Middle of the World!

Main Cabin where we ate

With lots of mosquito repellant we headed into the Amazon Jungle! After jumping off  Bob with a small bag for three days (although from the size of some of the boys bags you would think they were staying for a month), we clambered into a canoe which is the only method of transport due to the absence of roads in the area. Tom, our host, welcomed us when we reached the Arajuna Jungle Lodge before letting us get settled. We were all expecting a lodge with the basics for 3 days but we were pleasantly surprised to see little cabins with bunk beds and an ensuite, and lots of hammocks. Sarah got her biology geek on fairly quickly after spotting a long line of leaf cutter ants between the cabins which were present for the duration of our stay along with the cry of "don't step on the ants!". 

Katie's Cabin

Tom then took us on a tour of the lodge grounds and told us how Eco-friendly the lodge is. They have their own herb garden, and they are also a part of a turtle conservation scheme. He has even helped the local tribes to farm their own fish in man made pools so as to encourage them not to fish in the river with dynamite. Dinner that night, and every meal from then on, was typical Ecuadorian food and it was some of the yummiest food we had all trip. 

The next morning the group split in two: half went on a hike through the primary and secondary forest with a local guide, and the others took a canoe down river to visit a animal rescue centre. 
Despite the pouring rain we set off into the jungle. Our guide, William, was very keen on us trying the different plants and flowers the jungle had and so we munched on cocoa beans and the roots of palms, both of which were surprisingly tasty. In Katie's group everyone quickly got into the jungle spirit, using massive leaves as skirts and finding flowers for accessories in our hair. The hike itself was rather easy although the rain added an extra challenge when it came to going downhill and so very quickly everyone was covered in mud. The jungle was full of animal noises although we managed to see nothing in the 3 hours apart from bugs, which in the jungle are rather large! One of the best parts was when we hit a small river and our guide told us all to get in and walk which meant our wellies filled with water and most of us got soaked after falling over numerous times. However none of that mattered because we were walking in a river in the middle of the Amazon Jungle! Towards the end of the hike we climbed our way up to a viewpoint overlooking the canopy and the surrounding jungle. 

Amazoonica rescue centre was formed in the 80s by a Swiss gentleman, and is now completely run by volunteers. It houses animals that have been rescued from the pet trade, or found abandoned, and their mission, if the circumstances allow it, is to release these animals back into the wild. This doesn't always happen because the animals may be too used to human contact and would search for humans once released, probably resulting in their death. So the centre has some permanent and temporary occupants. Again Sarah got excited when we met the monkeys, but there were also big cats, caimen and even birds that wolf whistle as you walk past. This centre also has a project which involves the local tribes, namely they rear jungle pigs which the locals can buy at a low cost which encourages them to use this meat rather than killing and eating monkeys. 

Michael was trained to steal money so is unable to be released because he can't fend for himself

Baby Ocelot

Toucans

The best activity in the jungle was tubing. This involved us sitting in rubber rings while floating down a tributary in the Amazon basin with a beer in our hands. It had rained quite a bit the day before and the river was fast slowing so we zoomed along through some little rapids and quite often ended up stuck in the bushes on the riverbank. Our truck driver, Colin, provided us with amusement when he pretended to be Tarzan swinging on a vine at the edge of the river. But instead he wiped out flipping his tube upside down, filling his beer with river water. Follwoing this we had a massive mudfight so we ended up spending hours in the water.

Sarah and Joe

Just chillin!

After his tarzan attempt...

Wooo!

Mud fight

Otavalo was the final stop before reaching Quito and the end of the trip. We spent 2 nights in the little town that is known for the nearby leather market. On our first night we went to a little pie shop and enjoyed its well known sweet pies as a snack before dinner. The group then went a little crazy in the markets and more than one of us had to send stuff home before continuing travelling. We had our last group dinner in a mexican restaurant over looking the town square.

Yummy streetfood

On our way to Quito we crossed the Equator and stopped at a museum to celebrate. It had lots of activities which you could take part in to show that forces have no affect at Equator. We had to walk along a line with our eyes closed but no one could mange it, proving that our ears usually use forces not present at the Equator.

Trying to walk on the line...

...failing at it!



