So .. I wasn’t going to send another blog before Galapagos Islands but I had such a great week in Ecuador that I wanted to jot down my experiences!
Where to go and what to do?
After arriving in Ecuador, I had no grand plan of where I would go and what I would do for my 5 days before Galapagos, but over breakfast and with the help of my trusty Lonely Planet, I’m so glad that I decided to head directly to the idyllic little town called Baños. After a spectacular bus ride through the beautiful mountains and past snow-capped volcanoes, I arrived in this little town that I soon discovered was not only the adventure sports capital of Ecuador but also that I had perfectly time my arrival to be the last day of carnival and just in time for the huge carnival closing party that evening!
Carnival Time
The custom in this town for carnival involves lots of cans of foam !! Everyone was running around town taking great delight in decorating everyone, from head to toe in foam, including me!! I tried to artfully dodge the scores of people on the streets but I soon realised it was impossible as everyone from kids to grand parents takes part in this crazy tradition of trying to best cover other people in white foam!
Some kids playing with cans of foam for the carnival in Baños
For carnival closing party I made friends with some fantastic Ecuadorian students (Maria and David) who took me under their wing and really showed me how to close carnival, Baños style!! We were dancing all night with hundreds of people whilst foam fired out all over the crowd, everyone was in such a good mood and it was hard to leave! Maria and I were up dancing on the tables, however this almost ended in tears when Maria fell through a piece of the table and ended up lying on the floor 2 metres down, with a bleeding nose and a sore knee. But this didn’t stop her for long and pretty soon she was back salsa-ing the night away again!
I made some great friends out at salsa bars in Baños and hope that I can come back to this little party town for carnival again some time!
Activities a plenty – Horse riding, Rafting, Biking and Jungle Trekking
The next day I started my 4 days of activities. I thought the first day, being horse riding in the mountains, would be rather relaxed and tranquil however my horse had other ideas and it proved rather hairy galloping up mountain ridges with no helmet on (these don´t exist in Ecuador) with the guide disappearing into the distance and my horse anxiously trying to follow!!
One of the few moments when my horse was content to stand still!
Biking and the tunnel incident
The next day was mountain biking and white water rafting … Both offered spectacular views of the mountains and rivers and definitely got the adrenaline rushing. I luckily finished both activities with no damage however others weren’t so lucky. You can see the photo of the girl in my group that didn’t make it out the really dangerous tunnel in a good condition. There was this tunnel that was completely dark, with the occasional oncoming lorry at top speed and not having cycled in the pitch black before, it was so difficult to tell how close you were to the walls of the tunnel and even to maintain balance, freaky stuff!! Even the tour guide that does it every day says it makes his heart race every time. Anyway, out of a group of 10 people, we had 2 quite serious men overboard! Hilary was the worst off and just rescued herself and bike before an oncoming car rushed past, and she was actually smiling as she stumbled out of the tunnel …
Biking towards the Amazon. Just before the dreaded tunnel!!
Rafting for the first time and flipping the boat for the first time!
Next stop .. white water rafting! This was a 3+ slope but for my first time was plenty, especially considering the raft flipped 5 minutes into the rapids and we had people and paddles everywhere, absolute carnage. But we felt better when the other boat also flipped about an hour later … It was so much fun though and can’t wait to do some more rafting in Peru!
With Kim and Krystal, ready for our white water rafting adventure, shortly before we flipped the raft and we all swimming downstream!
Into the Amazon!!
After the rafting, we headed into the Amazon and settled in our secluded cabañas high up on the hill with superb views over the Amazon and surrounding rivers. We then headed to what would be our first of many waterfall adventures, just in time for sunset. I met some great people, including 3 girls from Chile that I’m looking forward to catching up with in Santiago and a lovely couple from Canada that I shared hours of jungle walking with.
