Jungle Trip
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2008
1
3
27
Trip End
Aug 11, 2008
Mishualli,
Ecuador
Sunday, June 8, 2008
On Monday we got a small dug-out canoe and travelled up the river for twenty minutes before disembarking in the jungle. We hiked for five hours through the jungle with our guide. Hike was pretty easy but the humidity at 99% was a killer. Saw some pretty cool trees,flowers,massive spiders,poisonous frogs and got to eat local plants which were horrible!! Managed to aviod getting bitten by everything except for a bloody flower!!
After five hours we arrived at our jungle accommodation which were cabin huts, basic but nice. Went for a swim in the river but the currents were ridiculously strong and got swept down river for about a mile before I managed to get out and walk back to the camp.
That evening we got the boat to a local Indian family where they showed us how the prepare local dishes and drinks, how they make nets to catch fish and we each got a turn at using a blow gun used to hunt monkeys. Was fascinating to see their livestyle without many of the things we consider a necessity and how they survive using just the jungle around them.
On Tuesday we continued our trek in the jungle for another two hours. We visited a local school and got to see the children in their classrooms. I found it amazing that they were all in uniform but only one or two had any shoes because the rest could not afford them. The children would come for miles to go to the school, either walking or by canoe. The classrooms were very basic with just desks, chairs and a blackboard. The children were initially shy of us but gradually they became very friendly and were fascinated by our cameras, especially when they got to see pictures of themselves. For their art class the children got twigs from the ground and nuts containing red dye from the trees and drew on our arms and faces!! Again it was fascinating to see how happy and content the children were despite their obvious poverty and hardships.
After the trek we got to go tubing down the river through big rapids which was great craic.
We then had lunch and took a three hour journey by moterised canoe back to Mishualli. The sceanry on the journey back was amazing and we saw many local Indian huts and saw some fishing out on the river using drift nets. Overall it was a brilliant trip into the jungle..
