So our first field trip from Quito was about 90 miles Southeast to a little jungle town called Tena. River rafting is the number one reason most people visit Tena. It took about six hours by bus from Quito. It was a very long and bumpy ride. We dropped 6,000 feet between the two cities so you can imagine what a ride it was. Up and down the Andes, we saw some pretty amazing views with steep cliffs all along the way. Mom would have been on the floor for sure.
We didn´t arrive until after midnight, so we went straight to our hostel and crashed for the night. Early the next morning we ate breakfast (consisting of a roll, fried bananas, and papaya) and headed to the rafting company´s main headquarters. There we jumped in a van and drove to a small community where we were to start our journey. Many of the little kids from the area came to say hello and were interested in asking our names and talking to us. They were so cute! A little girl told me her name was Estefani. I told her that was my sisters name and she blushed.
Starting our decent along the river, we were amazed by the beautiful thick jungle on each side of the river. Monkeys and birds were frequent sights. It was like we were in a National Geographic documentary. I almost had to pinch myself. Ben (our guide) told us that we would be merging with a total of five rivers along our way.
We floated for about two and a half hours before we stopped for lunch. In this time to make a long story short, we were hiking around a rough part of the river where there were many boulders. From what I understood, we put in before we were supposed to and ended up getting sucked into a huge pocket of churning water. To save on the details, we all made it out with a few bumps and bruises.
It felt nice to walk around on the beach during lunch, we needed a good breather from our traumatic experience. The river was really calm and we swam around for a bit, it was a nice escape from the sand flies, which were really getting to us. The guides dished up a number of bowls, which all together made an excellent taco.
The rest of our journey still had some exciting moments, but we made it back in one piece. That night we all went to dinner with our new friends Jeff (from Canada), Ann, Bijorn (from Sweden), and our guides Luis and Ben. We were all pretty exhausted from fighting for our lives all day, so after dinner we went back to catch some sleep.
Sunday morning we were picked up my a local guide and taken to a place called Isla de los Monos (Monkey Island). There we go to see various species of Monkeys along with several other animals found in the Amazon. Our guide was an indigenous man who had a lot of really cool insight. He also taught us how to make bracelets out of a common plant found here in Ecuador.
It was an exciting adventure that we will be talking about for years to come. Now its back to school for this week. Yesterday we met two new students from New York who are fresh out of high school. I look forward to getting to know them and getting more confident in my Spanish speaking.
Much love,
devin
We didn´t arrive until after midnight, so we went straight to our hostel and crashed for the night. Early the next morning we ate breakfast (consisting of a roll, fried bananas, and papaya) and headed to the rafting company´s main headquarters. There we jumped in a van and drove to a small community where we were to start our journey. Many of the little kids from the area came to say hello and were interested in asking our names and talking to us. They were so cute! A little girl told me her name was Estefani. I told her that was my sisters name and she blushed.
Starting our decent along the river, we were amazed by the beautiful thick jungle on each side of the river. Monkeys and birds were frequent sights. It was like we were in a National Geographic documentary. I almost had to pinch myself. Ben (our guide) told us that we would be merging with a total of five rivers along our way.
We floated for about two and a half hours before we stopped for lunch. In this time to make a long story short, we were hiking around a rough part of the river where there were many boulders. From what I understood, we put in before we were supposed to and ended up getting sucked into a huge pocket of churning water. To save on the details, we all made it out with a few bumps and bruises.
It felt nice to walk around on the beach during lunch, we needed a good breather from our traumatic experience. The river was really calm and we swam around for a bit, it was a nice escape from the sand flies, which were really getting to us. The guides dished up a number of bowls, which all together made an excellent taco.
The rest of our journey still had some exciting moments, but we made it back in one piece. That night we all went to dinner with our new friends Jeff (from Canada), Ann, Bijorn (from Sweden), and our guides Luis and Ben. We were all pretty exhausted from fighting for our lives all day, so after dinner we went back to catch some sleep.
Sunday morning we were picked up my a local guide and taken to a place called Isla de los Monos (Monkey Island). There we go to see various species of Monkeys along with several other animals found in the Amazon. Our guide was an indigenous man who had a lot of really cool insight. He also taught us how to make bracelets out of a common plant found here in Ecuador.
It was an exciting adventure that we will be talking about for years to come. Now its back to school for this week. Yesterday we met two new students from New York who are fresh out of high school. I look forward to getting to know them and getting more confident in my Spanish speaking.
Much love,
devin
2 comments:
dag yo that looks like a freakin riot. wow that makes logan look like there is nothing to do no matter how hard you look. well peace out
Wow!! What a fun river raft ride!! I am glad you made it out alive! It sounds like you guys are already having so much fun! I can't wait till we are all home and can share our fun picutres!! Love you all!!
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