Hiya!

I survived my time in the jungle woo hoo! I returned this morning to Tena after a seven hour journey.

I've been living with a Kichwa community in Mushullakta, which is in the Cloud Forest inbetween Galeras and the Sumaco national park. To get there I had to take a bus from Tena to a little village called Papanku, which took four hours. A man from Mushullakta met me in Archidona which is close to Tena. The bus journey is very uncomfortable but the view is breathtaking. I couldn't take any photo's because the road is so bad we kept bumping up and down. Halfway into the journey we had to stop at the side of the road as a mine further up was blasting. Not sure what they were mining but my bum was definitely glad of the break! When we got to Papanku (a few shacks in the middle of nowhere) it was pitch black and we had to walk using my crappy torch. Leonida (my guide) seemed to know the road by heart but I struggled and nearly landed on my arse several times. We walked for two hours along a very bad dirt road, with the sounds of the forest surrounding me, it was quite scary and I was quite glad I couldn't really see anything!

When we arrived at Mushullakta (again a few shacks surrounding a field in the middle of nowhere) it was pitch black, everyone was asleep and it was only 9pm! Leonida had to wake a woman up, who gave me a drink and showed me my room. I had my own door and a bed! Pure luxury after the last place! I went straight to sleep!

The next day I was woken up by music at 4:30am! I decided to stay in bed for another half an hour as it was still dark crazy fools! Then I went to investigate. Next to the wooden house I had slept in was another smaller wooden hut where the kitchen, a fire and a small dining area was. I met Marina (5 years old), Shandi (2 years old), Estella (Shandi's mum, 26yrs old), Rosa (the woman I woke up the night before, Estella's mum & the little girl's grandma) and Juan (the grandad). The fire was burning in the corner of the kitchen and everyone was sitting around it whilst Rosa and Estella cooked breakfast on a gas stove in the corner. They give me some kind of hot drink that tastes like cucumber and after the intial 'I'm a vegetarian, yes that means I don't eat meat or fish, yes that includes tuna and chicken sorry' conversation I'm given an omelette, rice and a boiled banana. Rosa and Estella also cook breakfast for other men who are working for the government to improve the road so I eat with them. At 7am the men go off to work and Leonida arrives (Juan's brother) and invites me to join them. I'm given my own machete and everything! Only when I get to where the men are working they all laugh and examine my hands proclaiming that they are too soft so I go to help the women instead! Half an hour later we arrive at the side of the road where the women cook lunch for the men. We build a fire and spend the day peeling and chopping various vegetables including, shock horror, yucca and bananas! They then cook enough rice to feed an army aswell. The women here are always talking and laughing (in Kichwa). They find it immensely funny when I try to help and when I'm attacked by various insects. At different points during the day different trucks stop off and the women buy fish, fizzy drinks or just chat to the people in the back. The men are busy cutting down all the trees along the side of the road and we have to keep running for cover as a tree threatens to fall on us. It's all relatively entertaining.

Much later on I'm treated to my first concert in Kichwa! Leonida, his other brother Jose (the president of the community) and another bloke turn up wasted with crowns of feathers, a primative looking guitar, violin and a 'flute' which looks more like a recorder to me! At first it's quite good but after a few songs they're just really pissed and things start getting a bit chaotic. I managed to escape at about 9pm but not until after I'd danced with everyone there. I noticed that the other women were nowhere to be seen, they didn't think to warn me or anything, so much for our day of bonding!

Monday to Thursday I spent teaching in the little school in the community. There are three classrooms as well as a little dining hut. There are three teachers who teach classes with 5/6yr olds, 7/9yr olds and 10/11yr olds. School starts at 7am and finishes at 12:30 with an hour break at about 10/10:30am. Sometimes the school day is shorter because they are few lentils, tuna and rice with a horrible yucca drink. I had to invent new ingenious ways of avoiding that one every day yuk! I teach each age gropup every day and the teacher gives me a textbook to learn Kichwa yeah right!

The 5/6year olds are really hard to teach because they are only just starting to learn Spanish so they don't really understand me. Also they have the attention span of ....errr..a bloke? ...and so the old 'pollo is chicken' chancho is piggy piggy' is used loads. They're all really cute if a bit snotty and smelly so I don't mind too much. The 7/9yr olds are a complete nightmare, there's loads of them and they all couldn't really give a sh*t about learning English so I just teach them 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' and they seem to find that amusing. The eldest kids are the best and by the end of the week I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere, so all is not lost!

The afternoons are a bit boring I just eat lunch, play with Shandi and Marina (who-s mum is off working in Cayambe, Estella's sister but is married to another bloke and has another baby?). Washing clothes and bathing also takes up time. The river is a half hour walk away so they have diverted water from the river using a system of pipes and there are several bathing spots close to the community. Bedtime is normally about 7.30-8pm but this is normally disrupted when the men are wasted (every day after work) as we have to hide and pretend we're not in the house as otherwise they'll talk at us for hours in jibberish.

