2nd October - 4th October 2006

Well after an 8 hour scenic drive through Ecuador we arrived in the Jungle in a town called Misahualli where we were staying for the night! Was such a nice little town and had lots of wild little monkeys hehe, they were cute but always trying to grab what you had in your hands, we were all amazed to see the monkeys because we arent used to it, a local guy with two dogs picked a monkey by its tail and was teasing the dogs with it! Was so funny to see dogs chasing and playing with monkeys!! One of them was sat on my mate Debbies shoulders with its hands in her hair was hilarious but we were all abit dubious about whether they had rabies or not so I ran everytime they came near me.
There were a few cool local bars in this area and we hung out and had a few drinks, we started the night by playing this horse racing card game where you bet on swigs of drinks, if your horse wins you get to forefit other people to drink and if you lose you have to drink your bet. Was such a laugh and everyone was pretty hammered by the time we went out for dinner, it was Nathan (a guy on our tours) birthday so he was getting given lots of dirty drinks and was very ill later on oops! We hung out at this pool bar after our meal and played pool with the locals was a good laugh but we all went to bed fairly early for our adventure in the jungle the next day!!
The hostel we were staying in looked a little run down but seemed ok although we were greeted with a cockroach in the night eeewww!!
The next day we were up fairly early got given wellies and lifejackets and headed down the Rio Napo river (which is part of the Amazon river) on motorised canoes which take 10 people each was cool trip on these and they go quite fast. We were dropped off at this entrance to the jungle where we did a 5 hour hike through the jungle, was soo cool hiking through the Amazon rainforest, saw lots of different types of insects and plants (lots of weird looking spiders yuk- one being a brown tirantula ahh!). Our tour guide told us quite alot of info about the plants (one type can be used as an anesthetic and many are eaten by the indians) and lots about the different insects it was really interesting! The jungle was so lush and green but very very humid! Would have been refreshing if it rained but it didnt at all was so hot and tiring! Towards the end of the hike there was lots of muddy parts matt got stuck and Rusty slipped was so hard not to by the end! We arrived at the jungle lodge and got given lunch was definitely needed after that hike! There was two long tables in the main lodge which had huge leaves as table cloths, and lots of different dishes to eat, they had banana chips, a bean dish, rice, an egg carrot and tuna mix was all really nice and healthy! I felt abit sick and shakey through dehydration from the hike so wasnt too good but after eating and a lie down I felt alot better! After lunch we got shown to our lodges we we staying in for he night, me and Matt were sharing with another couple we got on well with Debbie and Felix and Russ shared with Pete from NZ and Brad from Aus! They were such cool little lodges outside each one there was a hammock and reclining wooden chair, there was a shower and toilet at the back but was only covered by netting and could be seen by people from other lodges so you had to be extra careful when getting in and out the shower haha!!
We had free time to go swim in the river which was so refreshing and the family that live in this area have 6 kids who were playing in the river they were all sooo cute and friendly. Had quite a strong current in the river so didnt swim too far out or could have ended up in Brazil!
We went on another little walk though a nature reserve and saw lots more plants and lots of diff coloured butterflies, and on the way back to the lodge saw little monkeys jumping through the trees! In this other lodge near ours we saw three tirantulas yuk, so I was praying that none would work their way into our lodge during the night. Dinner in the main lodge was really nice, the lodge was lit up by candles and the food was again really nice they had these fried plant stalks which tasted just like chips, we have no ida what the meat was as it looked like chicken but didn't taste like it, probably best we didnt know but it tasted nice anyway!!
After dinner we played with the children around the area, they were so friendly and I could speak a little with them which was cool, they were playing with this bug thing that looked like a pretty cockroach (if there could be such a thing) as it had bright aluminous green eyes. Later that night we got taken up the river on the motorised canoes again, but they turned off the engines on our way down stream so we could listen to the sounds od the jungle in the dark this was really fun however, at one point we could hear these really loud base sounds and apparently it was part of an election rally quite far away which took away the pacefulness of the rainforest.
