Ecuador and the Amazon

We were sad to leave the Lima bubble as we loved our hostel and the people there. But, alas, we finally had a flight to Ecuador and, fingers crossed, immigration would let us in.

In the end, there were no problems with immigration and all was fine. I started feeling unwell, nauseous and feverish on the flight, however. We didn't get to the hostel in Quito till after midnight and by that point my body was aching and I just wanted to sleep.

That night was horrible :( I had really bad shivers, could not get warm, accompanied by sharp stomach pain and cramps. I spent that night in the bathroom and by the early morning I was so dehydrated that I fainted on the way back to bed. Really scary and unpleasant. 

I basically didn't leave the hostel for two days as I tried to stabilise my stomach, get some energy back and rehydrate with salts and electrolytes. Luckily, the hostel was a really cool boutique hostel that had just opened up so if I were to get ill anywhere that was a good place to do it.

I think it was food poisoning, possibly from the ceviche (raw fish) we ate at the buffet in Peru before boarding the flight. Whatever it was, it sucked. Worst few days since travelling.

After some days of sleeping, and Ofir's arrival (our Israeli friend from our Machu Picchu group), I was well enough to actually go out into the world of Quito. We visited the dangerous touristic centre, Mariscal, and the much prettier old town, Centro historico (a UNESCO site).

For some reason I wasn't feeling Ecuador yet, maybe because of the annoying flight changes and, even though I got ill from something in Peru, I somehow associated poor Ecuador with being ill :p

We had planned to visit the Amazon in Ecuador so perhaps a change from Quito would help change my mind.

Hannah, Ofir and I headed to Tena, an Amazonian town five hours away. We got to Tena, found a travel agency and booked a three day/two night tour into the Amazon from there. 

We then took a local bus a further hour into the jungle to the Napo area. The bus itself was an experience. As the doors opened people scrambled to get on. You couldn't tell who had a ticket and who didn't but there were definitely way more people than seats, many people with children or pets or just stuff, plus people getting on and off selling food and drinks. A bit of a chaos.

When we got to the other side, we were picked up by Juan, the lodge owner and our tour guide for the next few days. First nice experience was going through the jungle river with the canoe during sunset to get to the lodge.

The lodge was tucked away in the rain forest and provided the essentials: nice basic rooms, some hot water, some electricity and hammocks. Juan made us dinner and told us a bit about himself and the lodge (although some of it may have been oversold...)

The next morning we had breakfast and were joined by two girls from Germany who were doing their medical placements in a hospital in Tena. On the itinerary for the day: a 3-4hour trek in the primary and secondary tropical rain forests, followed by a visit to a Quechua family. Then if we had time, a swim in the river and finally a walk in the rain forest at night to spot florescent animals and plants.

First, the trek. I must admit I struggled with that at the start. The tropical rain forest is quite dense with tall trees cutting off the sky and streams running through so it gets very hot, humid and muggy. Not the best move for me when trying to stay hydrated, but I made it! 

After lunch and waiting for the afternoon rain to pass, we got on the boat to go learn more about Quechua life. 

This wasn't as exciting as we expected because the "family visit" ended up involving visiting crop fields with Juan's family. Still, we learnt about different crops, trees, how to make chicha (a local brew- not a fan) and chocolate from scratch. 

Yucca

The cocoa tree

Making chicha

Roasted cocoa beans

Grinding up the cocoa beans to make a paste

Cooking the cocoa paste with sugar and water

Tada, chocolate! Best enjoyed with bananas :)

Making Panama hats

Washing the gold

And then some playing in the river...

And later, the night walk in the rain forest...

My prince charming

On the final day in the rain forest we visited a museum, performed a shaman ritual on an unsuspecting ill Italian tourist, visited an Amazonian animal reserve and a family who makes clay (but it was Sunday so they were too drunk to demonstrate). 

Our group

Shaman ceremony

Monkey island

A creature out of my nightmares, basically a humongous rodent.

Turtles posing in a row

Lunch time

River boat ride in the rain forest

Floating along

Ceramics class

And that was that. I must admit the tour felt a bit touristy and the rain forest isn't my favourite terrain but it was a cool experience being out in the jungle for a few days nonetheless. 

We had to make our way back to Quito that night as we were planning to cross into Colombia the next day (our final country!!)

This is where Hannah and I's paths would split. We planned this ages ago but somehow its now creeped up on us. Remember how Hannah found out while we were in Brazil that she'd have to leave  our trip a week early? Well that time had come. She has one week left so is flying straight from Quito (Ecuador) to Bogota (Colombian capital), to the coast and then out. As I have more time, I am slowly making my way up to the Caribbean coast with buses, stopping in other places along the way. Bonus is, once I reach the coast Emily is meeting me up there for some beach R&R on my last week before heading back to Londres and the "real" world!! (Where have the months gone??)

So, somehow I had to say goodbye to Hannah, really weird and scary and sad after spending everyday together for the past five months. Bahh, too much. Best travel partner ever :)

The last supper

And now, my final 2.5 weeks of South America will be spent in Colombia going solo. First step, cross the border and get into the country!