Day 4: Amazon river Canoes, Traditional home, and Cocoa beans

It started out raining this day, which is sad cause we were going to go on a hike, but oh well. So we jump to breakfast; pretty good, I tried a strange melon; which is what they called a sweet cucumber. It was watery but tasty; I couldn’t finish it but I gave it to my dad.

So as we were about to get on the bus to head out for the day; our guide learned the news of a mudslide that happened on the way. He made us wait for about a half hour, then we were told the road was clear. But when we got to the spot we were stopped. Our guide got out to go check on it, he ended up walking 2 miles to where the slide was at; they were letting cars through but only one lane at a time. We ended up being there for about 2hours. I didn’t mind, I got through my book :)

 that's the line up the mountain because of the slide

Once we got through the slide, we passed at least two others but we passed them pretty quick. As we drove we passed through a forest called Cloud forest. Which was cool cause this forest constantly filled with clouds and that is how they got most of their moisture. It was really pretty.

After the long bus ride, we finally arrived in the Amazon basin and the Amazon river. We had to get into canoes to get to our hotel. Which was pretty fun, the canoes themselves  were long and had to have a motor cause the river was pretty strong.

Well, as we were on route to the hotel, buzzing along on the swift current of the river, I remembered my fear of canoes. Also the fact that my Dad, most discretely said that if the boat capsized that we should just swim to the edge. Yeah, very comforting. I lived though and it was totally worth the view.

We had lunch at the lodge and then we headed into the rainforest.

We had to get into the canoes again; to go to a traditional home. We also had to put on boots, because of the ants and mud.

 that's the cocoa bean

There they showed us how they cook, and they gave a piece of a fresh cocoa fruit. They let us try their special drink, it was fermented and smelled horrible. But it was kind that they let us smell it. They also showed us how they kept the mosquitos away, they roasted termite hives over the fire, the smoke would keep the insects at bay.  They then had us learn to hunt with them; we got to try out a blow gun and shoot a fake monkey in a tree. Dad and Tasha got to try and both hit the target which is awesome!

After we got back to the hotel we were given free time. So we decided to walk around and explore our surroundings. It was beautiful, there were rare or at least unique flowers everywhere and as it got dark there started to be chirping. We couldn’t see what was making the chirping; I think it was insects; but I’d like to say was birds… maybe.

To finish off the day my family and I started to play fivedeck. We played it next to the pool, where the lights attracted moths and various other insects. This ended up attracting bats and that was this evenings entertainment. I sat there watching the bats fly around the pool at least a half hour waiting for my family to come to the place where we would play the game.

It was a great evening; even though it was super humid and there were giant moths everywhere.

 I'll leave you of my dad hunting and killing a wooden monkey :)

Day 3: Hot springs and Markets

Well, we woke up to a great wakeup call via Dogs barking and roosters crowing; it was fine for me. (I sleep like a rock until around 7:00am)My sister is a light sleeper so when those animals started going at 4am, she wasn’t too happy about it. Oh well it was a good or early start to the day.

For breakfast this morning I decided to be adventurous and I tried a new fruit I have never seen before. It was something similar to  a tomato on the outside but it had a hard shell you had to crack open, then the insides were grey gooey seeds. It was really crunchy and slimy to eat, but overall unique and sweet.

We headed out and our first stop was the Paguche Waterfall, it was a bit of a hike. Nothing crazy and the path itself was paved with cobblestones. But it was lined with Eucalyptis trees, smelled great and it was a beautiful clear day. When we got to the waterfall, it was nice and we got to get up close to it; the thing that stood out to me was the signs though. The word for ‘look out spot’ was Moridar. But in my juvenile mind I saw Moridor. I was back in the Lord of the Rings universe and that just made me giddy. Hehe. We hiked around the waterfall for a while and just enjoyed the scenery. Then we headed back to the bus passing an ancient sun dial which was the size of a small hut.

We then drove to Otavalo, which had the biggest outdoor market and which is known for this market. So naturally we went shopping. We bought rugs, blankets, shirts, bowls, chess sets, nativities, hair accessories, pillow covers…I’m going to stop their cause I don’t really want everyone to know how carried away we got. What, the bargains were awesome, mainly because we could bargain with them. I got most of the stuff down to close to half price on all the stuff I bought. (Actually, I only spent around $100 on souvenirs for most of the trip, prices were that good!)

After Otavalo, (my parents were the last to get on the bus J ) we headed over to Catacachi, which is a town known for their leather items. Thankfully we didn’t go as crazy as we did in the market but Dad did get a new wallet and I found a leather shawl. There were a ton of cow hide rugs and I wanted to get one but sadly there would be no way for me to fit one of those into my luggage.

To the next hotel, and it again was placed in little cabins. This place however was a hotsprings site. The hotel was called Termis Papallacta and it was nice. There were little pools of hot water outside our rooms which we could go to anytime we wanted. We however signed up to the packaged deel where we got our own personal hotsprings pool, they were hotter than the other small pools and then they brought us to a steam room. It was a small room with a hot waterfall  at the end of the room which had bows or eucalyptus leaves on shelves in the water. So it was hot steamie and smelled divine. They left us in there for about 20 minutes which was so nice but near the end it was really hot. Kinda hard to breath but all is well cause after that they brought us into a thirty minute massage. That was so good! I felt so spoiled and wondered if this was like how the rich people lived. It was so nice.

