Jungle Part 3! (I promise there's a great travel story in this one!)

Day 3 of the jungle adventure continues!

For the third day, Marco took a group of us to hike up to a waterfall close by. We hopped into the canoe and went about 5 minutes up the river to the entrance. It seemed quite busy with a few other groups and many families (probably because of carnival).

We started the hike to the first point where people  stopped to swim. Marco told us it was a hike we would need to wear our "botas" for, and soon after this photo, the reason for this became apparent. 

As clearly viewed here, the path was worse than mud season in Vermont! This came from a mix of the downpour from the night before and the amount of people walking on it. It was like playing frisbee on a rainy day when the field becomes a mud pit...

Graceful as I am, I knew I would be falling all over the place, and of course I did. I even had one of those lovely boot gets stuck in the mud, but body keeps going and foot comes out and takes the next step DEEEEP into the mud. I embraced my slipping and sliding.

 

The way back down was sort of like skiing. Marco was kind enough to help me down, but part of me thinks he was just in it for the entertainment (I don't blame him).

We encountered a tarantula on the path on the way back down. I went WAY out of the way to avoid that one. 

I was happy to be back on DRY land. This doesn't even truly illustrate the amount of mud splattered that I was, but it gives a good starting idea.








Post hike, we headed back to the boat to hop in some tubes and tube back down to the lodge. Now this was no simple tube down the Battenkill experience. No this was the most stressful tubing experience ever. (I know how could tubing be stressful right?!?) Well we weren't supposed to simply float, no we had to make sure to paddle ourselves into the middle of the river, and then there were rapids tossing the tube towards the edge (ahh must paddle back to the middle) then it was too windy so we had to get back into the boat and it was all very short lived...but fun none the less.

After some lunch and a nap we headed back down to monkey town to a butterfly hatchery.

the face off on the 1 way bridge

I liked this caterpillar because it looks like a tiny dragon

had to go all the way to Ecuador to snap a picture of a monarch butterfly

Wandering back to the boat I figured I should take some pictures of the (winding down) Carnival festivities.

if the cops are wielding foam then NO ONE is safe

upon our return a nice fire was built in the lodge, and we settled in to MAKE SOME CHOCOLATE. Now this is not the first time I've had this chocolate demonstration (in fact not even the first time in this blog), but it was definitely the most hands on time. We roasted the cacao pods over the fire first.

Then we cracked the shells and took out the nibs of cacao.

Then I even tried to grind the nibs...but it was too tough for me (ha) so some one else had to do the magic.

Marco mixed the ground nibs with some milk and sugar and we heated it back over the fire, making fondue!

OHH YES

So the best part of traveling, as any traveler will tell you, is the assortment of people you meet along the way. During our outing that day, a huge group had arrived at the lodge. We didn't strike up conversation until the chocolate making process had commenced, but it turned out they were a MOTORCYCLE GROUP touring through Ecuador. This was the last stop on their 12 day journey before heading back to Quito. The group was made up of about 12. They invited me to have dinner with them (which was extremely nice after my solitary meals up until this point), and offered me a ride back to Quito the next day! (no, not on a bike, they had two safe cars following). I was extremely lucky to have met them because as I soon realized, all of the busses back to Quito were already filled (I hadn't thought to buy my ticket in advance...)

if you fell...you had to strap the baby on your bike so you would be extra careful and not fall again...

packing up the next morning

the official truck of Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental

and finally back on the bridge to monkey town to see the monkeys one last time

It was a great ride back, of course not with out its share of typical Ecuadorian mishaps. Besides the POURING rain (I was lucky to be in a car), the rental car we were in, though practically new, had about every problem in the book, including the power steering dying on us about 30 min into the journey...but these stories would be no fun if they didn't include a bit of adventure...

Finals start tomorrow and just 9 more days until my return home. This weekend I am finally making the journey to the infamous Cuenca, which I am very excited about.