14/2/23
I woke up on my bus, which was emptying out to find I would not be in the bus terminal at the right time to take my connecting bus. Luckily, I had data to inform the hostel who I booked through and find a number for the lodge. I got through and made a plan with someone in the lodge for the cooks to pick me up from the town when they were getting the food shopping. I messaged the cook Martha to confirm. Perfect.
My bus stopped shortly after this and everyone filed off the bus. It was still due to go to the main terminal but since I was the only person left, it seemed unlikely. I asked them and they directed me to another bus. I had to buy a new ticket and hope it wouldn’t take too long to arrive – they told me an hour but in Ecuador, everything takes longer than it says! When I finally arrived in the terminal, I messaged Martha. They would be there shortly. I grabbed an iced coffee and a pastry for the journey and then we set off, stopping off at another supermarket on the way for things the last shop didn’t have. In the taxi, everyone was discussing breakfast. After an hour or so, we stopped off at a big open cafeteria with many food stalls. We ordered breakfast/lunch menu with soup and a meat and rice dish and after eating, we got back in the taxi and headed onwards. Martha paid for the taxi drivers dinner, since he had to wait for us. After another forty minutes, we arrived at the bridge, where we would switch to take a wooden boat deep into the Amazon.
They loaded the boat up and the covered everything with tarps and then we headed off. They gave me a rain poncho, which I didn’t think I needed since it was so hot and sunny, but they told me to keep it with me anyway. After thirty minutes of sunshine, the rain began. Once it started, it poured and poured for the rest of the journey. I quickly put my poncho on and hid my stuff underneath it. The boat began to fill up with water so I had to move my rucksack from it’s resting place on the floor. Martha used the guys coat, which he kindly have her, but he was absolutely soaked in jeans and a long top with nothing to use to shelter from the rain. The driver was the same. Madness! When I arrived, I was shepherded straight into lunch where I met the rest of my tour group, including Will and Dakota, who I first met in Banos. There was also a Dutch couple and a Colombian woman, Amaria, who now lives in Panama. We had a little chill time before heading back out on the boat for sunset. I read my book in a hammock awhile before we left.
We were a full boat, since we had another tour group with us too. We stopped a few times on route to look at birds and to search for pink dolphins, which are river dolphins, too. Then we headed to the middle of a lake for sunset and some people swam. Simce I hadn’t really slept for the last two days, what with the four hours sleep pre hike and then the night bus, I didn’t fancy it, so just enjoyed the sunset from the boat. Afterwards, we went back to the guest house for dinner and then I slept early because frankly, I felt knackered!
15/2/23
Today we had a busy day planned. After breakfast, we got in the canoe with a ponchos at the ready! We were going to see how people lived self-sufficiently deep in the Amazon! After a two hour boat ride or so, stopping to look at various birds and monkeys on route, we arrived in the pouring rain to the ‘community’ as our guide, who was also from a ‘community’, called it. We met a woman who showed us their plantation where they grew bananas, oranges, yuca, cocoa and many other things. The community had a school for kids from 5-10 years old and after that the kids needed to go to a town at least sic hours away if they were to further their education. Apparently, in covid, it was necessary to install WiFi in one building of the school so kids could do work without moving to another town or city. They said that while WiFi started out as being useful, it quickly became a distraction with all the online games that were available. Classic!
The lady showed us how to harvest yuca, which looks similar to yam, and then we made yuca bread as a group. First, youeel the yuca, then grate it, then squeeze out the water, then sieve the fine pieces and then squash it together to make patties before toasting them individually over a fire on a hot ceramic plate. After we’d made a lot of them we ate them with veggies and some tinned tuna (lol), along with some chicken fried rice. Afterwards, the village kids had set out a market with all of the jewellery they’d made from various beads mixed with seeds from the jungle.
