Welcome to the Jungle

NB - now that I am back on the grid, I'm going to update the blog with stories from the jungle in order.  I will add photos later today (hopefully!).

On Sunday morning, I hopped an early morning bus to Tena - the largest town in the rainforest.  On my 6-7 hour bus ride, I saw some beautiful landscapes... cloud forests and going over the mountains and down down down back to sea level there was a strange mix of vistas that looked like they should have belonged in the scottish moors... and they slowly changed into the rainy forest that is the jungle -- velvety green plants and trees blanketing everything in site with the odd burst of yellow, red and blue tropical flowers.

Finally arrived in Tena around 2pm, had some lunch in a cafe as I was starving and hadn't eaten anything all day, and got in a taxi for another 30-40 minute ride to Misahualli, the town were my jungle lodge was.  When I finally arrived at the lodge (Le Jardin Aleman), it was like I had arrived in the disneyland version of the rainforest.  Everything looked exactly as I might have imagined it.  I checked in and as my future friend Herdson (sp?) helped me get my ginormous bag to my room, I stopped dead in my tracks as ahead on the path there was a 6-foot tall bird staring at me.  I was like what the hell is that thing?? It looked prehistoric... kind of like a huge grey Big Bird.  He said it was an "albatroose" (not albatross), that there were two of them and they both hung out outside the terrace of my little cabana the entire time I was there. So weird.

Anyway, my first night I chilled and got the lay of the land.  As it turned out, I was the only single person who had traveled there alone -- there were a bunch of other people, but they were part of larger tour groups, so I would have all of my tours and hikes and whatever with my own private spanish speaking guide. 

I had dinner the first night with the Ecuadorian guides of one of the groups and they were telling me how they were addicted to their work.  The one guy had lost his entire family by doing this because he was literally never home, but he loved it and couldn't imagine doing anything else with him time and with his life.  Sad.

You know that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when Kathleen Turner finds herself in the cavern with millions of disgusting horrible insects and gigantic bugs?  This is basically how I felt when I got back to my room that night.  Of course, there were only two bugs, but they were literally the size of my fist... like crazy huge beetles.  I freaked out for a few minutes and then decided that I was going to have to suck it up, get over it and just go with the flow.  I would be in the rainforest for just a few days and have spent my whole life petrified of bugs, so I could take a breather from that for 3 short days.  I started thinking that maybe a trip to the jungle was an interesting (and maybe mislead) choice for a girl who really doesn't like insects, getting dirty and the like.  But I was there, so I was going to try to deal with it!  In the morning, the bugs were dead and I found out that the rooms were laced with some kind of bug spray (apparently safe for humans) that would kill them if they got in.  That made me feel better, I just hope, as dad pointed out, I don't grow a third arm from the chemicals in another year or two. :)