So because I'm absurdly behind on my blog posts, I COULD tell you about Medellin, Colombia. But that mess happened about 3 weeks ago. In order to catch up on the current times, I'm going to link ya'll to various other blog entries from my friends about what happened that weekend. . .
http://aislinninsouthamerica.blogspot.com/2010/09/medellin-colombia.html
http://chilegreg.blogspot.com/2010/09/best-part-of-waking-up.html
http://philinchile.blogspot.com/2010/09/iviva-colombia.html?spref=fb
http://garrettsvoyage.blogspot.com/2010/09/medellin-columbia-paradise-in-south.html
Lazy? GET OFF MY BACK. Now that that's taken care of, I can move on to bigger and better things. . .like chileeeeeeee. Look for that next!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
day 4 and 5. . .finally
OK so I have done (admittedly) a godawful job of keeping up with this blog. Especially because I'm currently writing this from Santiago, Chile and have finished with Ecuador. Because of this, I need to finish the freakin jungle. Day 4 and 5 were pretty incredible, but can be summed up in 3 words: "bat cave" and "tubing."
Day 4. . .
We woke up to another 4 and some hours of class, which at this point has become more of an exercise than anything. Gustavo was trying really hard to keep us engaged, but when you have a sweeping view of the jungle, butterflies floating around, hammocks inches away from you, weird insect noises from every direction. . .it's a little difficult to keep up the attention per say.
Anyways, we hear about our adventure for the day. . .and we hear we're gonna go to a bat cave, and I'm not talkin Batman. We waded through small creeks, climbed slippery rocks, and scaled fallen tree limbs when all of a sudden, we reach a ravine that is just a massive black hole. Our guide tells us that we're gonna be climbing through it. . .and this is basically how he tells us to go through.
Guide: Ok, we're walking through this thing! Don't put your feet low, or else you'll get stuck and might break a leg in which case you're screwed. Don't put your feet high, because then you might get your feet stuck in the above crevice or you again might slip up. By the way, there's no light in here so you can't see where your feet are. Finally, there are bats flying above you, so if one hits you in the face (looks at Greg), don't freak out because you now know what it was at least.
. . .Damnit. So we go climbing through this thing. . .my feet ended up being just fine, and I saw bats flying RIGHT above my head. Thankfully none blasted me in the face, that would have been the opposite of fun.
Day 5. . .
Class with the 'Stash, which again at this point was pointless. The adventure today was TUBING. Now my memories of tubing has been from Phoenix memorial day and labor day parties, which have been a 4 to 5 hour floating-down-the-river adventure with 20+ friends and a cooler of brewskis. This was obviously nothing like that, but even so. . .I never have had all the tubes tied together like they were, so it was kind of odd to be floating down the river connected to 7 other people. However, it was super relaxing even with the occasional dip in the river.
After about 20 minutes of floatin down, we land on an embarkment and take a small walk into an indigenous community. We got the opportunity to hear about how they make food, create some household items, and got to try chicha (fermented yucca plant). It was, in one word, disgusting. It's funny because I've had chicha before, but this kind was godawful. I was told later that it was because it hadn't been totally fermented yet, and that the way they got it to be in a mushy pulp was that they had to CHEW IT BEFORE IT GOT THAT WAY. GEWW. Oh well, I'm still alive so no big deal.
After some more gentle floating, we finally got back to camp, packed our bags, and slept for one more night. The next morning was another long bus trip back to Quito. . .but the jungle trip was an experience I won't soon forget.
Day 4. . .
We woke up to another 4 and some hours of class, which at this point has become more of an exercise than anything. Gustavo was trying really hard to keep us engaged, but when you have a sweeping view of the jungle, butterflies floating around, hammocks inches away from you, weird insect noises from every direction. . .it's a little difficult to keep up the attention per say.
Anyways, we hear about our adventure for the day. . .and we hear we're gonna go to a bat cave, and I'm not talkin Batman. We waded through small creeks, climbed slippery rocks, and scaled fallen tree limbs when all of a sudden, we reach a ravine that is just a massive black hole. Our guide tells us that we're gonna be climbing through it. . .and this is basically how he tells us to go through.
Guide: Ok, we're walking through this thing! Don't put your feet low, or else you'll get stuck and might break a leg in which case you're screwed. Don't put your feet high, because then you might get your feet stuck in the above crevice or you again might slip up. By the way, there's no light in here so you can't see where your feet are. Finally, there are bats flying above you, so if one hits you in the face (looks at Greg), don't freak out because you now know what it was at least.
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| bat cave, with gothem city just beyond |
Day 5. . .
