The Amazon, upper basin

We are currently in Baño... which funnily enough translates to toilet. its short for some name about baño of the gods or something...i dont remember. but anyway, after leaving Quito, the capital , we bused past Cotopaxi , the highest active volcano ... 5000meters above sea level. We stopped at hot springs after about 2 hours traveling. it was amazing, really cold at the altitude so hot pools was perfect. There were hot ones cold ones, deep ones , really shallow ones. it was great fun. we were there for about 2hours then hit the road again, we had an amazing busride through the jungle to the lower amazon basin. I did fall asleep though . its hard not to in vehicles . We arrived in a town named Tena after about 4hours and then 1.5 hours from there we hoped on a canoe and went down the river to our hotel. And what a hotel! it was so nice, a huge wooden dinning area, with amazing carvings of wild cats and snakes , and seats that had animal heads too. so cool. We had a briefing and then went to our rooms...or , bungalos if you will. They were rooms on stilts with a balcony with a hammock, hot water heated by solar power. no electricity, just candles. The first night we went on a night tour...we saw loads of insects, and frogs. ill tell you the details next time in on the internet because theyr in my diary, which i didnt bring because its raining. but anyway we walked around in the jungle until 10pm, then slept like a log.
The next morning we went on a hike up to a look out. it was pretty exciting, exploring in the jungle again, we got taught all about the plants and what the native use them for, panama hat fibres and cocoa and cinamon, and lemons, oranges , ants that taste like lemons,,,,i didnt try them, nicky did. There were termites that make good mosquito repellent...what else... oh we saw a tiny Poison Dart Frog! i got some photos so ill show you eventually.
The lookout was spectacular, you could see the jungle stretching for miles, and lakes, and a small town.
on the way back to we stopped in at the animal rescue centre, which is what the money from the hotel goes to. We saw White breasted toucans, they came right up to the side of the cage to clap its beak at us. There was also another kind, im not sure what theyr called but they had red on them.
Next we saw a small anaconda, 1.5metres, some huge parrots, Capavaras, pigs, Wolly monkeys, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys , Macaws, a Pygmy monkey, and turtles. Sorry for the lack of details but theres to many facts to go through here. on the way out the wolly monkey was just hanging at the reception area of the centre and it came right up to me and hugged my legs. theyr not meant to so i tried to get it to go away ...but i still enjoyed it. then when leaving it grabbed at my gumboots. She was really cute...her name was Yuma...just like 3 10 2. hehe.
We took a tuberide back downstream to the hotel, the water wasnt as warm as i expected which was nice because it was super refreashing after the walk and heat of the morning. Slowly made our way back, while testing out all the ways to sit in a tyre...and spinning quite a bit. we even managed to stand up on them for a matter of seconds. That was fun. I could have floated down that river forever.

In the afternoon we took a canoe across the river and went for a walk around the island. There were a few houses of the families of the men that worked at the hotel , we walked around their plantations, there were banana trees, and orange trees and all sorts of trees. We saw some more insects, and got shown some more uses of the plants. One of them has seeds that contain this weird stuff that is used as face paint. I voluntered. So i had red on me all arvo. We also so birds nests that are like little sacks hanging from the branches...i remember seeing a video in 7th form biology about the male trying really hard to impress the female with his little nest...but this particular male was pretty umimpressive, and his amature nest kept falling from the branch. This was the same ones.
I also saw a cute red beetle on that walk. After the walk we visited one of the families to try the native drink, Chicha. Its made from leaves that are chewed and then spat out and stored to ferment. I liked it..tasted like really weak wine. we learnt a lot about the way they live...they have electricity , provided by the oil companies.. and lots more, but no time right now for the details, ask me later, its all in my diary.
We then had a go at a blow dart, our guide was really good...a few of the people in the group managed to hit the target...i didnt.
We then went back to the hotel for a sweet sweet whiskey and a sit on the swinging chairs on the water front. At dusk all the bats come out to eat the insects from the surface of the water...thats nice to watch. It was also full moon so the night was still quite light.
The meals at the hotel were amazing, they always started with some kind of deliscous soup..there was green banana, or broad bean , or mushroom, and then a huge main...vegetarian options avaliable. And a dessert...the fruit salad was the best.

After dinner... we sat around for a while then i spent the evening on the balcony hammock enjoying the sounds of the jungle. the frogs were so loud you couldnt hear yourself think. and while sitting there some kind of critter came right up to me from the trees...not entirely sure what it was , if i were to hazard a guess id say a monkey of some sort.
it jumped around loudly in the trees for a while then a heard a loud splash in th river about 5 metres away.

This morning we caught our canoe, bus , then second bus and had another fantastic busride through the jungle. Arrived in Baño around 2pm then had a late pizza lunch. We then planned our activities for tomorow...ive decided on waterfalls in the morning and wanted to do quad bikes in the arvo but i may not be able to now because no one else is doing it. Claire and nicky are going paragliding if the weather is right.

all and all, the jungle is fun. Who KNew!!?

our tour is 10people, two elderly men, one from england, one from australia. A couple from australia, and two more girls from australia ....and us Kiwi´s... Represent.