Where the heck are we now?: A Jungle Visit

We arrived in Tena to the bus station, went to get some snacks and then took a 4 by 4 out of town and into the jungle where we would be staying for two nights at a basic home stay.

Here are some views of the countryside...

One of the major crops produced here is the cocoa bean which we saw everywhere being dried on the side of the road...

As we drove the road got more narrow and more bumpy until we finally arrived at our destination...taking our luggage off the truck.

And then up to our homestay...

We were hosted here by Delphine and his family who are members of one of the indigenous tribes of the area. It was quite basic but comfortable.

The main house...

Our mosquito nets which we really needed as bugs were everywhere, they actually worked quite well.

We have been discovering that the Ecuadorian meals are delicious and huge. There is soup and a main course for both lunch and dinner and we were fed very well.

No electricity here so meals by candlelight and head lamps to get us to the toilet at night.

Some of this delicious healthy soup.

This home stay has been used by G Adventures for many years so when we arrived there was another group already there and leaving in the morning. We enjoyed their company and got to experience some cultural activities with them that night.

Delphine told us about some of the traditions of his tribe including some of their music and dancing...

Here we are doing some dancing while I am drumming...

He also demonstrated a traditional wedding with willing participants from the visitors...

The next day Delphine and his son took us on a four hour hike that was unbelievable! We had to put on rubber boots as it had rained heavily the night before so we were in water most all the way to the top.

It wasn't long before we realized that this hike was way up and the only way up was through a series of waterfalls!

Here are the pictures to prove it....

This is Delphine telling us to keep going even though we couldn't believe where we had to go!

Up we go!

Here we are considering how we are going to make it to the top of this one!

Here we go and we managed to get to the top...

Don made it over the next one...

The last and tallest one...

To get up this one we put on a harness and roped it up...

I made it and this is Don at the bottom looking up before he started his climb...

We also had some fun stops...

And here we are at the top...

Tired, soaked but with a sense of accomplishment that we could keep up with the young ones!

After that we had to make our way down a very slippery path but we lived to tell the tale and to relax with a cold beverage back at the home stay!

We also had a chance to chill out in the hammocks and then later make delicious chocolate from cocoa beans that we roasted, ground and cooked over an open fire.