Class with the 'Stash, which again at this point was pointless. The adventure today was TUBING. Now my memories of tubing has been from Phoenix memorial day and labor day parties, which have been a 4 to 5 hour floating-down-the-river adventure with 20+ friends and a cooler of brewskis. This was obviously nothing like that, but even so. . .I never have had all the tubes tied together like they were, so it was kind of odd to be floating down the river connected to 7 other people. However, it was super relaxing even with the occasional dip in the river.
After about 20 minutes of floatin down, we land on an embarkment and take a small walk into an indigenous community. We got the opportunity to hear about how they make food, create some household items, and got to try chicha (fermented yucca plant). It was, in one word, disgusting. It's funny because I've had chicha before, but this kind was godawful. I was told later that it was because it hadn't been totally fermented yet, and that the way they got it to be in a mushy pulp was that they had to CHEW IT BEFORE IT GOT THAT WAY. GEWW. Oh well, I'm still alive so no big deal.
After some more gentle floating, we finally got back to camp, packed our bags, and slept for one more night. The next morning was another long bus trip back to Quito. . .but the jungle trip was an experience I won't soon forget.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
day 3 - a big change
So we wake up to a brand new day, and to another 4 hours of classes with the one and only Gustavo. We eat another wonderful lunch and are told that today's the day we get to swim in a lagoon. YYESSSSSSSSS. It is sticky hot, the sun is out with a vengeance, and this would be perfect. Our guide, Fernando, takes us on a 30 minute walk on the way to the lagoon. On the way, we learn that the water that flows into it comes from Mt. Cotopaxi, the tallest mountain in all of Ecuador aka the water is going to be cooler than ice cold. Perfect.
So we arrive at the lagoon, and here is what I see. . .
That first part actually is a slide that you can go down into the second section. At first it looked like it was going to be something that was going to be a ridiculous amount of fun, but thats ONLY if you kept your butt up in the air while you were going down. If not, you get a huge section of rocks right in your rear as you go down. Luckily, I was the last to go down, so I got a fair warning beforehand. Swimming in the ice cold water was wonderful. . .such a fresh feeling. Not to mention the view of the water that flowed from the lagoon onward. . .
So we leave the lagoon, go back to the original camp, and pack up all our gear because we were leaving to go to another camp. Now this new place was described as a paradise for 3 reasons:
1. the view from the cabins
2. The hot water
3. electricity
If it was me, I would have added the bar that was in the middle of it, but I'll get into that later. We all pile into two different trucks and drive 45 minutes in the darkness to our new campground. Thankfully, the trucks didn't go a million miles an hour haha so it was much more accommodating. We got out of the trucks, grabbed our packages, and walked through a small path in the jungle to the campground.
The first thing I see was a massive table all set, with lamps set on a high set ceiling. On the left of the kitchen, there are two large sections of a few tables and hanging hammocks everywhere overlooking the forest and the river. You see, the whole campground is set right on the top and edge of a cliff overlooking the Amazon rainforest. INSANE. On the right are steps, leading to quaint, small cabins and bathrooms. We sit down to a delicious dinner and put our stuff in our respective cabins. Here is the view from when I open my cabin door. . .
So we decide after dinner to head to the bar in the middle of the campground, just to have a beer and take in everything. Little do we know that things are about to GET REAL. At the same time we are there, it just so happened to be the last night for another group of traveling europeans, ranging from all ages. . .friends from australia in their 20s, a family of 3 sisters and their mother, a few grown men from Germany. . .and they wanted to get bottles poppin. As we're all drinking our beers, these dudes plug their ipod in, take a few handles, and start chugging. People are taking swigs, dancing out of control, and playing music that I would have heard in a 6th grade mixer. While we were watching all this go down in front of us, we got a small introduction to the insect kingdom in the jungle. A spider showed up that was the size of my hand, which scared the crap out of everyone in the whole bar except for the bartender. He managed to trap the guy and let him walk on his arm. . .apparently this spider is harmless, but to be it looked like the spider that bit Peter Parker.
So eventually the bartender places the spider on a branch, and it slinks away. The party music gets put back on blast, and people start dancing on the bartop. Everyone is vibin to the beat, and then we get another guest. . .this one came down from the ceiling crawling down. It was the biggest grasshopper I've ever seen. Now, I never thought I'd be intimidated by them. . .after all, the only ones I've seen are green and relatively tiny. This one, however, was MASSIVE, with a deep maroon color body. We pointed it out to the bartender, who shut the music off and walked up to it. . .he said he wouldn't dare touch it, because this was the kind that bites down deep.
I mean, this thing looked like it should have been in a Godzilla movie and not in a rainforest bar. But there it was. It eventually sauntered away and the huge crew resumed their partying until the bar closed aka it ran out of booze. It was pretty entertaining to watch the whole group get down, esp to hits like "welcome to the jungle" and the closing song, the fresh prince of bel-air theme song.
Needless to say, sleeping that night was a tad bit difficult after seeing insects that big. . .but this was the rainforest, and I wasn't about to complain about a thing. Until next time. . .
