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Tilly's Latino Travels
Well hello everyone! What an amazing week I've had so far here. To sum it up, I've held snakes, been feet away from a tarantula, eaten ants in the rainforest and just jumped off a 36m bridge! (Don't worry mum I'm fine!)
Ok, starting from the beggining. I met up with the rest of the group in Quito and since then we've gone up to Otavalo in our Truck, otherwise known as Cindy. Otavalo was really pretty and had a lovely market there. It was a shame but we weren't there on market day, however I still managed to make a few sneaky purchases, although regretting it now as my bag gets heavier!
Onwards from Otavalo we then made our way to a small town called Misahuilli where we were caught a boat down one of the tributaries of the Amazon river in to the jungle. All was going fine until there was a slight technical hitch with the outboard. We managed to get to one of the river banks then our guide went running off for help. Soon we saw him coming towards us in another boat to rescue us, only to see him come and go and we soon realised he had engine failure too! All was well shortly, engines were going again and our trip was back on target. We stayed in a lodge by the side of the river which was fairly basic, but all we needed. No luxuries like hot water!
After lunch we set off in to the jungle after greasing up with baby oil... apparently it's a fantastic deterrent for sandflies - or so we were told! There weren't a lot of larger animals in that area of the rainforest but we saw some amazing plants and insects, and on returning home to bed, this included a baby tarantula..... this meant I had to have a quick check round our room before we went to bed as there was no way I was taking any chances!
The next day sights in the jungle included snakes and more insects including lemon ants which live in a lemon tree. Our guide started eating them from the twig he had cut off and then passed them round for us all to try... an interesting experience, just taste bitter really. Not amazingly filling though. The rest of the afternoon included a river walk where we were chest deep at times with water spiders skateing around us. We also tried out some of the natural remedies of the jungle and I found my tongue going numb having tried an anaesthetic plant!
That evening a local witch doctor person called a Shamen came to show us how he warded off evil spirits in people. This consisted of drinking hallucenagenic fluid before smoking jungle cigarettes and waving a bunch of leaves up and down people's bodies. Every now and again he would suck and spit on the crown of the person's head and to get the spirit out before spitting it out! Very interesting to watch and hear about.
In the afternoon we went to a Amazonian family home to watch them make some tipical foods, wooden statues and ceramics before we floated down the river in rubber rings in the pouring rain, whilst also attempting not to get thrown out in the rapids.
Today we were due to move on to a town called Banos, and we got here finally despite having slight issues with the gear box in Cindy and we had to rent a bus to get us here instead. Apparently she's all fixed now and we're due to be reunited with her later. Highlight of the day has to be jumping off a bridge doing a bridge swing. Absolute madness, but loved every moment of it. I've got it on video to remind me of my madness..... who knows what the next part of my travels will bring?!
Well that's about it in brief. My photos are too large to upload at the moment, but I'm working on it. Thanks for your emails.
Tilly x x x
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