Once they’d packed away, the shaman came. The shaman is the medicine man for the community. He said that while he cannot cure things requiring surgical intervention such a cancer, he can cure all medical problems with his few herbal potions, and through taking ayoasca, a herbal but potent drug that give you strong hallucinations and is supposed to provide clarity to your thoughts and solutions to problems. We tried a horrible potion for stomach pain, which was so strong, I thought it may induce stomach pain for me! Then, he asked for a volunteer wh had muscle ache to receive a treatment. He got two volunteers one after each other and we watched them be hit (fairly gently) with a very thorny plant. Then he wiped over it with some herbal balm. When he was done, they had lots of small cuts on thir backs! He asked for more volunteers but noone fancied it. Instead, some of us tried it on our hand instead just to feel the sensation. Since I have hay-fever and always react to thee things, I got a great reaction and my hand took to days for the redness and swelling to return to normal! Afterwards, the sun was finally shining and we got the boat back to the lodge to chill a little. On the way back, the guide showed us how local kids play with a specific tropical red flower – enjoy the pic!
I read my book in a hammock for a bit before it as time to prepare for a jungle night walk. We got the boat around sunset and then started walking just after dark with head torches. Classically, when I got out the boat and scrambled up the muddy bank in wellies, I slide back down and fell on my hands and knees, getting mud everywhere! We carried on and went bug hunting. One of the girls in the group had had both an assignment and a job searching for frogs and spiders in the jungle so she had a really sharp eye and managed to find even more insects than the guide did. I managed to spot a small snake, and we saw many spiders, including a couple of tarantulas, as well as cickroaches, crickets and other things.
After a long night walk of a couple of hours, we headed back to the boat to go back to the guest house for a late dinner. I hit the sack earlyish again! My tummy had become dodgy!!
16/2/23
Pretty much did nothing today. I was due to leave, but that seemed like a bad idea, so I stayed another day and just stayed in my room and close to the loo!! I tried to eat breakfast, which was quite the mistake and then spent the rest of the day suffering. The guide did however, bring a snake he had found on the jungle to breakfast, which was quite the adventure! Afterwards, I Netflixed, read and slept. The rest of the group were going on a day jungle walk, so I had the place to myself.
At lunchtime, Martha came to call me for lunch. A new group had arrived and they wanted to question me, all the usual travel questions (where had I been, how long am I travelling, where was I from etc..), but I just ate my soup quickly and returned to bed. I wasn’t in the mood!
I read in a hammock for a bit before my group returned and I had some tales of the day. They had gone fishing for piranhas and the guide had had some of his finger bitten off in the process. There had been a lot of blood! I had a herbal tea, made especially for me and my dodge stomach and then chilled. I skipped dinner. Just another day.
17/2/23
Today was moving day! We gt up early to go birdwatching. I reckoned my tum could take it, so off I went. We saw a fair few birds, and the morning mist was beautiful. Then we headed back in the boat for breakfast. I managed most of breakfast minus the eggs and then we grabbed our stuff and got back on the boat to head back to civilisation. Oooft.
The boat took a couple of hours and then there was apparently a tourist bus which could go to Lago Agrio, where I needed to change bus. I waited around for it for a bit since it was the bus the rest of my group was taking only to be told that the bus did not stop in Lago Agrio and went straight to Quito. At this point, I’d already missed one local bus – annoying! I headed to the road and waited for the bus with tow girls from the US. It wasn’t too long before a bus came and two and a bit hours later, I was in a raging terminal, full of people with places to be in time for carnival the following day. I re-bumped into the two Banos Americans on my Amazon tour and we ended up getting the same bus to Ambato. Sadly, the bus was in four and a bit hours so we set up shop together in a cafe for the foreseeable and eeked out buying food and drinks between us to last the four hours of sitting. We chatted, chilled and read.
Eventually, 7pm came and it was time to find our night bus. We got on and with my earplugs and eyemask on, I slept almost immediately. We arrived in Ambato at the delightful hour of 5.30am where I said my goodbyes to Dakota and Will and headed to my hotel to meet Aisling, my uni friend.
wanderingwelshie2 travels 