Singing out the window

Time for Quito and the last night of the trip! Heading to our hostel we had fun blasting music and hanging out the side of Bob, making the most of our last time on the truck. We got a few strange looks! We managed to sneak 5 of us into a bedroom for 2 since we were flying so early the next morning. Then we had take out pizza and played drinking games in our hand made fort (the cleaners must have had fun figuring out where all the sheets came from the next morning!) We finished the night off at a bar where the band sang a Robbie Williams song for us and we proceeded to dance the night away to Spanish music. By the time we were done there was no point in sleeping so we said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. 


Group shot :)

Last ever trip on bob!

Dancing the night away

Donde esta la fiesta?

It was time to leave the barren desert of Peru and head into the green jungle of Ecuador. The border crossing was very easy...stand in one queue, get stamped out then stand in another queue and get stamped into the next country! It took a little bit of time to get the truck checked and so we all munched on a burger at 10am. The things you do when travelling! Once into Ecuador we immediately noticed the change in scenery, it is green everywhere you look. We travelled for the day until we reached the town of Cuenca.

Cuenca is famous for being the home of the Panama hat factory. Panama hats are the style that people like Johnny Depp and James Bond wear and so we were all excited to go and see the factory. We were shown the different stages of the hats which are weaved from dried palm. Although the best bit was the showroom where we spent a while trying on all the different types and colours! The most expensive panama hat was around $2,000 and that one was behind glass so we couldn't touch it.

Hats in process

A lady weaving a Panama hat

After the factory we went to yet another arts market. It is going to be strange buying things in shops when we get home and not being able to haggle the price! The most interesting part of the market though was in the middle where there were a load od ladies performing healing rituals. A few of our friends decided to have a shot and so sat down not really knowing what was going to happen. The ladies would chant whilst they did the healing. It would start with them hitting the person with a bouquet of herbs and flowers, then rubbing an egg over them before spitting a clear liquid down their tops. It was really interesting to watch even though we didn't fully undertsand the reason behind it.

Rubbing her with an egg

Very cute lady

The last game was in the dark which added another challenge!

After a pretty relaxing morning wandering round the factory and market it was time for some adrenaline so we headed off into the middle of nowehere for some paintballing. We were all worried about how hot we were going to get under the overalls so went in shorts and t-shirts. However unlike the UK there were no overalls...only face masks and padding to cover our chests and backs. So after dealing with the fact that it was really going to hurt whenever we got hit we entered the arena in teams ready to play. Having never been paintballing before and being a woose over the pain Sarah managed to avoid being hit for the first two games which meant she soon became a target for everyone...regardless of which team. The two of us were put in opposing teams to start with which was fine until Sarah managed to hit Katie square in the head, just above her face mask and them followed by hitting her in the neck. After that game someone needed to switch teams which Sarah quickly volunteered meaning Katie was never able to get revenge. It was quickly forgotten when our team were named victorious after obliterating the opponents.



Pequeno Paraiso

Having travelled further north towards the jungle we stopped for a couple of days in a little place called Rio Verde. We weren't able to stay in the nearby town of Banos due to the active volcano situated in the centre. We camped at a hostel called little paradise which is exactly what it turned out to be. It was only our group in the whole place and so we were able to take it over.

Katie's birthday was on our second day in Rio Verde. To celebrate we went canyoning which involved us jumping down waterfalls, zip-lining through the jungle and abseiling. We were fully kited out in wetsuits, life jackets and harnesses and even practiced abseiling down a tree before heading to the river. Right at the start we had a 7m waterfall jump that took Katie a while to brave up to actually jump but eventually the whole group managed it and we carried on clambering our way over all the rocks. After a couple hours in the water we headed back to the hostel for hot soup (which was greatly appreciated) before we went to Ecuador's 3rd largest waterfall. At the waterfall we were able to climb behind the water which meant we got drenched and because it was Katie's birthday everyone made sure she was completely soaked! Perhaps the best thing about this place was the proximity to a wee cafe run by a lovely lady called Mercedes. She is well known in the area for her empanadas ie. fried stuffed pastries, and over the three days that we were there we made sure to try almost every flavour, whether sweet or savoury, between us. As a birthday treat we tried a chocolate and banana stuffed one which was totally worth the calories.



