In which: Caitlin does NOT get eaten by anacondas

The next day we got up and headed to breakfast which, if I remember correctly and who knows if I do since this was so long ago, we had pancakes! They were so good I think I ended up eating like seven. They also had some strawberry sauce with strawberry halves in it which was good. Until I realized that some of the strawberries were actually grapes with seeds. That wasn’t so great.

From breakfast we met our guide again and took yet another hike to the canopy bridges. There we geared up- harnesses and all- and climbed the tower. This tower was basically the same as the first- save the bridges of course- except it was very protected. It had a locked gate and fencing all around the base so no one could climb in. Our guide said that some students went to climb it at night and it burnt down! You could see melted pieces of metal on the ground around the base of the tower…

At the top we had guide wires which we hooked our harnesses to and we were off. Bianca Kevin and I went one way while the rest went the other. There were three bridges and two platforms in trees. It was a great view! The other way was just one bridge but it led to a platform in a tree which had one tall branch you could climb. The branch had two ladders lashed together and connected on one side to the tree. On the other side was another guide wire but you had to use a ratchet of sorts to go up. Near the top, the ladder wiggled a little bit and I was kinda freaked. But when I finally crawled onto the platform it was worth it. It was one of the coolest things I’ve done here. Maybe in my life. Being up there was amazing. I don’t know how else to describe it.

Then I had to go down. That, of course, was the worst part. But it wasn’t awful. I made it back down safely and headed back to the stairs. When I got there Emily and Andrew were heading back from the other side and Andrew said that there was a tarantula on his harness! He is deathly afraid of spiders but he was very calm about it. Emily moved it with a stick or something but Andrew was obviously shaken. When Lauren asked for a size reference Andrew said “a cat.” It was hilarious.

Back at the bottom of the stairs we decided to not go on another hike and just head back and take a swim. Our guide seemed a little disappointed but obliged. We all headed down to the river- we were the only group back- except for Bianca who took a nap. We sat on the stairs since it’s the only way to not get swept away by the current and just chatted and relaxed. Lauren went up first then I did. Feeling refreshed I was still tired so I took a little nap too. It was much more enjoyable than the day before because I wasn’t nearly as hot. I woke up before the other girls and read some since I wanted to finish my book before we left.

We ate lunch then prepared for our next activity, the “flotada”. We got in our bathing suits and went back down to the dock where we came in. The swimming dock is different. There we took a boat down river some and just jumped in the water with naught but our life jackets. We just floated- and pretty quickly too- down the river without having to swim at all. We all ended up pretty separated and I was with Nicole and Lauren most of the time. Nicole told us all about her whirlwind romance with this Ecuadorian who she is now planning to marry. They got engaged before October and met in August maybe? I think it is batshit insane but she seems completely sure about it. They’re planning their life together and everything. Crazy. While floating down the river, which is a tributary to the Amazon River, we saw some birds but no other wildlife. There may have been fish with us but the water was so muddy that you could see more than a couple inches down. But it was deep enough that we never once touched the bottom. It was extremely relaxing and awesome. After maybe an hour of floating the boat caught up to us and took us back. Apparently we floated 10 km! (About 6 miles)

Once the boat got back we went to change and came back early for dinner to chat and whatnot. Dinner that night was very American. We had chicken, sweet corn (a first here!), mashed potatoes and green beans. I was happy. That night I read again by candlelight and tried to finish the book but fell asleep before I could.

The next morning cabin 1 woke up literally at the crack of dawn, actually earlier, to go on a morning hike to the tower so we could hopefully see some monkeys. Unfortunately as soon as we headed out it started downpouring. We figured it wasn’t safe- especially since it was still pretty dark, especially in the woods- so we turned back.

Later, at breakfast, we were all packed up and ready to go. We ate up and then got on the boat to retrace our steps back to Quito. The only difference this time was that it was raining, hard. Every one of our modes of transportation were open. On the first boat I sat near the front so not even the roof helped. I got the full blast of the pouring rain for over two hours. I sat with my bag in my lap and my very thin poncho over both of us. I basically slept like that just so it would seem to be over sooner.

At the bridge where we transferred to the chiva truck the station guy told us if we needed to go to the bathroom, go to the opposite side of river, via the bridge. There was nothing there. So everyone just peed in the tall grass. I couldn’t do it. Then we took the chiva back to the oil reserve, yes it was still raining and yes the chiva is open on the sides.

Then we took our next boat and about when it stopped raining they put the side flaps down. We finally made it back to Quito a little late but still had to get back to Cumbaya. Some taxi driver tried to charge us 5 dollars to Rio Coca, which is ridiculous, and when we walked away another taxi driver was like “what did that pirate try to charge you?”

The next week was pretty quiet. I went to the mall with Keunae, Danielle and Chris when the class where I volunteer was cancelled. I had lunch with just about everyone on Thursday since most people were going their own ways for break while I was staying in Quito with Zach. Friday most everyone had left so I stayed home reading the last Harry Potter- I bought it at the mall.

