Amazonia: an amazing (and watery) place!

Today is a good day. I walked to lunch with my family, we got ice cream on the way home, and I have been avoiding homework and doing more fun and relaxing things all day. And this after coming home last night after a good night with friends and a wonderful vacation. There are few things that could make life better right now. One of those things would be if my homework for next week would all do itself, but I’m choosing to ignore the fact that that won’t be happening unless my homework suddenly becomes sentient. Which could possibly cause me more stress than just doing it in the first place.

ANYWAY.

I’m sure what you all want to hear about is Kalamazoo’s trip to the Amazon! We started by doing exactly the opposite you would think and drove higher up into the mountains to the hot springs of Papallacta (said: pah-pah-YAHK-tah). They are really much nicer than the ones in Baños. I think we actually spent too much time there. We were all overheated and pruney long before it was time to leave, but it was also nice to be able to just lie on the grass and soak up the sun for a bit without worrying about anything.This was the beginning of a very wet, but enjoyable trip. I think I wore my bathing suit for most of the time I was there.

Our ride to the hostel from Papallacta was long and rainy, but we were all super excited when we finally arrived to see that we were staying in what was basically a 5-star hotel in the middle of the jungle. The place was gorgeous. A major step-up from where we had been on the last trip. They even gave us mini piña coladas as a welcome cocktail! (I like piña coladas.)

Once the rain let up a bit, we went on a short hike through the forest next to the hostel with a local guide leading the way. He told us all about some of the plants in the forest and a few of their uses. One of the plants we saw is an invasive one (I don’t think it’s non-native, I think he was just saying that it invades areas, though I’m not sure) that has a symbiotic relationship with ants. The leaves grow little hollow areas on their stems and the ants live in these little pockets. Out guide broke open a couple pockets and told us to try the ants. As in EAT them. They taste like lemon. You actually aren’t supposed to eat the whole ant, just stick it on your tongue, taste it and spit it out again. One of the three I ate bit me on the lip on the way back out, but they don’t have any venom, so it didn’t actually hurt too badly. Our hike ended at a waterfall in which we all had a grand time getting doused. Sharon, one of the chaperones for out K group told us to wear our mud boots into the water, but she wasn’t too insistent, so a few of us went without. You just can’t go swimming with boots on. Even if the water really isn’t deep enough to swim in. Post-swimming, our guide painted our faces with crushed up river clay-rock stuff, and we hiked back to the hostel. Jumping straight into the pool once we got there to pass the time until dinner.

Day two, we got up and went down to one of the rivers in the region, hopped in a couple of giant covered canoes with motors, and set off downstream. Turns out we were headed to a zoo of rescued amazon animals that was upstream on a river that merges with the one we were one, a river that I just so happen to have seen before: Rio Arajuno (See my “Tell me a Story” post for that prior visit). Most of the animals in the zoo were once kept as exotic pets by people who didn’t know any better, but soon learned. There were toucans, big cats, wild boar-like creatures, an anaconda, and a bunch of different kinds of monkeys. The best were the little monkeys running lose through the zoo. Apparently their kind reproduces so fast that they really can’t be kept in a cage, so they just let them run. After that we went back downstream to eat lunch and change into our swimsuits to go swimming in the rivers.

We jumped out of the boats onto a wonderful sandy area just where the two rivers merged. Rio Napo is much faster than Rio Arajuno, so we were only supposed to swim on the Arajuno side, though we waded out a bit into the Napo because it was very shallow for a good distance and considerably warmer. 

From there, it was time to go back to the bus and ride over to a museum on an old hacienda. The museum is also a zoo and a store and the native people live there. We saw even MORE animals, though this time the cages weren’t as nice, and learned more about the perspective on vegetation and wildlife of the area. Our guide through the museum told us more about the native plants and their various uses: for curing, for harming and poisoning, and for hallucinating to find out your future. The museum was kind of interesting; seeing all of the different things that people have used traditionally in the area for centuries.

On our way back to the hostel for another relaxed night of swimming (and this time playing games too!) we stopped in town to get Ice cream. Kalamazoo’s treat.

The next morning was our last in the Amazon, but we still had a full day ahead of us, and not just full of travel. We set off in the morning to visit a famous cave in the area. The bus dropped us off on the side of the road, where we then hiked up the side of a hill to the entrance of the cave. This cave is run through by a good-sized stream that rushed in our ears as we descended into the darkness, every third person wearing a headlamp, since they didn’t have enough for the whole group. The tour through the caves was mostly just an exercise in, well, exercise, and a trying to get to all the different parts even though the cave was completely crowded with people. The number of people in the cave astounded me, since we hadn’t seen anyone on the tiny trial up to the entrance. One of the really interesting parts of the cave was a small waterfall, at the base of which were three deep holes, one 4 meters, one 2, and one 1 ½. We all got to go in them, though not head first like our cave guide. The whole walk through the caves was very wet. At one point, we even had to pull ourselves across a deep part with a rope, just floating in the water. I had brought my camera (inside 3 separate zip-lock bags) and had to carry it across this part in my teeth. Oh the things we will do for pictures. We were entering a larger and broader part of the cave, when, all of a sudden, the passageway turned 90 degrees and opened out onto a surprising scene: a big public pool. This answered my question as to where all the people in the cave had come from: the park. Apparently we entered through the sneaky back way and had no idea we were going to emerge into such a developed place. The pool was fed with cave water and had two giant water-slides on one side. Only one of the slides was running, but it was a fun one. It was also probably the most dangerous water-slide I have ever been on in my entire life. The first part was super slow, but then it all of a sudden dropped off really fast and whipped around into the pool, making you feel like you were going to fly off the side and onto the cement instead of staying IN the slide and making it into the water. None of us fell out, but it certainly seemed possible. The fun thing was that there were no lifeguards, whatsoever, so you could do anything you wanted on the slide. For example: get a group of about 10 K college kids lined up in a train to go down all at the same time. I was on the end of that one. There was a kid there that we all thought was crazy who kept going down the slide standing and hanging onto the edge. We were at least more careful that that!

Our last event of the trip was much quieter. After packing up back at the hotel, we headed out and stopped on the way to see some ancient Petroglyphs on a couple of big boulders. They have been dated to about 200 years B.C.E., and were pretty neat. It was amazing to me that they have lasted as long as they have, since the Rainforest is pretty good at disintegrating things and the carvings weren’t that deep. No one knows why they are there, or who made them, but they have a few good guesses about what some of them are supposed to be. One was supposedly a Shaman, another the Pacha Mama. (Kinda like Mother Earth, but with the addition of the title of diety. Sorta.)

One of the things that really amazed me about the trip was how in the caves and with the petroglyphs and basically everything else, we were allowed to TOUCH it all. That kind of thing is NEVER allowed in the US. Mostly because it’s very destructive to be touching stalactites and petroglyphs since it inhibits their growth and wears them away, respectively. I think that people know that here, but there isn’t a strong of a culture of following the rules, or even having rules, here. I mean, another good example of that is the total lack of lifeguards at the pool with the slides.

The ride back to Quito was long, but made better by the fact that when I got back I didn’t go home, but instead went over to Bridget’s with a bunch of friends, got pizza for dinner, and watched a movie together. It was kind of a refusal to believe that vacation was over, and that was a fun little bit of rebellion to share with everyone.

I hope you all had your own fun bits of rebellion this week. Vacation is over for me, and school starts again tomorrow. I’m not ready for it, but it’s on its way no matter what, so I’ll meet it tomorrow morning deal with it.

Have a good week!

P.S. Pictures here!