We even had to squeeze ... read more

The project here is going really well. The people are all really nice. I can even understand a little of what the priest who runs it says now (he speaks really fast and has got a thick Spanish accent). The kids are great however I am always tired. It is pretty difficult trying to control children and explain things to them in a language you don´t speak much of! I like Puyo. It´s really small and rains alot but hey it´s the Oriente. I have made a couple of Ecuadorian friends here as well. This weekend I went to Tena for the night and then to Mishaulli. This is a really small town on the Napo. I went walking in the forest and to a mini waterfall. It was very pretty. I then sat on the ... read more

On Sunday I went to near Rio Verde. I first went on a cable car thing across the valley which was pretty cool. Fastest moving cable car ever! After that I went to Rio Verde. There I visited the waterfall. Honestly I never imagined it could be that big and spectacular. Standing anywhere near it you got absolutely drenched!! Then I went to a nice little bar overlooking the waterfall to enjoy a nice realxing beer. It was a really good relaxing weekend which is what I needed after a week of total Spanish!!... read more