Reflection of Ecuador

People keep asking me, "which did you like better: Ecuador or Kenya?" Impossible! They were both totally different.

Kenya was very relationship based. The love I developed for the people of Kiria rocked my world. My emotional connection to Africa is so strong and I do not think that will ever change.

Ecuador was totally different. I was able to use my gift of knowledge, my carear to help people. It was really cool to see that my passion can make such a big impact. So, my emotional attachment was not as strong, but my love for Ecuador is still so strong.

People are also saying, "this must make you feel so good going on these mission trips." Let me be totally honest... These mission trips make me feel like crap. It is so difficult to see peoples most basic needs not being met. It is so difficult to compare what I have in such abundance to what others have which is nearly nothing. There is such a huge emotional burden that is placed on my heart. Being home is hard. It is nice to have some of the comforts of home, but every time I use these I am reminded of all the people who don't have them.

The reason I serve is to give someone else a better chance at a better life and a chance at eternal life. If one persons life was saved or made better than my trip was worth it.

Homeward Bound, But Not Like The Movie

It was difficult for me to say goodbye to the paradise of La Selva Lodge. I know that I am going to dream about that place. A wonderful last night ;)

The boat ride back was substantially longer than te way there. Fighting the current and the wind added an additional hour to the trip. It also left both of us looking pretty haggard.

Short flight from Coca to Quito.

Katty picked Alicia, Andres, and I up in Quito. That sweet, sweet woman fed us, provided us with a hot shower, and took us to get mani/pedis. Both Alicia and I did our hair and put makeup on. It's like we are real humans again... Weird. Oh! Qtips!!! Thought maybe I died and went to heaven.

Alicia is very excited to behome. I, on the other hand, think that I could sty much much longer before needing to go home.

And We All Ate This Little Red Berry

La Selva Jungle Lodge has an observation tower. It is located approximately five stories up a humongo tree. We began the day with bird watching. Sergio and Andres have some amazing skills at spotting. I was wearing my white shirt, it attracted a ton of little bugs. I felt like Pig Pen from Peanuts.

A Bird In Her Nest

Hike after was wonderful, as always. Our guides found us a couple of poison dart frogs. Awesome.  I was surprised how small they were. A safe bet would be the size of a key on the keyboard. Walking through the jungle I often found myself so focused on the ground that I was forgetting to look up at the canopy and at the beautiful surroundings. Just like life sometimes.

There is also a butterfly farm. Andres showed us the eggs, the caterpillars, the chrysalis, and the butterflies! They have over ten species of butterflies, all of which are beautiful.

Unsuccessful parana fishing today. It was mostly just feeding the fish and making the local guides laugh at our skills. After a full bag of meat we called it quits. On our way back to our cabin to take naps Sergio found monkeys. So, we sat and watched them for a bit. They are so much fun to watch!

We had a super special afternoon excursion because we are young and agile. Apparently, this trail is not often used, but it is also where there have been taphir sightings. Since Alicia and I are in such good shape they decided to take us on this trail. It was rough, but fun! All of us ended up muddy and soaked. Alicia and Andres took in lots of water into their boots. And, Alicia and I both got the “sting of death” by ants. I know that you are all worried, but we made it through. Still alive! Unfortunately, we did not get to see the taphir. The hike was totally worth it though. Even though we did not see many creatures, it was such a cool experience to be in a part of the jungle that is not often seen and is very untouched.

Happy Birthday to Alicia!!!!!

A big huge thank you to Sergio for being such an amazing native guide. For having eagle eyes, for trail blazing, and being a bomb Rambo.

The Masters At Work

Another big thank you to the super good looking Andres. So full of fun facts, knowledge, and fun adventures. For catching me every time fall like a stinky turkey and for protecting me from the ridiculously large spiders.

Rain, Rain, Make The Spiders Go Away

Parana is my new favorite fish! Both Alicia and I loved it. The problem is that we got a full meal  plus the huge fish. I was sure I was going to explode.

Andres (our wonderful guide), had made a bet with our local guide that it would not rain. However, he had us wear our Gum-Drop-Boots (shot out to Miss Katie) anyways.  By the time we made it on the lake it started raining. We took the motor boat to the clay lake where the parrots come to eat. They need the minerals and to counteract the toxins from the seed that they eat.  There were three different species of parrots. A boa constrictor had been in that area a few days prior, so, we were on the look out for it. After a solid half hour Sergio found it! It looks exactly like the branch of a tree. Rain really started to come down. Everyone in the boat was given poncho; One’s that I could not mistake for a garbage bag (shout out to Christina). I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever seen rain like this. All of our bums were soaked from the rain pouring off of the poncho’s onto the seats of the boat.

Pancho Time

Finally made it to the community! Rosa, a local woman, gave us a tour of their “farm land.” She let us dig up this root plant which we had for lunch, pineapple plants, fish/turtle pond,  etc. The people of the Amazon basin used to be nomadic, living in groups usually no bigger than eight to ten people. A change in lifestyle towards a more Western culture of living in communities has really put a strain on the environment. These new techniques of raising their own crops and fish and turtle eggs has allowed the wild population of each to reflourish.

The women made us lunch. We had fish and heart of psalm cooked inside a banana leaf. Holy guacamole… AMAZING. There was also two different types of plantains, the root, and a traditional alcoholic beverage that tasted like crap. Eating on the floor off of a huge leaf was a lot of fun. All of the community members were so nice.

