Surviving the jungle and the Ecuadorian cowboys!

Have decided I need to learn the art of brevity in blogging, if I am to have a fighting chance of staying on top of the game. So here goes: the last week or so...briefly.

The Jungle:

Took an overnight bus from Quito last Sunday night, to commence 4 day-3 night tour of Cuyabeno Reserve in the Amazon basin, in the north east of Ecuador. Bus took me to the town of Lago Agrio - a soul-less oil town, built and paid for entirely by petroleum companies about 30 years ago, and not much appears to have changed since. Stayed only long enough to meet with rest of tour group (most of), jump in a minivan and drive the 2.5hrs to the entrance to Cuyabeno Reserve. Made un-scheduled pit-stop in a roadside shelter about half an hour out of Lago Agrio, and within ten minutes were treated to a downpour like no other! Huddled in a tiny concrete shelter, we watched the skies dump huge volumes all around us, while we drank aguardiente - the local firewater - made from sugar cane, and tasting like methylated spirits :( A young boy who looked about 12 was manning the roadside stop and selling 1.5L bottles of the stuff for US$1. After the initial shot went down with difficulty, it was suggested that we try it mixed with sugar cane syrup, but the moss-green colour of that concoction did little to win my vote. And no amount of sugary syrup could overpower the taste of 80% (or so we estimated) alcohol... At US$1 I was tempted to tell the boy he was dreaming ;)

Onward from there, and two more passengers later, we eventually reached the entrance to Cuyabeno Reserve, and the Cuyabeno River. It was butterfly season, so butterflies *everywhere*....From here we took a two-hour journey in a motorised canoe to our lodge. Saw a couple of monkeys high up in the trees, minutes into the journey, but otherwise just plenty more butterflies, and lovely jungle scenery.

Clearly, I´m failing at brevity :(

Group was awesome, but overall experience was....underwhelming. Guide turned out to speak VERY little English. Was saved by the kindness of my new multi-lingual European tour mates, who did their best to translate for myself and the two other non-Spanish-speaking members of the group. Worse still was the fact that he was clearly not a qualified naturalist guide, as promised by the tour company. I won´t moan about it here, but suffice to say I gave some feedback to the tour company on my return to Quito, and even managed to negotiate a refund of a third of the price - a major victory in this part of the world...!

Lack of information aside, I was also a little disappointed to have not come face-to-face with a bird-eating tarantula! All my psyching-up, my commitment to facing my fears(!) had come to nought... That said, I was acutely uncomfortable during the night walk through the jungle on the first night. Terrified actually, if I´m to be completely honest. Picture a Gortex-clad, rubber-boot-wearing self walking nervously by the light of a head-torch, with raincoat hat on, and sleeve cuffs pulled tight as a barrier to any opportunistic spiders....all the while sweating like a pig, but refusing to relax the coat of armour. Where´s the joy?, I hear you ask. Didn´t find any. And despite not seeing a tarantula, we did see a very large hairy spider which our Not-Guide insisted on playing with, and trying to pick up in his hands.... Not funny, not funny at all.

Other activities included a jungle walk by day (less scary, but a little unexciting), pirañha fishing (fun - I actually caught one!), watching pink dolphins in the lake (flashes of their backs only), visiting the shaman of the local indigenous community (a well-rehearsed speech followed by the typical request for money, and plug for handicrafts), and nightime canoe trips through the mangroves, in search of caimans (with success). One of the highlights was visiting the home of one of the local people, and participating in the making of yucca bread. Yucca is a staple of the Ecuadorian diet - a root vegetable, very similar to a potato, and used in much the same way - crisps, mash etc. Suffice to say that end result was a thin, dry pita-like bread. Delish, even without condiments. But more impressive was the ingenuity of the preparation process. Will put photos online ASAP, and explain.

Was *really* hoping the tour would bring sightings of beautiful exotic birds, but sadly no luck. I did see one toucan though! High up in a tree :( Captured in one very unremarkable photo...

A clear highlight of the four days, was the fabulous bunch of people I had the pleasure of meeting - from Switzerland, Belgium, France, Mexico and Sweden. :)


Weekend at Cotopaxi:

Just back from awesome couple of days in the country, near Cotopaxi National Park, home of Ecuador´s second-highest peak - Volcan Cotopaxi (5897m). In a stroke of good luck, my visit coincided with festival time (again) in nearest village to where I was staying. So yesterday was spent watching the locals show off their lasso and bull-riding talents, drinking various homemade alcholic concoctions, which the locals *insisted* we drink without argument, and dancing to live folk music! Very fun. Except for sunburn blisters on nose :( Antimalarials + 3900m altitude = pain.

Again, photos will come ASAP.

Falling asleep, and have early morning tomorrow - going (back) to Cotopaxi National Park to mountain bike down from 4600m.... Looking forward to some much-needed exercise in the great outdoors.

Had the sad realisation recently that I´m already three weeks into my trip and I´m still in Ecuador! I really must leave, but will do so kicking and screaming on the inside - there´s so much more I´d love to see and do :(

But there are other places to be... Tomorrow night I begin the 38-hour bus journey to Lima, Peru...