And then Saturday Zach came to visit! His plane came in in the afternoon so after breakfast I headed out to Quito myself for the first time. As I walked out of my neighborhood the bus was just pulling up to I hailed it and it took me about halfway. Well, I got off where I normally should but it ended up continuing up the road I was walking. There was construction on the road it usually turns on and there is nowhere to turn left again until you get all the way up the hill. It’s pretty far. If only I’d known. Then I took the next bus and then a cab from that bus station to the airport. There is only place for disembarking passengers to exit so I waited there and made a sign so Zach would know I was there to pick him up.

The plane was a little late but not by much. It was so great to see him! Straight from the airport we went to the Museo de la Ciudad. The driver ripped us off a little bit but it didn’t matter. The museum was under construction but free that day so it was ok. Some of the exhibits were kind of funny- there were a lot of genderless statues and a ridiculous mural of hell for some reason. We really got a kick out of that.

From the museum we went to the Panecillo since it was close. We took a cab and he offered to wait for us. We said no because that’s weird and climbed up to the outlook. We walked down the same way we had the first time and caught a cab to the bus station. We took the bus to Cumbaya and walked to my house. Zach met Guadalupe and I hid my bag in Zach’s giant duffel so she wouldn’t know I was staying with him. I wasn’t sure what she would think so I just decided not to say anything and stay in the hotel. Then we took a cab to the Hotel Cumbaya. We checked in, put our stuff down and went back out to get something to eat.

We ended up at the Turtle’s Head which has a $10 drink minimum but that was fine. We also had dinner. I had a pretty good burger and Zach had some ok nachos. I also had a mojito and Zach a couple beers but that was it. Zach was pretty tired from his trip so it was a quiet Saturday night.

On Sunday we were going to have lunch at home and while we were there the other day Guadalupe said we should be there for breakfast too. I was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen so I said maybe. Of course we ended up sleeping in and being a little late for lunch. But we got there and had lunch. Zach and Guadalupe talked a lot mostly about the weird things she usually talks about- like how Bill Gates is ruining the world because he invented the internet.

After lunch Zach and I decided to watch a movie and settled on Knowing, a truly terrible Nick Cage movie. It was awful- even more so than other Nick Cage movies. I fell asleep. So we went back to the hotel took a nap and, when we woke up late, went out to get some food. From the hotel we walked to an Italian restaurant and got a very tasty pizza. We also got some wine but I didn’t drink much.

Back at the hotel I called mom for her birthday on Skype but the wifi only worked in the lobby of our floor so it was a little loud. Then we went back to the room and Zach watched Spiderman in Spanish while I fell asleep.

Up Next: Our trip to Mindo 

Hasta Luego,

Caitlin

The Return of the Amazon Twitch

I got up early on Friday since I had to be at the airport at 7:30 that morning. I was the first one at the airport- almost 30 minutes early. I knew I’d be early so I brought a Sudoku and did that until the rest of the group showed up. At the meeting I didn’t go to Daniel told them he would be at the airport earlier than anyone but he never showed. Instead some guy came up to our group, asked us if we were going to Tiputini and said ‘follow me.’ It turns out he was our guide of sorts.

We all made it through ‘security’ with no problem (even though Bianca didn’t have her passport) and waited for our only slightly delayed flight. I sat next to Emily on the tiny little plane but mostly slept the whole time. The flight was so short we basically ascended then descended. Upon arrival I had to pee really bad so Emily Bianca and I went to the bathroom for deformed women. The women’s bathroom sign had this weird deformed-looking drawing of a woman on it. It was scary. Also scary was that there was no toilet paper- but luckily I had thought to bring some. We got on the bus as it was about to leave and it took us to a dock that had several long boats ready to head down the river.

Our group got our own boat since there were so many of us and we were off! Sort of. For the most part we maintained a steady clip down the river but the water was really low in some places so the driver- who was at the back- had to choose his route carefully. It was a really long ride, about 2 ½ hours, so after taking some pictures and eating our sack lunch that was provided, most of us ended up napping at some point. Before falling asleep the driver stopped so we could take pictures of a gigantic plume of fire close to the riverbank- a burning oil well- welcome to the Amazon.

Eventually we reached the oil reserve where we had to go through a checkpoint and from there continue on chiva- a large covered truck with open sides. The chiva ride was about the same length as the boat ride- maybe a little shorter. I sat with Emily and Lauren and we talked most of the time.

When the chiva arrived at its destination, the foot of a bridge, we got out and kind of slipped down the bank to yet another river- the Tiputini. We got on a similar but slightly smaller boat and settled in for another 2+ hour ride. Finally, after what seemed like days of travelling, we reached the dock and we were there!

Exhausted from the trip we dropped our stuff and plopped into the chairs in the dining ‘room’ which was the first structure we came to. It was basically a covered platform with tables and chairs and a small adjoining kitchen. After a rest and devouring some Oreos that we put out for us the station director or something told us about what we would be doing during our stay then showed us to our cabins. Emily L, Lauren, Bianca and I shared a little cabin. It had running water but since it came from the river and went back in the river we could only use the ‘soap’ provided for us. It smelled faintly of bananas and did almost nothing to clean my hair.