So we arrive at the lagoon, and here is what I see. . .
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| The upper part. . . |
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| . . .and here is the lower section. Beautiful! |
That first part actually is a slide that you can go down into the second section. At first it looked like it was going to be something that was going to be a ridiculous amount of fun, but thats ONLY if you kept your butt up in the air while you were going down. If not, you get a huge section of rocks right in your rear as you go down. Luckily, I was the last to go down, so I got a fair warning beforehand. Swimming in the ice cold water was wonderful. . .such a fresh feeling. Not to mention the view of the water that flowed from the lagoon onward. . .
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| Jealous much?! |
So we leave the lagoon, go back to the original camp, and pack up all our gear because we were leaving to go to another camp. Now this new place was described as a paradise for 3 reasons:
1. the view from the cabins
2. The hot water
3. electricity
If it was me, I would have added the bar that was in the middle of it, but I'll get into that later. We all pile into two different trucks and drive 45 minutes in the darkness to our new campground. Thankfully, the trucks didn't go a million miles an hour haha so it was much more accommodating. We got out of the trucks, grabbed our packages, and walked through a small path in the jungle to the campground.
The first thing I see was a massive table all set, with lamps set on a high set ceiling. On the left of the kitchen, there are two large sections of a few tables and hanging hammocks everywhere overlooking the forest and the river. You see, the whole campground is set right on the top and edge of a cliff overlooking the Amazon rainforest. INSANE. On the right are steps, leading to quaint, small cabins and bathrooms. We sit down to a delicious dinner and put our stuff in our respective cabins. Here is the view from when I open my cabin door. . .
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| Amazon rainforest? YES PLEASE. |
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| WHOA NELLY |
So eventually the bartender places the spider on a branch, and it slinks away. The party music gets put back on blast, and people start dancing on the bartop. Everyone is vibin to the beat, and then we get another guest. . .this one came down from the ceiling crawling down. It was the biggest grasshopper I've ever seen. Now, I never thought I'd be intimidated by them. . .after all, the only ones I've seen are green and relatively tiny. This one, however, was MASSIVE, with a deep maroon color body. We pointed it out to the bartender, who shut the music off and walked up to it. . .he said he wouldn't dare touch it, because this was the kind that bites down deep.
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| Yep, thats an axe head that is smaller than the grasshopper. Sweet Jesus. |
I mean, this thing looked like it should have been in a Godzilla movie and not in a rainforest bar. But there it was. It eventually sauntered away and the huge crew resumed their partying until the bar closed aka it ran out of booze. It was pretty entertaining to watch the whole group get down, esp to hits like "welcome to the jungle" and the closing song, the fresh prince of bel-air theme song.
Needless to say, sleeping that night was a tad bit difficult after seeing insects that big. . .but this was the rainforest, and I wasn't about to complain about a thing. Until next time. . .
Monday, September 13, 2010
cont. day 1 & day 2. . .
So I went back to look at my photos, and I forgot to put up some plants that were pretty neat. To finish off day 1. . .
So after our lil jungle tour, we put our heads down to sleep. Or we tried to anyways. Garrett and I entered our cabin only to find the bed I was going to sleep in already had a guest in the bed within the mosquito net. . .that being a massive spider and a beetle that would make the dog above cry. So I changed beds (upper bed on the bunk) and tried to sleep through the massive heat and fear of getting munched by bugs.
2nd day. . .
I woke up, checked my bod, and found that I wasn't some insect's 4th meal (shouts to taco bell). After some breakfast, I walked back to my cabin and found my classroom:
So after 4 hours of trying to pay attention to Gustavo while looking out at the gorgeous river and plants right in front of me, we ate a delicious lunch. We gathered in the main dining hall and were told that we were going to climb a few waterfalls. I didn't really know what to expect as we started on the trail. . .but we soon enough reach a spot where our guide sits us down to explain a certain plant. He slits open the plant, takes out the blood-red large seeds inside, and explains how they use this seed to formulate paint for special occasions. Garrett proceeded to take a few seeds, smeared it all over my face, and I looked like a Latino version of Betty Boop. . .
Anyways, we continue on this gorgeous hike through insanely beautiful waterfalls, while seeing a lot of the plants we saw beforehand. Check it out. . .
Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should have, my keyboard has been acting out of control. But I promise more will come so soon!
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| These are bananas just hangin out. . .with a very weird devil-looking tail underneath |
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| Eating limes straight from the tree! |
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| From left to right: Garrett, Aislinn, KO, and Eamon. From right to left: two normal people, queen of the forest, desert wanderer very far from home |
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| YUCA BABY |
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| Cutest dog I've ever seen in my entire life. |
So after our lil jungle tour, we put our heads down to sleep. Or we tried to anyways. Garrett and I entered our cabin only to find the bed I was going to sleep in already had a guest in the bed within the mosquito net. . .that being a massive spider and a beetle that would make the dog above cry. So I changed beds (upper bed on the bunk) and tried to sleep through the massive heat and fear of getting munched by bugs.
