El Oriente: The Ecudorian part of The Amazon

First off, I went to the jungle with a group of guys i didn't know...(sorry mom) I knew one for a week and they invited me to see the Jungle with them.. So I thought.. why not?? =]

Well nothing bad happened and I'm still alive and Malaria free! (yahoo!) Most people in this country are so nice!

Our journey began with our flight from Quito. Since all the airports in Ecuador are pretty small (ok.. REALLY small) the only planes they fly in-country are small propellor planes with two seats on either side of the aisle. (bigger than most of the planes between RDM and SEATAC/PDX) But this group had never been on a plane so small.. go figure. =] (there was a lot of pictures taken of them with the crazy plane..) And since we asked fro seat next to each other we got the first four seats on the plane.. two of which were facing backwards... this made taking off and landing really weird...  All 8 of us on the flight made it to Tena safely to their very new state-of-the-art Airport, which was EMPTY, and they only supply power to small parts of it at a time. (AKA only the computer at check in)

We had a cab come and get us and take us to our hostal in Tena which cost a whopping 4 dollars a night and we even had our own bathroom between the 5 of us. Breakfast was an extra two, and they had beer in the fridge that we paid for on the way out, aka $1.50 per 22oz of Pilsner. (Yes)

Our tour guide company came to check with us, and after some confusion over whether or not transportation was included or not, we landed on a change of plans that was 1/2 the price. (SCORE)

The next morning we went to the next town over: Misayualli, where we met our tour guide and we went on a hike to a waterfall, where we took a much needed swim.. (SO HOT SO HUMID)

After the hike we tried some fresh Guava, and Guayabas! Very tasty! And we returned to Misayualli for lunch, and a walk around the beach to see the monkeys... who let people feed them etc. naturally.

We then boarded a boat and went to a small wildlife museum on the river, and after went 'tubing' (we floated for a bit on inner tubes) and ended at the compound where we stayed that night. Which after the walk up to it, seemed like it was in the middle of the jungle, but in fact was a kilometer from the airport, and we were able to walk to the road and buy beer. (score!) haha

Also i almost slept with this GIANT grasshopper... literally 4 inches long.... no thanks.

The next morning we went on a long walk around the jungle here and saw a bunch of plants and more bugs etc. rested, ate lunch, and went down by the river and learned about the Kitchwa traps for fish and game in the jungle. We held a baby Caiman, and learned to shoot with this giant blow dart they use with poison tipped darts.

We then went down the river a bit with dugout canoes to a Kitchwa family's house where we learned of her ways of making bracelets and bags with the fibers of a palm leaf of some kind. She also made all natural ceramic, paint, glaze and all.

The next day we went on one last hike in the jungle to see a giant tree, and then returned to Misayualli, ate lunch and retuned to the airport.

Successful first trip to the Jungle.