After we got settled into our cabins we decided to take a dip in the river since we were all SO hot. We broke all but one of the rules the guy had just given us but nobody died so we were fine. After our swim we made our way back to the dining room for dinner. We had a very Ecuadorian meal of meat beans and rice I believe. Once we finished dinner we all decided to hang out in the only air-conditioned building at the station, the library. There we play Piccharades- charades with Pictionary cards since we had nothing to write on. 

I grabbed a copy of Fahrenheit 451 and resolved to finish it before we left. It is pretty short so I figured I could do it. We went back to the cabins and at 9pm the electricity went off (the generator is on a timer) but luckily all the cabins were equipped with a good supply of candles and matches. I read by candlelight for a while then went to sleep.

In the morning we had breakfast at 7:30 but being so hot and sweaty- and now smelling a little like the river- I needed to take a shower. I got up first and steeled myself for the freezing water- the buckets of which I could see out our window- but it wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately the banana soap didn’t do much but I felt better for a little while at least.

After breakfast our group (the girls of cabin 1 plus Kevin and Andrew) got our boots and met our tour guide. Just as we started our hike he spotted some spider monkeys up in a tree above the path- our first contact with animals! We took a short hike to this enormously tall tree- taller than all of the trees around it- and climbed up a tower to a viewing platform in the tree. From there we could see the canopy from above. Since we were there so late we didn’t see any more monkeys but we did see some cool birds. I spotted a little green parrot that was hanging upside down munching on some of the tree’s fluff. Our guide spotted several other birds and even brought a small telescope up there so we could see the really far off ones.

There were also some pretty cool bugs around all the way at the top of this tree. I got some good pictures of a horny ant and a cute little bee guy. We also saw a really cool bird fly by. It was a reddish brown with a dark yellow tail. I only saw it for a few seconds but that was long enough for me to think, “Griffyndor!!”

We didn’t see much else because it was getting late in the morning so we climbed down the tower (which seemed to shake more on the way down) and checked out this hollow tree. This “tree” is actually a parasite that grows up around trees and remains standing after it has killed the tree- which eventually rots away. Then our guide told us to come over and find the animal that was at his feet. We looked down and there was nothing but dead leaves and dirt. Then I spotted something moving- it was a toad, just barely breathing. It looked just like a leaf! It even had dark spots on its back that looked just like the holes in most of the leaves that cover the forest floor. It was truly a marvel. How an animal can evolve so precisely is beyond me.

On our way back to the station we stopped while our guide picked the stem of some plant, peeled it and gave us the inside to chew for 2 minutes. After two minutes we spit the juice out and stuck out our tongues. They were blue!! We got no explanation and moved on. Then we went off the track to a clearing that had nothing but a few skinny trees. There is a lot of underbrush in the jungle so it was strange. Our guide told us it was called a Devil’s clearing (or something like that) because nothing but those specific trees can grow there. The indigenous peoples of the area assumed that spirits prevent things from growing there but our guide showed us the real culprit.

If you looked closely at the smallest branches of the trees you could see little one-inch sections that were thicker. He told us that inside these sections were ants! The ants live in the trees and are all over the ground too. They don’t allow anything but their tree homes to live in these clearings. Stranger still, our guide broke off one of the twigs, opened the cavity where the tiny little ants live and ate some! They are called ‘lemon ants’ because they taste like lemon! I tried one but I had to take it out of my mouth because it freaked me out. I did taste like lemon though.

Then we went back for lunch. Lunches were usually typical Ecuadorian food- meat, some rice and fried plantains for example- but pretty good. We always took advantage of the cookies and fruit put out for us, as well as the tea and coffee even though it was hotter than hell.

After lunch we went on another hike, this time to a small lake which was a bird haven. But first we got our faces painted. Our guide picked a fruit, crushed it up with ad little stick and used it to paint our faces with little designs. From there we took another hike across some pretty sketch bridges and saw a huge turtle!

We opted to take the short way instead of a longer hike all around. We got there and the seven of us got in a long canoe and our guide quietly paddled us around the perimeter of the late. I heard later that the lake has piranhas and caimans in it so I’m glad we never flipped over. We saw several Watsons which look like flamboyant pheasants and only live near water. We also saw a bunch of other birds.

When we got back we had several hours until dinner so most everyone decided to take a dip in the river. I was exhausted so I, as always, took a nap. That ended up being a terrible idea because about a half hour in I woke up because I was sweating so much. It was awful. By the time I was mobile everyone had come back from the river and I was sure I didn’t have time to get down there before dark so I just suffered through it. (I also didn’t want to take a shower since water was so precious and I’d already taken one that morning.)

One dinner, maybe this one I don’t recall, we had tacos. And not Hakuna Matata “tacos” with tuna salad, but legit tacos! It was so great! I ate three! After dinner we met in the library- air conditioning!- and we had a presentation about one of the research projects done at this station. They have several motion capture cameras set up along the trails- none that we walked, however- to capture and track the animals in the area. We saw a lot of really cool pictures of animals we hadn’t seen in the wild. They were out there, just not where we were. After the talk we went back to our cabins and I read Fahrenheit 451 out loud to our bunk until they fell asleep.

Up Next: More Amazonian Adventures!

Hasta Luego,

Caitlin