Over the 3 days, with the help of our very knowledgeable guide, Juan, who grew up in the Amazon, we discovered amazing things about the flora and fauna of the jungle. We tried the medicine, sampled the fruits, tried the toothpaste, lifted up dew dripping leaves to discover tree frogs and spiders, spotted birds and butterflies and Juan even weaved me a backpack from the palm trees. His skills especially came in handy the day it was raining when he made us all very effective rain hats from palm leaves, I’ll let you judge on the fashionista qualities of the hat from the photos though!
The name for this flower is ´beso de la selva’ or ´kiss of the jungle´and you can see why!
The funniest discovery was definitely the pornographic palm tree. After you’ve seen the photo, I’ll let you work out where the name comes from. These plants were everywhere and maybe I’m immature, but they always raised a smile! Day 2 was superb, the highlights being swinging like Tarzan through the jungleon a 40 metre vine that swings way out over the beautiful canopy. Of course, it was super scary as one slip from the vine (especially considering it was rainy) and it would not have been a happy ending.
See if you can spot where the name comes from!
We also got about in bikinis and rubber boots to get up to a secret waterfall. I was definitely pushing the fashion boundaries in the jungle and there is definitely not a photo I’m publishing of me in this sexy little outfit!! But it was worth it and after wading through rivers up to our waste and scrambling up muddy river banks, we came to an amazing waterfall where we could jump 4 metres down into the pool from a fallen tree, was definitely a lot of fun.
Our guide had all sorts of sayings that he has picked up from foreigners, that he says all the time and at entirely inappropriate moments, for example ‘that’s amazing’, ‘that’s incredible’, ‘that’s adorable’, ‘cool bananas’ and my personal favourite, ‘that’s electrifying’!! Over the course of 3 days, it was getting too much but definitely made the trip interesting.
You will notice that in every photo I have the same clothes on, as my backpack unfortunately didn’t make it into the jungle, so I was unfortunately surviving in the wet jungle with one set of clothes and a very damp pair of socks!! The nightly camp fires were a chance for me to dry my
clothes and sample the local liquer (fire water) which is an extract from sugar cane. Quite deadly !!
The Story of my Jungle Scar
After spending 3 days in the jungle, I wish I had a great story of fighting off a deadly snake to be sporting the scar that I am, but sadly not … I was helping out in the kitchen and a lady there decided that adding a cup of oil to a boiling pan without a lid on would be a good idea, and luckily I only ended up with a whopping big scar on my forehead and not my eye missing!! After 3 days of jungle medicine, where Juan decided to paint a love heart on my face one day (see the photo), it is still attracting a lot of weird looks and definitely a talking point at the hostel tonight.
After my little accident in the jungle, our guide put this special sap on my burn each day, the final day he decided painting a love heart on my head would be funny.
On the final day we boated in these tiny canoes down a river including a few little rapids, which was quite terrifying, to an indigenous community. We then rode again in the canoes on the back of the pick up truck back to camp, only in Ecuador hey!
The waterfall we visited at sunset on Day 1 in the jungle. With my Chilean friends, Cecilia, Mariasol and Natalia
All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and I hope the first of a few trips that I will make to various different parts of the Amazon.
I’m off to Galapagos tomorrow,
Hasta Luego,
Tamara xx
Like Tarzan we swang on a 40 metre jungle vine way out across the tree tops, was truly spectacular and also pretty scary, lose that grip and you were gone!
If you look carefully you can make out people in the background. The fire we had each night whilst drinking cocktails of the local sugarcane alcohol, ´firewater’
After riding the canoes down the rapids, we then also rode in the canoes on the back of the Ute back to the camp!
From this secluded waterfall that required hiking up the river to get to, we could dive from a fallen tree a few metres into a beautiful waterfall
Putting my feet up in the hammock at our bungalow looking out over the Amazon
Our guide made me this hat to protect from the rain. After 3 hours of trekking through the jungle in the rain – amazing fun!
Tamara's Travel Blog 