Friday there is no school because everyone is off to Archidona as on Sunday it is compulsory for every adult to vote in the elections for the new president. I'm not impressed about having to return to Archidona but I'm bundled off with Estella and the two little girls into the cabin of an oil tanker along with two other men, a free lift down to Archidona. As it turned out I would have much rather preferred to walk and get the bus than go through 4 hours of being squished into the truck with Marina on my knees, one leg being crushed by the gearstick, the other crushed into a tiny space with temperatures of stupid degrees. It's late, pitch black and pissing down with rain by the time we arrive at Estella's other sister's house in Rukkullakta, another Kichwa community on the outskirts of Archidona. Estella's sister Rosario has four kids Diana (12yrs), Cristian (10yrs), Arruna (7yrs) and a baby boy (8months). They have one bedroom with a double bed and a single bed. That night, in that one bedroom Rosario, her husband, the four kids, Estella's brother and mother all sleep, whilst Marina, Shandi, Estella and I sleep on a dirty concrete floor where the chickens have been running around nice! The next day I'm on babysitting duty and I'm left with all the kids including the baby whilst the women go and wash clothes, for THREE HOURS! I'm a complete stranger and I'm in charge of their 8month old baby! Not impressed this is not the rainforest and this is not why I came here!When they return I ask if we can go to Archidona so that I can go off and do abit of sightseeing. They are reluctant to let me go off on my own but I feel like I'm intruding on a family reunion, especially when that night Antonia (Estella's other sister and Marina's mother) turns up with her 7mth old baby boy. That night we all sleep in the house. 3 babies in one house is not fun!

On Sunday Leonida turns up and I go off to Archidona with him and mooch around the centr for a bit whilst he votes (lots of army boys with big guns). Then I finally get to see something! We visit the zoo in El Arca close to Cotundo & Archidona. The zoo contains birds and animals from the jungle and I get to see loads of weird birds, monkeys, tigers and come face to face with my arch enemy: the pig! At least it was behind chicken wire like it should be! Later on I return to Mushullakta with Leonida yes! It means getting the bus and walking for two hours again but it was worth it, I was sooo bored in Archidona!

The next day I'm given breakfast at Leonida's bachelor pad, he's a really good cook! Had to wait ages though because there are some new volunteers, a girl and a boy from Que Bec and they don't get up until 8am when Leonida eventually knocks on their door! Bruno (26yrs, lots of piercngs, some tattoos and funny hair) and Estephani (few dreads cool clothes) are both as impressed with Ecotrackers as I am, it's good to vent sfter the last few days!

That day we weed the community gardens close to Leonida's house where they grown potatoes, chonta (you're really not missing anything), yucca and other things. It just involves mass plant carnage using machete's, it's fun... for the first 20minutes and then it's just too hot. After lunch a truck arrives with concrete breeze blocks paid for by the government so that the community can build more toilets (they only have three), so we help lift them off the truck and pile them at the side of the road. Most of the blocks are broken and crumble really easily as they're so wet, not sure how much use they're going to be. Finally I got to go and wash, after three days without washing I really smelled!

On Tuesday we went to visit the waterfall. This involved hiking for three hours through the rainforest, climbing over big rocks in the river bed and finally swimming in freezing cold water. As we walked along Leonida explained about the different plants and trees, which was really interesting. By the time we got to the swimming part of the journey I was absolutely drenched with sweat but as soon as my feet hit the water I was more than happy to go back to walking it was soo cold! The waterfall was hidden in a little cavern through the rocks and was really beautiful. It was like our own little private pool in the middle of the rainforest, shame it was so cold. After I'd been swimming for about 20minutes in the pool leonida told us that the last time he's been here they'd seen a boa snake! Not sure if it was in the water or on the rocks but I go out pretty quickly after that! We had lunch on some rocks using some leaves as plates. Leonida had prepared some yucca, boiled eggs, cheese and biscuits (cheese and biscuits it was then!) with some sugar cane for a drink and some really sour oranges for after. After that we used a different route back to Mushullakta that only took 2 hours. I was absolutely filthy, covered in mud from head to toe but it was the best day of the whole two weeks!

On my last day we cleared a small patch of land in order to create a new garden for medicinal plants. After we had cleared enough space Leonida took use to various places where he knew that specific plants were growing. We collected 8 different types and planted them in the new garden. They have plants for everything here but I'm not sure if they actually work! The other men of the village were really wasted by the time it came to have dinner so we all hid in the kitchen watching. Predictably a fight nearly broke out, which was entertaining for a while but it was a bit disappointing because it was in Kichwa so we didn't know what was going on, we added our own subtitles which was probably a lot funnier anyway. That night Leonida brought me a plant that they use as a natural insect repellent. Really useful ON MY LAST NIGHT! He crushed the leaves in his hands and rubbed them together making green lather and then rubbed it on my arms and legs so that I was green. It dried pretty quickly but I was still green, it was definitely a different look. He then cooked up a combination of five different plants yo make this disgusting drink for Bruno who had man flu, yum! I went to bed pretty much after that so that I could get some sleep before my 3am wake up call!

In order to get the only bus from Papanku to Tena we had to leave at 3:30am and walk for 2hours (WITHOUT ANY BREAKFAST), I then took the bus for 5 hours (really needed a wee... and SOME FOOD!). I finally arrived in Tena covered in mud, hungry and smelly and went straight to a really nice restaurant to use their toilet and sit in their nice chairs and eat breakfast ha ha! And so ends my rainforest experience!