Last day in the jungle

Bittersweet leaving the jungle, the friends who went with us were an absolute joy to travel with, so enthusiastic about everything and fun folks. Our guides, both driver and boat guide were very interesting people and loved to hear their stories. The last day we awoke to sprinkle and it stayed thruout the morning. We finally had to wear our rain ponchos on the boat trip back to the van. 

The little porch on the "matrimonio" cottage,  where we spent a lot of time in the evening.

Beautiful little setting,  could have spent more time, but we were all ready to head back to the beach.

The trip, which included driver from Quito, lodging along the way, and the three days in the jungle was around $500 per person, what an amazing adventure. Thanks Mom!

Wildlife we saw on the way home.  We stopped at a hotspring on our way back to Quito, much needed for our tired bodies. And saw such beautiful scenery as we went back up thru rain forest and cloud forest and then back down again into the valley of Quito. This little countey never ceases to amaze me...so stay tuned, the adventure continues!

River trip part 2

Wow, first sorry for the massive delay...

So, we awoke for breakfast,  and got right on the river. We did not really get to see much in the way of animals or birds, not sure why but the weather was great!.

One time the guide stopped it was to show us a tiny monkey...

We didnt see him, but saw where they make tiny holes in the tree trunk and suck the sap out. The pygmi monkey. We also did not see the sloth... but yall know what sloths look like,  to us, he was curled up in a ball in the tree limbs. One we did see a lot of was the stinky turkey. 

And when the people went for the sunset cruise and night walk they saw the pink river dolphins.  I was not ready to get back in the boat after only a quick pit stop, so opted to stay back and have happy hour with friends, choices...

We went to a local village and saw a Shaman (by canoe of course) He gave us demonstrations of healing/cleansing rituals and told of life deep in the jungle.  Years of training on medicinal plants and bringing up apprentices, bartering and trading and taking care of ones neighbor.

Also saw a local woman harvest yucca and make yucca flour and then cooked us a tortilla with it...one thing that surprised me, they said yucca was not native to Ecuador, hmmm. 

No spices, no oil just the heat bound the starch together, could have been better, and such a lot of work.

I mentioned great weather, it was beautiful and had been raining 10 days straight before we got there. Good thing we had boots.

One more night then we head out,  not looking forward to the loooong ride, but worth the trip. Stay tuned, the adventure continues.