La Amazonia: fotos

 

May 24

Today has been quite an adventurous day. We started with a delicious breakfast at 8:00am. Sausage, papas, scrambled eggs, fresh piña and papaya, and hot tea. We had a full day. We took the boat at 9:30am to head to a village of the natives here. The tribe is known as the Siona Secora. I'm not sure if that is how it's spelled, but I believe that's how it is pronounced. We were in the boat for about an hour to an hour and a half. We were able to see two anacondas. They were very peaceful. I think they get bad reputations, because Luis told that if you touch them, they will jump in the water and run away. We were able to see some monkeys as well. Little squirrel monkeys. They are so cute! When we arrived in the village, one of the women helped to gather some yucca roots which we shredded on cheese grater type things. She then rang out the water from them, and sifted it through a tool made of bamboo. Then she cooked in on the stove into a type of pizza bread. It was very delicious!! We ate it with jam, chile, and salt. After we were done with lunch we headed over to another part of the village to visit the shaman. He did a ceremony with us. He cleansed me of my bad spirits. It was quite interesting to see. After finishing there, we jumped back on the boat and headed back to the lagoon. We were able to swim for about half an hour to an hour. It is quite difficult to swim there because you can't hit the bottom. It takes a lot to stay floating. We all had a blast. Now we are back in the cabin drying off and enjoying our hammock time. It is lovely! Overall the Amazon has not been what I expected. It has been better, and I am so in love. I will return again, but for a longer time.

Day 1 in the Amazon

The bus ride was a tad crazy. It was 6 hours in total. We stopped in the middle to pee, so three hours in, we stopped. It was very very bumpy and stop and go. It reminded me a lot of driving in the mountains where the roads are curvy. We made the mistake of sitting in the back though. The driver had actually told us that you feel every bump when you ride in the back, but being stubborn headed, we thought we would be okay. It was nice to go down in altitude though. However, my ears kept popping. A lot! Like being in a plane where the cabin is not pressurized correctly a lot. We made it to the D'Mario hotel at 5:45am, where our next bus would pick us up at 9:00am. We were not quite sure when it would show up but they said around 8:00am or 9:00am. I should have remembered that this is South American time and everything runs a tad late. They arrived at 9:40ish, and we headed out by 10:00. That bus ride was good. It was another two hours, after we stopped at the airport to pick up two more passengers. We did not arrive to the docks until 1:30pm. We had lunch there and then took a boat down the river Cuyabeno, there was four of us tourists and four natives in the canoe. It had a motor, and took us an hour to get to the lagoon. It rained for 75% of the way. I think it was perfect though. It was like welcoming us to the Amazon and cleaning us from all of our artificial habits and problems. We settled in and went out for a boat ride to see different types of animals and things, and then we went swimming in the middle of the lagoon. The water was so perfect! We didn't swim for long though, we were all pretty tired from the journey here, so we headed back to the lodge and had dinner. About thirty minutes after dinner we went on a night hike in the jungle. We were able to look at spiders and different insects. We saw some giant cockroaches. I think it scared Lauren a bit. We hiked for about an hour and then came back to the lodges and went to bed. This morning we woke up around 7:30am and had breakfast at 8:00am. By 9:30am we left for another hike. We hiked through the jungle for three hours. We were able to see some more monkeys, insects, frogs, different trees used for different types of medicines, and some wild pigs. I wasn't able to get any pictures of the monkeys or pigs though. We were back to the lodge at 12:45pm and had lunch at 1:00pm. Now we are relaxing for a couple of hours, and we will head out to see some different lagoons around 3:00pm and then to swim again!! So exciting!

Quito. We FINALLY made it!

After nearly 72 hours of traveling, we have made it to QUITO!!! We arrived at 12:50am this morning, and came straight to Majo's house.  All of our luggage showed up on time, so it all worked out perfectly.  We will rest for part of this morning, and then head to Cotopaxi, the second highest (in altitude) volcano in the world.  We leave on Thursday night for the Amazon.

Mexico D.F.

We arrived in Mexico around noon.  I was already prepared for it when my luggage did not arrive.  I was a little worried though, because we only had a day in Mexico before having to leave.  The man at the help desk was extremely helpful though.  He asked if I needed it to be shipped to an address here in Mexico, or if I would just want to wait.  I told him I could wait, so he gave me a food voucher, and told me I could come back in an hour to pick up my bag which was put on the next flight. 
Lauren and I went to eat in the airport and kind of just relax a little.  Our first foreign meal abroad was.........McDonalds.  Hahaha.  We just needed something quick and cheap, and it was the first place we saw.  While eating, we were able to grab some wifi and decided to find a place to stay the night.  Originally the plan had been that we would stay the night in the airport, but after seeing the airport chairs, we decided it would probably be better if we stayed in a hostel.  Also, we were with our luggage, and were not able to check it in on the day before, so we found a cute little hostel about 45 minutes away.  By the time I got my luggage, and we had paid for a taxi, it was around 4:00pm.
There was a HUGE line for the taxi service that we had paid for, and it was not moving very fast at all, and we were at the very end of it.  Thankfully a man who worked at the airport came and asked me if it was just Lauren and I.  I left Lauren with the luggage and went and changed the ticket to another taxi service, and then we were on our way.  We stayed at a cute little place named Hostel Amigo.  On the way there, we had a taxi driver named Antonio.  He was very nice.  We talked for the drive, and I translated for Lauren.  It was exciting to speak Spanish again.  I need to find a friend in Texas that will just hang out with me and speak Spanish.  We arrived an hour later to the hostel.  It was in the middle of a street with no parking, so he just dropped us off as quick as he could and was gone.  He told us he or his friend would be there to pick us up tomorrow.  We are in a big room with eight beds.  Four bunk beds, and have two roommates.  We have met one, John from Boston, but have not met the other.  We went out for a walk around town and found a cute little artisan market.  Our flight will leave tomorrow at 5:00pm, so we will leave here by 2:00pm.

All for now.  Hugs to everyone back home.

Emily