Jungle Tourism

I'm told I need to provide more news. So here is my attempt at a longer update:

After having successfully avoided most tourist traps [besides the Otavalo market] for a month, I have spent the last 3 days in Tena being a proper tourist. Tena is a small city in the northern Orient, 4 or 5 hours by bus from Quito.

Day 1: A self-guided walk through a little interprative park, showcasing lots of unique plants and animals from the Amazon Rainforest.

Day 2: A jungle tour, climbing waterfalls and swimming in a lagoon...really beautiful! There was a snake right beside the path, which we all managed to walk right by until the last guy noticed it. Our guide then told us it was venemous and very dangerous and quickly beat it over the head with a stick. I don't know what kind it was but apparently a lot of people have been killed by it.

Day 3: White water rafting. Yesterday we were told the rafting was a bit boring now because of a drought. Then it rained a lot overnight and today the river was really high...lots of water moving very fast! We travelled down river about 25 km which normally takes 2-3 hours, but today took us not more than 1 hour. After being told not to worry, that no one ever falls out...2 of the 3 rafts flipped! But everyone made it out unscathed.

Other highlights: Trips to the market to buy all the crazy kinds of fruit we don't recognize [and some we do] and making a giant fruit salad [anyone who knows how much I love fruit will understand why this is a highlight]; finding someone to repair my shoe for $1 [which ripped down both sides on the second day and I have been faithfully duct taping and re-duct taping; daily trips to the ice cream shop; and plenty of hammock + book time.

Tomorrow: We take a bus back to Quito and I have a few days of me-time before the Galapagos. The jungle is cool, but I think I prefer the slightly cooler weather in the mountains [up till now we've been craving hot showers, and now have an good supply of hot water but we're struggling to make the showers cold to escape the heat!] I also don't mind the absence of venemous snakes at higher altitude.

I hope you are all enjoying life in your part of the world!

Until next time,
S.