In The Jungle Baby!!!

After loading our bags into the pickup we hopped into the back of another slightly modified pickup. I say slightly modified as it had some wooden benches, a roll cage and a tarp over the top which was really needed as it was bucketing down with rain as we left. We made the short journey along the road to the jungle lodge. We were told that the road we travelled didn't exist a year ago and was only built for the Ecuadorian president, much to the annoyance of the locals who opposed it. We arrived after our bags and lifted them off the truck and onto a metal basket on a rope system. The were lowered down to the actual lodge while we took the steps. The steps that we were going to grow to hate over the next few days. We were shown to our rooms which were very nice - they had locks which were a bit pointless as none of the windows had glass, only mosquito nets. We settled in and relaxed on the hammocks overlooking the river 100 or so metres below before dinner. Afterwards we played some cards and took it easy ahead of our first hike in the morning.

Alarms went off at 8 to get us up for breakfast and we met in the bar as a group before heading out on our hike. Alex was to be our leader and led us up the steps, across the road and down a steep trail for about 10 minutes where we met a river. Thankfully the river wasn't too full as we spent the majority of the trail hiking through it. It was an amazing hike filled with stunning scenery, massive spiders, frogs, bats and learned about the various uses for different plants in the jungle. We even had an opportunity to swing from the trees just like Tarzan which was great craic!!!To get back up to the lodge we had to do a bit of canyoning which was amazing. It involved squeezing through canyons, climbing up waterfalls and even doing a spiderman - imagine a narrow steep canyon with running water and you have to lean on your hands and feet and slowly edge your way up. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the morning hike and we returned to the lodge soaked from the excursion so we grabbed showers before lunch and then chilled out.

The afternoon was our river ubing trip which was just as much fun as our morning excursion. We loaded the tubes and ourselves into two pickup trucks and headed on our merry ways. We were driven upriver a bit where we all unloaded. 4 tubes were tied together to create a "raft" and the other 5 created the other "raft". 4 of us and our captain boarded the smaller raft and we headed on our merry ways. The current took us downriver lazily at times and quicker in other parts. It was a really nice way to spend the afternoon after the morning hike and after a while we docked by some rocks. Here we strolled for a small distance to a small jungle village which was an absolute incredible experience.

The first sign of civilization we met was the local school. It was a very primitive building which only received electricity 6 months ago. As we approached the village there were little kids lining up for a race. They waited until we were on the "track" (it was a loose dirt path with rocks everywhere) and then the race kicked off. They ran in their bare feet between and around us and loved all the attention as we entered the village. In the main square there was a soccer game going on - it seemed to be quite a serious one as there was a big crowd of locals watching it in the shade. There were no nets on the posts, no grass on the pitch, the corner flags were branches and the ball wasn't completely round. Some players were even playing in their bare feet but it didn't stop them ploughing into tackles. Seeing how important it was to them and what they were completely satisfied with really showed us how lucky we were. We were invited into the house of the villages president which was another incredible and humbling experience.

We came in and sat down on the wooden benches around the wall. The house was built completely from split tree trunks as was pretty much all the furniture. We were in the main room which had a fire in one corner where the cooking takes place, the benches we were sitting on in another corner and alot of open space. There were kids coming and going the whole time we were there but we never met the president. The president and his wife (who we met briefly) had 16 kids and are now great grandparents. As a result they have tremondous respect in the community and they are pretty much responsible for the villages existince. We met the youngest daughter who offered us various foods and drinks as Alex explained all about the lives of the Quechuan people.

