Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Well guys, the Google map is proper rubbish it does´nt have the place we are staying at, at the mo on it so i´ve put the place up thhe road in.
We are actually in Baños - which is odd as Banos is what you ask for when you wanna go water the roses ;)
The Amazon Rainforest was amazing. We left our truck and took a boat down to Anaconda lodge on the side of the Rio (river to you folks) Napa. We stayed in an amazing little hut with its own cockroaches - who took a fancy to my toothbrush! I did manage to kill one of the (not so)little b*****s though and let the ants carry him off for their suppers - the lucky devils!!
Day One in the rainforest found us trekking with our guide, Livio, a local Quichuan Indian guy. He showed us how those little fellas lived off the forest, what fauna would save you in an emergency, what to eat, and what was used for everday life for the Quichuans. We ate lemon ants - which funnily tasted of lemon! (Kim - could of done with a tooth pick to get the b*****s out of my teeth though). We watched a tree weep ´dragons blood´ which is used for insect bites, stomach upset and cancer - can´t get that at Boots can ya! We heard the jungle telephone in action which works of hitting a specific tree root a particular number of times and can be heard 1.5 km away!! We ate loads of different fruits from different plants which were delicious. Then had to walk back via a small river which Kim managed to get stuck in (Kim - no rick didn´t jump to my aid but instead stood laughing as I lost my wellies in the sinkng mud I eventually made it free with the help of our trusty guide). And saw a bloody big tarantula whilst having lunch. Oh there were some monkeys apparently but I did´nt see them - just some branches in the distance :(
Rick forgot to mention we went a Quichuan museum which was in a small hut and had on display traps and weapons they use, but the best bit besides the very strong alchol we got to try - Matt it tasted just like Jagermeister but 10 times stronger mmmm. Was when we got the chance to use the blow pipes that they use to kill their dinner, Rick did abysmally as us 4 girls each managed to hit or get pretty close to the target. Rick flopped on his first shot and the second one didn´t even leave the pipe!!! He did get the mick taken out of him for some time! (Rick - I did have an exceptionally chesty cough, and you should always leave it to the girls to do the blowing ;))
Oh just remembered - yes Neil the water does flow the other way south of the equator - freaky!
Day two - Went on another trek but beforehand visited the local village school - yes my height is a spectacle wherever i go and here was no exception. We played football with the lads and Kim made daisy chains with the girls (only kiddin - that was me). Anyways back into the jungle and this time it had rained during the night thus plenty of mud) this time our Livio brought his machete and we were hackin into the jungle proper style! Up hill, down dale we went - whereas Kim went down on her arse - well almost . Unfortunatly with the grace of the lead role of the Russian Ballet she managed to stay upright - unlike our Aussie companion Marg - Big shout out to Marg - Shabba!
Oh and the local shamen turned up later that night, did a few dances and cured Kim´s migraine!! - for 5 minutes - booo! Then we had some jungle juice which was nice and quite potent stuff - its not called Um Bongo though, I suppose thats because they drink it in the Congo.
For those of you Monstermob folk reading this thank you greatly for the Leatherman multi-tool you got me. It is now fully endorsed by the Quichua people!
Day three. Flippin heck my fingers hurt, not used too all this typing! Anyways went to visit a Quichuan family in the middle of nowhere - get this in two rooms live 9 adults and 27 kids - this really brings it home how lucky we are, yet these peopl live the most unbelievably richest lives I know. And they would agree with this too. They shared there home brew with us and Kim played with the kids, who wanted her to stay in the jungle ( a sentiment i agree with ;)) (Kim- sounds about righ though I look after the kids and Rick drinks the booze!!! - they were all so lovely though we had loads of fun pulling faces and dancing). At this point I´ll mention we do have photo´s but the internet is so slow here at the mo, we will be in a city soon - damn hillbilly internet cafe´s! We were also shown a small hall where people gather for celebrations. Here we found more children playing and dancing to music while four young lads stood round a bin full of even stronger alcohol - of course I helped them drink it! Also there was a guy slumped in a chair absolutly coma-tosed, did´nt get a pic of him though. Next was the rafting, our guide Livio was still drunk - oops - that was cos we went to the local jungle disco the night before, these guys live for karoake, in fact this is common all over Equador. Anyways, we left the kids once we prised their mits of Kim, and headed back to the river - where we found our boat driver asleep ( he was at the disco too) it took quite a while to wake him but water did the trick. Oh, we had our faces painted too, they were suppose to be typical markings but i think it wa just Livio taking the mick.
Onto the raft building - well, me, Kim, Chloe & Hannah did´nt do any, we watched...... Onto the raft - 2hours of floating down the Rio Napa, with the odd rapid chucked in - it was sensational.
In the evening we went on a night-time jungle trek, it gets unbelievably dark you cannot see your hand in front of you! Anyways, this was scary as hell - all the poisonous stuff comes out in the dark. 5 mins in and we found a little spider, Livio poked it with a twig and the spider launched at the stick - change of pants methinks! Further on , we saw tarantulas, a scorpion, a snake and alot of soiled garments oh and loadsa multicoloured frogs.
Anyway we both fell in love with the place, but we are back in civillisation ( of sorts). Devils Nose train next!! Bring it on!
Love & peace all!
If we don´t get on before have a great Christmas - we´re doing a secret Santa - yippee!
Loadsa loves Rick & Kim
PS Happy be-lated Birthday to Suzanne and Jess have a wonderful birthday too big kisses from your Aunty and Uncle xxx
PPS our mobiles are inactive until Bolivia, we think.
- comments