After the massage, we went to dinner. The place wanted to give us a free glass of wine but none of us drink so instead they brought us a unique juice mix, it was blackbearry juice mixed with this white milky stuff that was sour but sweet at the same time, all I know is that it was good. I also had trout again for dinner. Yay fish!

We headed to bed after that and somehow I was the only one who got a comfortable bed this time around. I was pretty lucky. 

Day 2-Equador, Quito

Alright, So this was the day where we actually started our tour, and since we were in Quito, we started there.

We went first to Old town Quito, this included the Basilica, the Gold church, the San Francisco and the original and new town square.

Our Guide explained to us that Quito had the most churches within the city coming in second compared to the Vatacan. In other words there were a lot… a LOT of churchs in this city. But we only hit the major ones and called it good.

The first one we went to was the Basilica. This was a Gothic looking cathedral; much like the ones seen in Europe there were a few differences from the those European churches: mainly in the age and what decorated it. The church was built only a hundred years ago but the decorations are what made it stand out to me. Originally the Cathedral had gargoyles adorning the outside which was to be expected but the locals said that the gargoyles were too frightening; so they took them down and in stead put up animals that were indigenous to the area. So there were caymen and anteaters and turtles on the sides of the church. Very unique!

We then went to the original city square which was the center of town before the Spaniards came and took over. Then we went to todays city’s square where there was the Presidental palace and it had a few ‘yeah for Ecuador’ stuff, honestly it is like going to the white house, you see it say ‘cool’ then you move onto the next memorial.

The next church we visited was awesome though, the whole of the inside was gilded in gold. Almost every in was covered. It was amazing, they asked us not to take photos inside…. So my sister took a few, (well she didn’t hold back at the Jade Buddha in China, why would she hold back here?) It was really cool to see though, and aparantly it housed its own miracle. They had a painting of the Madonna that at one point blinked… yep that is what is considered a miracle today, a blinking painting.

Anyways, our group moved onto the last church which was the San Franscisco and the only thing that stands out to me about this church was that the insides were being devoured by termites and the front doors had a picture of Christ whipping the money changers; which was fun compared to all the little sellers of candles and such right outside the doors of the church. Hmmm, yeah they didn’t get the lesson.

After all the ABC churches we all jumped into the bus and headed to the Equator!

Oh, I almost forgot! On the bus ride over to the Equator our guide stopped the bus for  a surprise for us. ICECREAM!!! Yep we stopped at an ice cream shop and there were a ton of new tasty flavors, I got Taxo and Guinabanananna…nana I can’t pronounce the last part but it was super tasty and they showed us how they created ice cream. For them they used to go to the mountains collect ice and bring it down to the valleys then they would stick a big copper bowl in the ice and pour juices and cream into the bowl. As they stirred the contents, it would freeze and become their ice cream. They had a demonstration and we got to try the fresh ice cream. So good, Dad even tried to give it a go.

Alright, back to the equator, that is right I have stood on both sides of the globe. It was pretty awesome! There was a memorial and a bunch of shops surrounding the location. Which according to Dad is a wonder; cause when he was here last the place only had a six-foot monument and a bunch of tents. Well now there is a building a shops. OK, yeah after taking the pictures that is about all you can do at the equator is walk and shop. I was still happy to be there though!

We then jumped back into the bus to head to our next hotel; on the way we stopped at a shop where our guide got us to try Ecuador’s chocolate; which was pretty tasty; I think it could compete with the Swiss kind but I’m still biased to to it.

We finally get to our Hotel which is the little out of the way place where you are staying in little cabins next to a lake and at the base of a Volcano. The scenery was so peaceful. There was a mini golf course in the center with a small creek going through it and they had a bunny pen. Also as you walked a crossed the little bridge over the creek you could see a hummingbird flying around the lilies in the water. It was like out of a picture book.

We decided that we had sat in the bus too long today and so we went for a walk before dinner. As soon as you got to the road; that scene of peaceful cabins broke and you were surround by…not poverty but I guess just a different way of life. Everyone had houses but their homes were only half done and the family still lives there. Most of them were cinderblock homes with very pretty front facades but when you looked at the sides it would only be the cinderblocks showing. Then there were some with second floors but those would be open, no glass but just walls of cinderblocks. There would often be a cow or pig tied up in the front or side yards as well. It was just different, but interesting. Oh and there were dogs everywhere but they were super chill, like you would walk right by one and he wouldn’t even bat an eye.

After the walk, we had dinner. I had this tasty traditional potato soup with a chunk of avocado in the center of it then for the entre I had trout. Tasty, traditional, but normally I only eat trout while camping so it was pretty unique eating the campy fish at a nice hotel. But apparently it was a traditional meal, so I’m all for it.

Another fun thing we did, there was a presentation on what the traditional garb was for the area. And tasha was selected to dress up.

We finished off the day by sitting in our room listening to my dad share mission stories. Perfect ending for the day! Oh, also they had built a fire for us and also left a hot water bottle in our beds. Divine!