yeah i went to the jungle!
it was so fun. awesome four days, three nights. the hostel didnīt really know what to do with me when i got back and they felt bad for not having a bed for me...so i went on the jungle trip that the secret garden arranges for HALF PRICE! yeah itīs a really good deal.
so the day after thom left me, i left for the jungle.
a lot went down so let me tell you the important things.
it was SO FUN.
it was hot and humid and i was sweaty a lot.
especially on the 4-hour turned 6-hour hike from the cabaņa where we stayed two of the nights to the cave where we slept the second night. our guide, Fidel the shaman, decided to chop up a new path for us with his machete that day. so much up and down hills and even a little bit of scaling and repelling. it was hard but really fun. the jungle is like cascadia but everything is bigger! the leaves, the bugs, the heat, the fruits. i ate soo many delicious fruits. jungle pineapple and watermelon and apples and mandarines and passion fruit. mm and everything is better when you put jungle at the beginning. i definitely did not starve. the guideīs family cooked for us everyday, so delicious. soups and teas and banana empanadas dipped in sugar. and we made chocolate from cocao plants! yes. and the family was so sweet. itīs intimidating at first to hop into those kinds of situations, but i really liked how nobody spoke any english. jungle living is something crazy. they are happy and dancing and so many traditions and songs and crafts and i think they really appreciate what they have. itīs so easy to garden in the jungle. we planted pineapples and yucca by just putting part of the plant back in the ground, stamping a little dirt over top. and a few months later, dinner! it was really great to see a life totally different than mine. everything in this country is different from my life in boston or oregon but this was one step further. there were a few teenage boys, a couple teenage girls, 4 little girls, and a baby girl. the little ones became very attached very quickly. the baby was the daughter of the cook who i think was my favorite. i helped cook the last night and they laughed at my cooking and spanish skills but kind-heartedly. i believe...
we slept in hammocks in the cave and that night i slept like a BABY! who knew that i would be so comfortable in a hammock. but they were hung up so tight and since there was no slack i was wrapped up like a mummy in my wool blanket underneath the mosquito net. warm and nice until my friend lucien woke me up when it was still dark asking if i heard the monkeys. i said no...fell deep asleep again until someone woke me up for breakfast. soo comfortable, that hammock, i miss it.
and the last day we went on a motorized canoe ride down the rio napo. we went to an animal rescue center, saw lots of monkeys and GIANT guinea pig rodents and turtles who never even blinked and big talking birds and hairy pigs. and we had a delicious lunch on a little beach where cold river (rio napo) meets warm river (forget the name). more yum fruit. so good. then swimming and lucien and i got carried down the river on accident...yeah the current was strong. i didnīt feel like i was going to die, just that when i tried to swim to either side of the river i knew i would be far down from where everyone else was by the time i made it. so we tread water and the boat came to rescue us...mm hm good times.
oh and i broke the bench on the table in the cave and fidel and the boys went and cut down a tree to make a new one. resourceful. i was just sitting on it...
this is so abbreviated! but itīs ok. i wrote more in real writing if anyone needs to read it later.
but it was a great trip.
any complaints i had at the moment went away when i got back to quito. itīs cool here but itīs no middle of the jungle cabaņa. so iīm just here working again. oh and all i had to do was whine a little (i was right to complain, they shouldnīt have given my bed away) and now i get to sleep in an apartment instead of the room where all the rest of the volunteers sleep. lucky me. iīm not mad at the idiots anymore since they made a nice effort to make up for almost not giving me my job back. it worked out nicely.
iīm still working on putting up more photos.
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