2nd day. . .
I woke up, checked my bod, and found that I wasn't some insect's 4th meal (shouts to taco bell). After some breakfast, I walked back to my cabin and found my classroom:
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| "Hi! My name is Gustavo, I have a 'stash that would make Stalin jealous, and I'm here to tend to your Spanish Language needs" |
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| I have no clue. |
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| Steps through a waterfall |
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| TLC said to not chase waterfalls, but I totally disagree |
Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should have, my keyboard has been acting out of control. But I promise more will come so soon!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
JUNGLE FEVER - day 1
Ok, so day 1, last Friday. I wake up earlier than usual at 6:30 because I have to not only get to the school where I'm meeting everyone else to launch off, but I have to get ALL my luggage and whatnot from my one host family house to my new one, where Phil and Aislinn live. I lug all of my suitcases downstairs (forgetting, of all things, my alarm clock that was right on my desk by itself), throw 'em into the nearest cab, and head off to the new home. After putting all my stuff down, we all meet up at the school and head toward northern Quito to get on the bus on the way to Tena, the town where we will be heading from to enter the jungle.
Now if you're read anything I've written so far, you know buses / taxis / anything with multiple wheels and axles drive out of control. This bus looked fair enough. . .comfortable seats, not overly packed with people, no blasting John Cena or obnoxious music. But of course, nothing could be perfect. . .our driving route took us through winding mountain paths carved right along the sides. This is an appropriate time to say that roads, streets, paths in general in Ecuador never go in a straight line. . .they ALWAYS take what almost seems like incredibly unnecessary dips. This was the same with the bus, where we started flying through curves like Keanu Reeves in "Speed" and luggage from upper compartments hit both babies and Aislinn (while she was sleeping, no less) right in their faces. Thank GOD I don't have motion sickness unlike some of my friends, who were struggling mind, body, and spirit throughout the entire trip.
After a few hours of Quito drifting, we arrived in Tena. . .which was extremelyy humid and hot. It reminded me a lott of a mild VA summer day, and we sat down to a tasty lunch. We then proceeded to each get these large rubber boots which we used to walk through the jungle. Now these boots. . .imagine Rambo and Chuck Norris got together to make a shoe product. That would be these bad boys. Want to walk through mud that could qualify as quicksand? No problem. Want to trudge through icy cold water and rocks as slippery as ice? Ain't no thang. What about jungle floors filled with insects the size of your face and plants covering every possible hole available? NO BIG DEAL. I might buy a pair to bring back to the states. . .wear them for yardwork, hiking, shoot maybe even teaching.
Anyways, from Tena we get in the back of a truck and whip through streets on a 40 minute trip to the entrance of the jungle. No rails on the truck, goin around 40 / 50 mph, just a day in the life. After a short walk through the jungle, we entered our campgrounds. . .nice cabins, no electricity, just pure nature in all its glory.
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| Barrio Ballin |
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| the cabin with Garrett in the crucial hammocks |
So after putting our luggage down, we went on a nature walk. Instead of telling you about it, I'm going to let pictures speak for themselves. .
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| Bamboo tree. . .each section can be cut open for a fresh source of water. Indigenous people used it for water on long journeys, along with building houses, etc. |
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| The leaves you see here are used to make tea that indigenous people drink before a day of work. . .think of it as a natural, warm, not NEARLY as-bad-for-you Red Bell :) |
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| The sap on this plant can be boiled into a tea that heals colds, fevers in just two to three days. It has spines on the trunk, but there is really good fruit at the top of the plant. . .so they grow another tree next to it typically to climb and gather the goodies! |
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| Take the leaves on this one, boil 'em, let the water settle. . .and you have natural soapy water to fit your everyday Bounty needs |
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| Too lazy to wait for fish to bite, but you know a whole family is there? Cut this guy down, boil the sap, and dump in into the water. . .the fish get poisoned and float to you easy as 1, 2, 3. The process of cooking the fish kills the toxin inside, making them edible |
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| As gorgeous as this vine is with its flowers, in reality it is killing the tree you see. Once the flowers bloom, the tree is beyond any sort of help. Talk about beautiful but deadly. . . |
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| This tree, called "Sangre de Dragon" (blood of the dragon), is nuts. Chop into a bit of it and it looks like the tree is actually bleeding. . .bright red sap seeps out of the cut. But take the sap in your hand, rub it around, and VOILA! It turns white and you have your all-natural sun block. You can also take the sap and use it to make a tea, which serves to help colds and fevers as well. |
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| Last but not least, edible mushrooms. . .yuuuuuuum |
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