Bienvenido a otra realidad: la selva amazonica!

On our journey to the jungle we ended up going to Coca to find some guide able to take us on a boat deep in the jungle to a natural reserve - Pañacocha. We met Miguel, owner of a small agency and went with him.

We were 4, us plus the guide and our Argentinean friend Juan. Coca is a city that lives mainly from the oil business (there is a movie called Crude that documents how locals expeled Chevron from the region due to toxic waste and damage to local communities).

 During the trip we saw some beautiful species of animals (few photos since we didnt have the camera with us). Huge colourful buterflies, monkeys, Martim pescador bird, aligator´s eyes (due to the rain we only saw their eyes jaja). Parrots, colorful birds, etc. At night we were able to enjoy the silence of the jungle and listen around 10 diferent animal sounds, amazing!

In the jungle, when it starts raining it rains cats and dogs for hours.

Some of the huge trees from the jungle.

Before one of the most beautiful sunsets ever seen we had fished some Piranhas for dinner. Was not that easy due to the pressure (Miguel told us that there was no plans for dinner, "so you need to be effective and fish!").

Early in the morning from the next day we did a long trekking in the jungle for more than 4 hours and could feel the humidity inside all those plants and trees. We learned a lot about the species of plants and what they are used for. Also, at some point we got lost even though our guide would strongly deny it.

The river Napo is an important connection to Rocafuerte, border with Peru.

I don´t have to mention that all of our showers were in the river with natural lagoons all over us . Even though we were told that the pirañas and small crocodiles are everywhere, those were the most delightful bathes we ever take, a true feeling of being part of this impressive nature. 

Not knowing what comes next and being  in contact with the pureness of life, are indescribable sensations that we recommend to all of you. This also works to remind us that we came from nature and we will back to it and in the meanwhile all the problems, worries and the diseases derived from it, are created by us and not part of our "nature".

Puenting!? Bungee jumping!? Dale, vamos!! and Paulo attacked by a snake!

Leaving the party period of our trip we took a bus to Baños and already in the bus, packed with Argentineans and Chileans, we felt the difference of weather, much colder in Baños, a city of extreme sports. On the way to our next destination we got to know a group of 6 Chilean girls from Concón (close to Viña del Mar in Chile, where we used to live), all younger than us and once again we saw ourselves leading the group as older brothers.

Once we arrived in Baños, we went directly to the highest bridge in town to do Bungee Jumping (called puenting in south america). Francisco, as a brave man, was the first one of the group to jump and was followed by Paulo, who first checked if Francisco was still alive. The girls also jumped, go Chilean girls! We can say now that the sensation is unforgetable and we do recommend the experience to everyone who is afraid of trying. 

 In Ecuador there is a newspaper that reports a tragical accident in his first page, followed by a Picture of a model.

Our second new experience of the day was trying the traditional food from the Sierras, the famous Cuy, a kind of big rat very appreciated among local people. Well, what can we say? The meat itself is not that bad but it is hard to imagine this big animal going through your mouth and don’t feel it a little bit disgusting. In the end, it is all about experiences right?? The taste in your throat/or in your mind stays until you have something sweet (yogurt granizado!!)

Still in Baños we got a new brother in the trip, Adrienne, an american girl who is travelling alone in south america for 4 months and who we met a few months ago in the boarder of Argentina and Bolivia. All together we took a bus to Puyo, the first city in the Oriente from Ecuador, or the beginning of our jungle tour. The city itself is not very interesting and the main spot is a Malecon with a park where we did a trail along the river. Nothing special.

 

After Puyo we headed to Tena, deeper in the Oriente and where we went to the Amazonico Park, a big park which is a mix of wild life and zoo containing information about plants, threes and animals. There we got our first surprise, during our calm walk in the park Paulo got attacked by a medium black snake that bite him in the leg and run away to the jungle. We all got scared but walked calmly to the park administration where we asked a professional if the snake was poising to what he answered: “no, it is not, this snake only bites and turns around legs of liars”, “Liars???” “Yes, it only attacks liars” Oohhh Paulo, you should stop making all that jokes!!! In Tena we did couchsurfing with a girl from Quito than lives in Tena since 2010 and an Italian, and the way we got to know them was really nice. Murta saw some travellers (the Italian) and asked him “do you have a hostel?” to what the ecuatorian girl replied “hm.. arent you in couchsurfing, where are you guys from?” “yes, we sent some requests but no one replied! I am from Portugal and he is from Brazil” “ahahah you sent me a request yesterday but I didnt have time to reply, if it is one night you can stay in my house”. In a town of 15.000 we ended up meeting one of the six couchsurfers!

 In Oriente we found a new delicious desert, banana a la parilla com quejo y maionese

Well, from Tena we went to Puerto Misahuallí, a small town also surrounded by the Napo´s River which forms a small sand beach. Amazin!!. The city has a main plaza full of monkeys playing around the whole day and spending time watching them stealing things from the tourists or jumping above our heads is the best thing to do in town, it is a live free theater show. We tried to hire a tour to the real jungle but everything seemed to be overpriced for us and that´s why we decided not take. In Misahualli we met 2 Argentineans friends and one of them, Juan, would follow us to our next destination deeper in the jungle: Coca.

Maito is a typical dish in this region

On the last day we went to see some waterfalls and enjoy th quite jungle atmosphere, that was an amazing day! We also went to Jumandy caves

It is incredible how Argentineans travel. Argentina population is around 12% of south america population but they represent 80% of the backpapers we met during this trip. Even though political and economic scene do not help Argentina tourists, the difficulty of exchanging peso argentino for dollars, they seem to continue travelling anyway. Why this happens with Argentineans and not with the Brazilians (which are getting more and more purchasing power) or Portuguese/Spanish – that are not from Cataluña or Pais Basco -(that were once the discoverers of the world)? In south america, specially during summer season we met more Chileans than usual and that is explained by their holidays and the increasing appreciation of peso chileno (their currency). In terms of gringos (named called to non-latin tourists) French, Dutch and North Americans seem to dominate among travellers.