Joe, Mercedes and James

Behind the waterfall

After days of deliberating over a theme for Katie's birthday we finally settled on a casino night. We dressed as fancy as a bunch of travellers can and proceeded to gamble the night away with a mixture of dominoes and bottle tops as chips. While Katie became steadily more drunk due to some cruelly designed birthday challenges (involving bug eating and swimming in the freezing cold plunge pool), Sarah departed her poker wisdom to Sophie and as a team annihilated the competition.

The next day we ventured into Banos, most of us secretly hoping that the volcano would erupt and we would have to be evacuated. Unfortunately it didn't, but the majority of the group did face another form of terror- swinging on a rope off a 100m bridge. Both of us have enough brains in our heads to know a bad idea when we see one, so we happily played the roles of photographer/motivator. Later we had an exciting ride back to Rio Verde...in a school bus. We managed to find the bus stop in Banos and, with a little effort, understood that the bus was headed towards our home so we jumped on. Only once we were standing on the bud did we realise that we were surrounded by kids in their uniform. We made it back though, and enjoyed a yummy bbq that evening.

Birthday shot from a belly button...

Birthday girl and Ivana



Rum, rum and more rum

Time for another bush camp...on what came to be known as Dead sealion beach (for obvious reasons). Another typical day of driving ended when we turned away from the endless desert wasteland we had been driving through and headed towards a rocky hill with a hole in it. Once closer, we could see that Bob could in fact fit through this hole, so we headed into the hill before popping out at a gorgeous secluded beach. The restaurants and beach chairs suggested it was a popular spot for visitors but we were the only ones there. After setting up our tents on the beach (yup, more sand in the sleeping bags) we became acquainted with our guard dog for the evening and her puppy. Dinner that evening was a yummy chicken curry (minus the chicken heads that went into the stock) followed by a game of Mexicans and discussions on the best method for roasting marshmallows.

Next, onto the small town of Haunchaco where we decided to put our surfing skills to the test. After floating around for a while, getting battered by the waves and only standing up once we called it a day and went looking for some well deserved street food. We bombarded the poor lady with a large order of chicken skewers which turned out to be the best street food we had all trip. Following this snack we headed for our real dinner with the surf instructors who rented us the boards. That coastal area of Peru is known for its seafood so in typical Loudon fashion, we watched the others eat piles of seafood while we had some chicken. It was a nice change to have dinner (and yummy cocktails) with some locals who could not only bargain a good deal for us, but also sit and talk about Peru from a non-tourist point of view. 

Archaelogical site number 3, The Chan Chan ruins. This palace was built by the Chimu civilisation and abandoned when the Incas took over. The kings of this civilisation were carried around on a litter and when they died, their entire household was put to death and the palace was abandoned, a new one was built for each king. This palace was huge but only inhabited by the king, his wife and concubines and of course his servants. The corridors varied in size depending on who used them, with the servants corridors being the smallest and without windows. The Chimu people worshipped the moon and everything was related to the number four because of the four elements. The ruins themselves have been preserved by covering parts of it with fibreglass replicas, so it looked slightly like an Indiana Jones film set. 

Freshwater pond

Intricate fish designs facing the direction of the ocean. They are also in four steps to represent the four tides in one lunar cycle

Part of the palace

The Kings tomb

Bush camp that night was in the middle of the desert so while setting up camp we came across a small snake. It disappeared quickly enough, but not as quick as our friend Kash who disappeared into the truck with great speed and refused to come out until his tent had been moved closer to Bob. 

Finally we hit our last destination in Peru, Punta Sal where we camped on a beach next to a small restaurant which had fantastic lemonade slushies. We spent our first night dancing and drinking mojitos in the nearby town of Mancora, then had a terrifying ride home on tuk tuks. Our truck driver Colin tried to liven up the experience by mooning the other tuk tuks as we rattled past them, but fortunately for them it was too dark. The next day was beach olympics created and refereed by Danny and Colin who made us take part in a number of embarrassing activities. We bobbed for limes followed by searching for sweets in flour, ran into the sea and through a small hoop while wearing a chicken costume and even played egg roulette with a couple of local kids who took great enjoyment in smashing eggs onto gringos (foreigners) heads. The next day we tried our hand at salsa. Lets just say the group lacked rhythm but we had an awesome time trying!

Successful beach olympics!

Eskie punch take 2

Action shot