The daughter starting preparing Gussanos when we arrived which were grubs/worms that Alex had brought with them and are a main part of the peoples diet as meat is so hard to come by. She added salt to them and wrapped them with leaves and put them into the fire to cook for a while. She then brought us some tea which is put on every morning around 4am and stays over the fire for the day. It had quite a smokey taste but was quite good. Next we were given some Chica which takes on various forms depending how long it is left to ferment. First up wa the stuff that had only been prepared less that a week previously. It has quite a creamy and rootey texture. There was a big bucket of it so we dipped our fingers in and had a taste - it was quite sour to taste but it a very important part of their daily diet. Next we tried the drink which is drunk by everyone, yound and old, in the community. It had a similar sour taste but was not as strong as the first stuff. For big parties we were told that they will ferment it for months and make a strong liquor out of it and it also wards off prostate problems. The village was to celebrate it's anniversary in three days so Alex told us there was loads of it knocking around at the moment. The time came and the bugs were ready - the leaves were opened and they were placed in front of us. It being an adventure holiday I decided to go for it and had a bit. They were quite salty and very chewy but nowhere near as bad as I thought they would be. We had a quick look at the various bits of jewellery made by local children on display and some of us bought some before heading out and having a quick stroll around the village.

As with everything else we did in the village, the walk around was incredible. There was a new game of soccer starting and I walked to the other part of the pitch. There were small wooden houses dotted around the place with dried palm trees as roofs. Every house had a big garden where there were plenty of different fruits and vegetables growing. I got chatting (sort of anyway, the majority don't speak Spanish but Quechuan) to two old fellas sitting in the shade watching the match and shared a drink with them. The second the shot hit the back of my throat I knew it was the fermented drink we had been talking about. By the looks of them they reckoned the big party had started that morning. We walked back to the house where we spotted a parrot and a dog who were the best of buddies. It was gas to watch them interact and after that we had to head back to the tubes unfortunately. We took the tubes the rest of the way down the river to the bottom of our lodge and carried them up the 400 or so steps as the sun set over the mountains behind us. We relaxed for the evening on the hammocks and in the bar and chatted about the amazing day we just had.

The following day was no less exceptional. We arrived at the breakfast table as Alex was blowing the shell/horn over the valley to signify food was ready. We had food and then hopped in the jeeps for about half an hour up river again where be boarded a canoe for another, but altogether different, river journey. Myself and Emer boarded the back of the long thin canoe and once everyone else was on board the engine started up and we headed off. We were incredibly close to the water - you could reach out and touch the water no problem. Despite it being really rocky it was incredibly enjoyable and after a bit downriver we docked and went into a different small local village.

Here our guide, Alex, showed us the various traps the local people use to trap and kill animals to eat. We then had some tea prepared by a really young girl tending to a fire and we headed out into the sunshine to do what I had been looking forward to - fire a blowdart gun. Alex got the gun and the darts and showed us how it was done. We all had a few goes before we had to leave. On the way back to the canoe we found a shell hanging up which a few of us attempted to blow through to get the noise - some were more succesful than others. We hopped into the canoe and continued downriver to an animal rescue centre.

Here we were shown around by a German volunteer with really good English (unsurprisingly, I don't think I have ever met a German who couldn't speak English). She showed us around the various pens where animals have been taken from abusive owners (in the majority of cases) and housed in the sanctuary. Their intention is to release all the animals into the wild but it's just not possible with some as they are too used to humans or have never learned how to hunt. We then went to the gift shop where I was able to purchase a blowdart gun which I was very happy about. The Australians in the group pointed out that I will not be able to get it into the country so it is going to have to be sent home at some stage.

We went back to the canoes and travelled back upriver to where we started the trip. Going against the current was obviously slower but it was great to see how the locals interacted and used the river in theor daily lives. Back at the beginning we had some lunch before hopping into the jeeps and returning to the lodge for a lazy afternoon in the hammocks. Dinner, cards, sunsets and alot of music, chatting and joking brought the evening to an end. We were warned that we would need alot of energy for the following day's hike so we all heeded the warning and headed to bed at a decent hour.

And so it proved to be. We had breakfast a half an hour earlier and headed off in the back of the pickup for about 45 minutes. Upon arrival, we met our new guide for the day and headed into the jungle. The first part of the day was to involve hiking and climbing waterfalls which we were quite excited about. We walked downhill to a stream and paused for a while to have our faces painted with the natural paints the locals use in the jungle. We were all painted up, posed for photos and then started hiking through the stream (which was a river in places) to the first waterfall. We didn't actually climb the first waterfall as it was massive but we all took a quick shower under it and got well and truly soaked before climbing and scrambling up a rock face to the next waterfall, or set of waterfalls, which we certainly did climb.

