Banos to puyo and beyond into the mighty jungle
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2004
1
5
25
Trip End
Jul 27, 2004
Somewhere near santa ana, Ecuador
Thursday, May 6, 2004
at the passport checkpoint, i decided it was necessary to utilise what may have been the dirtiest bathroom in ecuador, and for that very reason, i wont go into any more detail...returning to the bus i slipped and fell up and onto the bus due to the slippery sloped step leading to the door (it was raining), thus invoking laughter from the locals and bus attendants, who must love seeing a "gringo grande" slip up like that...
upon arrriving in puyo, we boarded the roof of the bus that would now take us into the jungle and the village we needed to find...nothing says luxurious traveling like climbing on to the top of a chicken bus with all the locals produce and cargo, while drawing stares from the people on the side of the road...but it sure gives u a great view, and lets u avoid the crammed conditions on the inside...thinking we really had it made, and thouroughly enjoying our little adventure thus far, the rain god decided it was time to pay us a visit, and a heavy one at that...so there we were, scrambling on the roof of a moving bus, dodging tree branches, trying to get out our rain gear and bag covers in place...after about a half an hour in the rain, the bus driver decided it was time to let the gringos come inside, where once again (go figure) we were another spectacle for the locals...
we arrived at the tiny village, which i would later learn has almost completely descended from the loins of one man, who also happens to be the local shaman(he is 84, and his youngest child is currently 4, and the mother being a ripe old age of 18 at present--do the math and she was 14 and he was 80 at the time of, well u know)...from here it was at least a 4 or 5 km walk into the jungle according to our directions, which went something like so: with the river to your back, take the path to the right for 20 minutes, turn into the jungle for another 30 minutes, watch out for snakes on the path, bring gum boots...(i acquired the directions on on my first night in ecuador, from another traveller, and them in combination with the details of his stay, all added up to it sounding just dodgy enuff to be well worth the effort)...
after taking a few wrong paths, we came upon a log river crossing, which we declined to use at that moment due to the fact that we were all heavily burdened with our packs, and proceeded to wade across the river...finally arriving at the lodge, we were greetd by our guide sandro, who would prove to become a great amigo and the source of many of our adventures in the selva(jungle)...a few of these adventures of which we were told not to talk about in the presence of the other park rangers (all shuar indians), due to a difference in opinions in what was considered safe for tourists...as it turns out our ranger is the black sheep of the group of 4 rangers, but as the other 3 were off on a trek for the first week of our stay, we had a great time with our fearless leader...
the indians that live in the jungle have plants to cure everything that ails you, and after being treated for some burns on my hand that i suffered while trying to pour hot tea (boiled jungle leaves, or grass, or some reed type looking plants) from a pot to my cup, in the dark (no electricity, or running water), it was time for bed...bed being a foam mattress on a wooden floor...the next day one of my travelling partners was feeling ill, so yet again it was the jungle to the rescue, and after being smudged with smoke from some type of plant, she was feeling great, and we were off into the jungle for a tour of all the different medicinal plants...insect repellant you need???well hey, just grab these leaves and rub yourselves down with them...im telling you, they can do anything with all the species of plants they have in the jungle...after a very informative tour, it was an afternoon spent in the hammocks, catchin up on some zzzzz's and reading...
due to 2 of us suffering from some nasal congestion (still left over from the city pollution i would guess) the next morning, it was once again time for another jungle remedy...and so it was we watched our guide scrape off the bark of some tree, remove some flesh, squeeze the liquid out, and instruct us to snort it up our noses...now let me say, that i have never experienced anything quite so horrible feeling as the burning dripping sensation that accompanies this medical treatment...about 4 minutes of extreme agony followed by another 10 minutes of lingering pain...it is not something i ever want to do again, but it did actually work quite well,and i was cleared up in about 30 minutes, after expelling all that there was to expel...
another tour thru the jungle, we were playing tarzan, as he taught us how to climb the vines hanging down from the large trees...he also taight us functional crafts as well, as we created palm leaf crowns, baskets, as well as earring carvings...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this next paragraph will very easily fall into the "too much information" category, so you may want to skip to the next paragraph...for those of you still with me (i warned you), here goes...either drawing on your own past experiences with travel in underdeveloped foreign countries such as asia, latin america, or africa, or just your imagination, imagine what the multiple daily trips to the toilet are like, not pretty...well, a great cure for the "travelers ass" is some time in the jungle, and a diet of nonstop starch/carbohydrates...after nothing but yuca(a starchy root, similar in consistency to potatoes), plantain, bananas, and rice for a few days, one begins to keep score with his fellow travelers on his now very infrequent trips to the bathroom(read "hole in the outhouse floor")...after a slow start for both of us playing the game, i was able to win the battle with a 4 to 2 victory for the week...
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
after an hour or so in the river, trying out our luck, fishing with a few meters of line, a tin can for a reel, and a small hook, it was decided that we should put out the net, and that is where the story for the previous entry comes in...for that reason i willnot detail it here...that night, our ranger took us on a night tour of the jungle to show us how many different types of mushrooms, fungii, and insects glow and flash in the dark...some of them looked positively fake, as the lights seemed so machine like in their bodies that it was hard to believe...pretty cool shit...
i will leave it here for now, as i am behind schedule once again, having spent too much time at the internet station...so try to digest this latest helping of nonsensical stuart typing...
later