Amazon Cooking

A wonderful British man joined our group yesterday. The poor, handsome man had the misfortune of sitting next to me on the boat ride back :)

Once we got back to the lodge… they had food for us. You have got to be kidding me! We just had a full meal at the community!!! During our free time, both Alicia and I passed out.

Our afternoon activity was a blast. We took a canoe ride and a short hike to see pygmy marmot monkeys. Oh, they are precious! The smallest monkey in the world. Alicia just wanted to pick them up and put them in her pocket.

Zipped across the lake for a nice night hike. Our guides talked to a lot of birds and monkeys, but we did not see too many. There were tons of bugs and crawly creatures that were wonderfully fun to see.  And then…. The spiders… Ayayayayay….  

Scorpion Spider - Size of PaKa's Hand

There are the tiny one…  which freak me out.

There are the ones the size of silver dollars… which freak me out.

There  are the ones that are the size of my Dad’s hands… which really freak me out. 

Then, as I start writing tonight, there is a spider on my chair! I know that I will have a nightmare tonight about the stupid creatures. Bleck!

I Caught A Pa-ra-ná

Last night we had a lovely dinner with a family from Australia. They were so much fun to chat with! The son, Richard, has been traveling around South America for about 3 months now;  crazy stories from that one (quick sand and robbed at gun point). Alicia and I were hoping that we could talk them into staying another night.

Early morning excursion!!! Two hour boat ride around the lake and down one of the channels that feeds the lake. We saw all sorts of birds, spiders as big as my hand, a sloth, and a variety of flowers/plants. Then, we took a two hour hike through the jungle. Holy Cow. I would have gotten so lost in there without our native guide Sergio.

The food here is out of this world. They give us way too much of a huge variety. It is awesome. It’s like “fat kid Friday” all week long. YEA!

     Side note – The staff found out that Alicia’s birthday is on Monday… They are having a party for her!!! 

          Sssshhhhhh. Don’t tell!!! Good thing she doesn’t read this :)

 

Alicia's Fish

My fish :(

For our afternoon excursion we went Paraná fishing. Raw  beef is what we use for bait. We all caught something, but Alicia was the big winner. Our wonderful cooks will be frying up her fish tonight. We also took a boat ride and saw a few different kinds of monkeys. There was a report that the sloth had moved down the tree, because he needed to poo (that’s what they do ya know), so we headed that direction. Instead of spending the whole afternoon fishing, we spent the whole afternoon checking out the sloth. It was a blast! 

Sloth Scouting In Our Fancy Hats

Our dear Sergio made us hats from palm branches. He tried to make one in the jungle for us but was not satisfied. Therefore, he made us both fancy ones. We looked so good in our hats fishing.

Would It Be Ok If I Never Leave

Fantabulous day!

Early morning flight from Cuenca to Quito. In our super short layover we decided we needed to stock up on energy drinks. Neat, because they are the same price here as in the US… HA HA HA. Just kidding! They turned out to be three times the cost. They were $6.50 for the small 8oz can! No RedBull for us. 

Short flight from Quito to Coca. Getting off the plane was a shock. It was like getting hit in the face with a steamy, hot, soaking wet towel. Bleck! Short taxi ride to the docks. We were waiting for our boat to arrive when a very curious monkey started poking around our guides bag. He was adimate on getting into it.

Such a beautiful boat ride. We took a 2hr motorized boat trip down river. We were zipping right along. Some time ago Alicia and I were informed that this part of the journey needed to be taken fairly early in the day because the river get too dangerous later in the day. I think that the water rises, there is more junk in the water, and the water gets a bit choppy. Honestly, I am not sure how we didn’t bust a hole in the boat with all of the trees (no overexaggeration) in the water.

Off the boat and onto the trail! It was about a 20 minute walk literally through the jungle to our next boat. Then, it was another 20 minute canoe ride across a lake to our hotel. As soon as our feet hit the dock our guide for our entire stay was there with cool wet towels and pina coladas! What a nice fella! 

We had the afternoon to do as we please. So, we took out the canoes and checked the lake out. We were out for a solid two hours and I am sure we both got sunburned. We saw all kinds of pretty/funny looking birds and a bees nest the size of Alicia (or in other terms: the size of my booty).

Our guide has a whole slew of adventures planed out for us:  Paraná fishing, community visits, night hikes, day hikes, bird watching, etc. We are going to have so much fun! Oh, scary fact of the day… You can swim in the same water that those viscous Parana’s are in. Ayayay…

Ingapirica Ruins

Today was our day at the Incan ruins. It was a intsy bit crazy getting there since they are completley redoing the road up to the ruins. Also, a fun fact that everyone failed to mention is that it is freezing up there! Both Alicia and I bough Alpaca sweatshirts to keep from freezing to death.

Alpaca Sisters

Ingapirica means "Inca stone wall"; the name given to the site by the Canaris (native Ecuadorean). The Canaris worshiped the moon and had built a temple on this ground about 1000 years ago. Their buildings were made of stone from the riverbed down in the valley. The stones were round and held together by mortar. The Incans came about 500 years ago, took over the place. They built a temple for their god, the sun. Their buildings were made of carved square stone; the pieces fit together perfectly without mortar.

Calendars based on the sun (Incan) and moon (Canaris), which are super accurate, helped them to know when to celebrate, when to harvest, etc. Away from the main site there were secondary artifacts. Rocks carved into turtles, bulls, and chairs. A natural rock formation called the Cara del Inca (Inca's Face) was super cool.

Calendar Based On The Moon

Incan Face (looks better in person)

Viva la Selva!