End of the jungle, back to civilization
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2004
1
6
25
Trip End
Jul 27, 2004
Currently in guayaquil,
Ecuador
Thursday, May 13, 2004
for the last night, a fiesta was planned...it involved a full on savage jungle stylies eating frenzy...maybe not a frenzy, as that would mean there was tons of food, but a frenzy none the less...after trekking thru the jungle with our guide, our amiga louisa returned with three chickens, which were plucked and gutted, and thrown on the coals...those along with rice and bananas were served on banana leaves(for plates), and everyone got down to business without that silly modern convenience known as cutlery...a full on hands only, messy eating affair...oh how i hate eating rice with dirty hands...but a good time was had by all, probably aided by the agua de fuego(fire water) that we were also consuming...great stuff this fire water...when u buy it, they pour it out of big gasoline jerry cans...gotta be good, right???im not entirely sure that it wasnt gas actually...but it does the job...
the next morning, an early one, to catch the bus to civilizatiion, and suprise suprise, a huge downpour all night and morning for the walk...what a wet 4 or 5 kms that was...stopping off for breakfast in puyo before heading on to banos(again), we all looked (and probably smelled) like wet dogs...
back in banos for a day or two, i managed to do the bike tour i missed the week prior...me and andrew (and louisa, for half of the tour--she returned early to head to the coast) rented mountain bikes and rode the mostly downhill road back towards puyo, stopping off at many waterfalls along the way...crazy numbers of waterfalls in this area...this would also be the same dodgy road that is only wide enuff for one bus in spots, and then the road gives way to a sheer drop off cliff...but when the traffic jams, one needs to get past, so there was the two of us, weaving in and out of traffic, passing on cliffs edge, inches away from sudden death(sounds more dangerous than it was...i think)...a pretty fun way to spend the day...we also stopped at one spot to take a cable car(sort of like a gondola with out the roof) across the river valley...about 100 meters high you zip across the 500 meter gorge on a cable...fun¨ish¨, but not nearly as dangerous or exciting as it looked from the road...damn safe adventures, when will they learn...
eventually it was starting to get dark, so we backtracked a few kms to once again pass the traffic jam, and waited for a bus to stop and pick us up...but of course all passing busses were full, and we waited with a woman and her bigass bag of bananas who had been waiting for over an hour...finally a pick up truck pulled over, and we jumped in the back with our two bikes, plus the two bikes of the 2 israelis who had been picked up off the road previously...so now there are 4 of us, 4 bikes, and a couple sacks of bananas crammed in the back of a mini pick up truck, sittin on the edge of the box, holding on to whatever we can, as we wind our way down the road and back to town...almost lost one of the israelis at one point...well not really, but it looked like she was gonna fall over and out...
back in town, we met up with jess, a canadian friend, whom we had met earlier in the trip at tena, and treated ourselves to one of the best meals ive had in ecuador, while watching the movie snatch in the restaurant...then off to the bar for a few last beers and goodbyes ( as i was leaving early in the am)...well morning came and went, and my laundry still wan´t back from the hostel service, so i wasted the day doing not much, until i ran into an american rastafari hippy that i had met at the bar the night before...he also wanted to get out of town pretty badly, so we jumped on the next bus out, and overnighted in riobamba, at the seediest hotel room i have been in to date...it was only 3 dollars, but i was also paying 3 dollars in banos, and that was for a room with tv, bathroom, clean sheets without stains, and easily worth 70 dollars a night, if it was in north america...but all we needed was a place to sleep, so it was all good, after i crawled into the safety of my sleeping bag...
in the morning, a quik check of the view from the park on the hill of the town(which on a CLEAR day, allows you to see three seperate volcanoes...i only saw one) and we jumped on a bus headed west...eventually getting to guayaquil, where i was to continue on to the coastal fishing village of puerto lopez, i discovered i would not be able to get the whole way there that night...so it was decided that we would overnight in guayaquil (ecuadors biggest city, with the matching crime rate)...overnight my itinerary changed (i change my mind like most people change underwear--not me though, i just turn them inside out and wear them for another week), and i have booked a flight to the galapagos islands for tomorrow am...hopefully this will be one of the highlights of my life, because it means i am coming home at the end of my trip, well into debt(it was not a planned stop, and it is fairly costly), but i have wanted to check this place out ever since i first read and studied darwin and his theory of evolution...i know, i know, its only a ¨theory¨, we really came from adam and eve and the results of generations of incestous breeding...but i digress, this isnt the place for an exposure of one of many fallacies, in that great story book, so many have come to know and love...
anyways, back to darwin and the galapagos, it was too much to pass up on, being this close to ecuador..i cant risk not making it back before it is further degraded by man´s presence, which ironically i am a part of...having gotten a biology degree many years ago, which hasnt been of much use thus far (i don´t understand it, i hung it up on my parents wall, and not one person has beaten down my door to offer me a job...where are those bastards??¿), i figure i can pretend to be out on a research expedition, gathering information for future use...or at least that is how im going to justify it to my parents...oops, they r reading this as well, so much for that idea...dont worry mom, ill be home in a few months, ready to get a career, a wife, 2.3 children, and when u get old, u can come and live with me...(in my tree fort)...maybe u shouldn´t hold your breath...
hold on, isnt this supposed to be a travel journal, what the f am i rambling about now???
actually i dont have much else to say till after my stint in the islands...well, yah i do, tonight a few hours ago, i was eating dinner, and a thief came runnin by the street side table, snatched the diners camera, and ran...the husband chased him down i guess because he returned 5 minutes later with his camera, sweating quite a bit...gotta get outta this shithole city...only a few more hours...
okay, now i am really done....ciao...catch u on the dark side...
