Mitad Del Mundo and beyond

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Well we´re off and running and ten days into this adventure everything is going great. We had spend the first days of our trip in Equador in the city of Quito, it is a beautiful city with every building carved right out of the side of the surrounding mountains. You are always either wlking uphill or downhill but it´s good exercise and will only help get up to par for what´s ahead.

We have taken in the sights of the city which have included climbing the 200 foot high Clock tower in the Basilica, check out the pics, I´ve climbed some sketchy ladders before but this was definetely the worst. We also went to the Market in Otavalo which is 1.5hrs drive North of Quito. The Market itself covers approx. 6 square city bloks and sells everything from fresh fruits to nike shoes. It was pretty cool and there was definetly lots of stuff worth buying but carrying it around for a year is another story.

On Monday we left Quito to embark on our four day jungle trek into the Northern Amazon Rainforest, we were in the Cuyabeno Reserve which is North East of Quito. We took a 7hr night bus to Lago Agrios, then another 3hr bus ride to the Cuyabeno River and then a 2hr boat ride to our lodge. That made me tired again just typing that, well although it took forever to get there it was definetly AWESOME!!!! We spent the first day trekking through the jungle with our guide Neicer who knew everything about the plants and animals of this reserve, he was really good and could even spot small snakes in trees while we drove past in the boat at 20km/hr. We were lucky enough to spot several different types of each species from the various poisonous frog, monkeys and unlimited number of birds. Our day ended with a boat ride down the river, Piranha fishing (see attached photo for my big catch) and a night trek which was really good and we even had to scare away the cayman so we could get back into the boat. The next day we went to visit a village inside the reserve, it was good we ended up making some lunch with the locals and hanging out for a bit. We hopped back into the boat and traveled further down to another village to visit the local Shaman, he stills practices tradional healing which involves him drinking some drink which gives him hallucinations and allows him to see what´s wrong with you and what remedy is needed, kinda like a magic mushroom x-ray hahahahahaha It was good to see him but I´ll stick to the walk in clinic. We ended the day by watching the sunset from our boat and were lucky enough to see some pink fresh water dolphins playing near by.
Oh and we saw an anaconda on our trip back to the lodge as well which was good because supposedly they´re hard to find and I really wanted to see one.

Anyways we´re back in Quito now getting ready to take off tomorrow for the Galapagos Islands!!! I can´t wait, we´re both really excited, so look forward to some awesome pics in our next entry. Until then take care

Matt & Tyne

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Comments

[Diane]

And it begins
Ok so all I can say is JEALOUS and... I'm on my way!!! Sounds (and looks!) like you're having a great time. The photos are a nice touch!! Hopefully Matt wasn't too creeped out by the SCHNOUTs on the pink dolphins!!! Have a blast and keep up the great posts!! I'm looking forward to seeing your photos and hearing how amazing the Galapagos are!!! Love you guys!! Diane

[Rob Gillespie]

Envious
Nice piranha what's the name of the fish you're holding haha Miss Calgary yet. You shouldn't. We keep getting kicked with winter and below average temperatures. Was that a beached whale I saw amidst the sea lions arf arf Keep the pictures coming looks like really beautiful country