Our guide climbed ahead and secured a rope for us and we climbed it one by one. It was really good and everyones wellies were full of water but everyone was smiling at the end of it. At the top we continued upstream a I fell a little behind taking photos of the running water but the dog always hung around to make sure I didn't injure myself or what not. We reached another waterfall where we all hopped under for another shower and took some photos. We relaxed a bit, had a small snack and began the hike back for lunch. It was a very strenuous hike through primary rainforest but both of us really enjoyed it. Along the way we stopped at a tree with a really thich trunk which the Quechuans use incase they get seperated. A person hits the trunk with a big branch and the resulting thud can be heard for miles. Depending on the number and frequency of blows, people can tell each other whether they are waiting for someone to come to them or they will go find someone.

Back at the start we were tired and hungry but were given a massive feed which was very welcome. We relaxed for a while before most of the group made the 45 minute walk to the lagoon for a swim. It was an easy walk on the local dirt road and was completely worth it. The river roars down and gets caught in a lagoon surrounded by rock faces. We jumped off and dove in, swam around a bit to ease our aching limbs and just enjoyed the afternoon and stunning location before heading back and getting the pick-up's back to the lodge. We had showers, dinner and chatted about the amazing day we all had before retitring to bed to rest our weary bodies.

The next day we had the option to go white water rafting which all of us but one chose to do (much like the lagoon yesterday). The rafting started along the road we took to the lagoon and after a bit of a safety talk we were kitted out and in the rafts. We practiced a few things in the slow moving river before taking on the first rapids. Myself and Emer got the front of the raft for the first section of the river which we were quite happy about - we were split into two boats as there were so many of us. We had the first faller in our raft - Ruth fell in during the second set of rapids but was rescued easily enough.

I, however, didn;t fare so well. After giving Ruth a bit of stick and laughing at her I promptly fell in not too long after. I got stuck under the boat for a few (it certainly felt alot longer) seconds before moving myself around to one of the sides. I din't open my eyes quick enough and missed them trying to save me so I had to grab onto the safety kayak and was reacquainted with my crew in the slow section. I fell in another couple of times and was taken out by my own crew on one occasion.

The rafting itself was amazing. Some of the rapids pushed on level 4, we did a bit of "surfing" where you row upstream into a section churning over a rock and you can sucked in for a bit as water pours into the boat, we went into a washing machine eddy and even got some air (the other boat attempted the same thing and only succeeded in flipping their raft). Ther was an awfual lot of banter between the two boats as well - people tried to steal oars, opposition boats were deflated, people hopped ships to try and push people out and there was even a time that our own crew were being pushed in as they tried to rescue each other. All in good nature and all hilarious!!! We stopped for lunch at the shore where some of us stood up rocks (if it doesn't make sense, have a look at what I created here) while food was being prepared. We had chicken wraps, cake, biscuits and loads of fresh fruit. There were some local kids looking after the rafts and when we were all full we gave them all the remaining food. It was amazing to see them all share it equally and the bigger kids made sure the smaller kids received their fair share too. A really nice touch. We continued downstream with the same shenanigans and arrived back at the nearest village to our lodge where we all had a beer or coke and then headed back to the lodge for showers and dinner. The girls went out dancing while the lads stayed and played poker - both felt they made the right choice the follwoing morning.

The following morning was our last in Shangra-La and there was a genuine sadness in the air as everyone had such an amazing time in the jungle. We packed our bags after breakfast and left them at the cage to be lifted up - I was a little late and left it beside the cage but it was never loaded. I had to run down and run back up the 200 or so steps with the bag on my back as I didn't want to be the late one who caused hassle with the bus. I was wrecked after it and then when the bus came some fella wouldn't get out of my seat which he had been told were booked when he boarded (we got the bus from right outside the lodge as it started in the local town and passed right by us). There was a bit of a scene but he ended up staying in the seat and got off about half an hour later - the bus was absolutly packed so Emer sat on my lap while he was still on the bus. We continued our bus journey southwards towards Banos.