The night continued with all of us sat around this bonfire and we had the local Shamen of this part of the jungle come and carry out his ritual in front of us, this was great to watch. He picked a few people from our group out one by one and sat them down and started making these humming and singing sounds whilst banging these plant leaves on their heads and spitting this alcohol stuff on their heads. He apparently picked people that he thought had bad energy and the ritual he carried out on them was to take away the bad energy from them. He didn't pick any of us 3, but it was cool for us to watch him carry this out on the others. Three people from our group also volunteered to take this psychedelic drug called 'Ayahasca' which makes you vomit and trip out. None of us wanted to do it as didnt like the idea of being sick etc, but it was cool to hear what the 3 from our group thought of it the next day. Whilst the 3 went off to be sick the rest of us had the guitar playing and sang to a few tunes which was a good laugh!
Me and Matt headed back to our lodge at around midnight to get some sleep as we were so tired from the long day we had, I remember having the candle lit then falling asleep, after a bad dream about fire I woke up and said Matt did you blow the candle out, and our mate Felix said he did!! Felt so bad leaving the candle on that night could have been dangerous but it wasn't so thats a relief, I didn't even hear the other two get back. Found it hard to sleep that night with the sounds of the jungle could hear lots of sounds one was like a snake sound, and kept thinking there were spiders in my bed so I kept turning my torch on to check what am I like?!
Anyway next day we were up and had breakie at 8 in the main lodge which again was really nice they had this really nice sponge cake thing which was wrapped in a plant leaf was cool tasted really nice and was definately jungle type food hehe. We started the day with another short hike through the jungle, our guide pointed out different turmite nests in the trees, and showed us what happened when he put his hand in the nest. They leave this substance on you that apparently acts as a repellent for mosquitos which was really interesting. We walked to this childrens school area and there were lots of cute little kids there so we said hi to them and got photos with them. Here our guide showed us this tree which grows these shell things that inside contain these red balls that when touched are like pain, so we were putting it over our faces I nervoulsy let Matt paint tribe lines and other drawings on my face and I did him back and Russ hehe! My mate laura had a clever idea and used it as a blusher looked quite effective! We saw more insects and other peoples homes until we reached the river where we were all going tubing woo hoo! This was sooo fun, like all the river rapids in theme parks but this was the real thing so was so much more fun. We all grabbed a ring and headed down the river. Took us about half an hour to reach where we were staying and we had such a laugh there were a couple of crazy rapid parts where we all nearly fell out was so choppy but was great fun. We had time for a swim in the river before packing our things, eating lunch and then saying goodbye to all the locals. I brought a pair of ear rings made by one of the families as my souvenir of the jungle haha, then we all headed off on the motorised canoes for a 3 hour leisurely ride back to Misuhalli town. Some of the children were upset saying goodbye :( I could have taken one home they were so cute!! It was such a nice ride back on the canoes it was warm and sunny and the views of the jungle from the river were amazing!!! There were also some cool choppy parts where we went quite fast through and got wet hehe!
When we got back to Misuhalli town we put all our stuff back in our rooms and then headed to the bridge where a few of us jumped off the 30 ft bridge into the river. All three of us had a go, it was quite scary as you had to get your legs over the bridge railing and stand on this ledge and jump from there. I was petrified and being the only girl to jump I was scared but everyone shouted 3 2 1 so I couldnt not go so off I went. Was such a cool jump but the trying to swim to the side proved to be a mission as the current of the river was really strong, and my poor breast stroke couldnt beat the current. So Brad from our tour group who was on the side saw me struggle and got in and helped me to the rocks thank god I was panicking thought I was gonna get dragged down the river ahhh! Well it was worth the panick anyway haha! Finished our last night in this town with a cheap meal three courses only cost $3 and had a few drinks while playing pool in the pool shed place was a laugh. Then headed back to the hostel to get some sleep for our drive to Banos the next day.