Being Extreme in Tena

From Quito we headed to Tena, a city located in the Amazon Rainforest, famous for jungle tours and water sports. So on our first day there we went out and booked a day of  white water rafting, followed by a four day jungle trek. 

The rafting we booked through a company called River People, which is a family business (we booked with the sister, the mother prepared the lunch, and the two brothers took us rafting) and extremely well run. We were picked up the next day and driven about an hour out of the city to a remote area. Unfortunately a group of fifteen 18 year old English boys doing their World Challenge had also signed up for the day (they paid five grand each for a month in Ecuador, and when asked about it - 'the rainforest was boring, the public transport is disgusting, the people don't understand English, I have too much money so I'm eating six meals a day to spend it all' - a pretty vile group of boys) but luckily the lovely lady we booked from warned us to make sure we got our own raft. When we arrived by car we then hiked down for about 45 minutes to the river - and by hike I largely mean squelch through mud, run over log-bridges and scramble down jungle pathways - which left us all giggly and pumped for action. After a brief safety talk we were set to go - Dave, Charlie and I were quick to team up with two American expats living in Quito, an Austrian woman, and we also managed to steal away the World Challenge leader, an ex-army 50+ Yorkshireman with a great sense of humour, who seemed very happy to have been given some time away from his boys.

During the morning we rafted down the river Jondachi, then paused to have lunch on the rocks before continuing to where the river joined the Hollin. The rapids were grades 3+/4, and fantastic fun. Our team worked well together throughout the day, ending in no casualties or capsizing! We were given chances to swim in the river, even to be taken down a rapid (feet first, head back!), jump off rocks, swim in and climb a waterfall. The jungle walls towered above us as the river took us in full force; the remote setting allowed us to pass over ten waterfalls cascading from high into the river, and numerous jungle birds (and some GIANT spiders - luckily none came into the raft!) not to mention the tropical trees and vines swinging into the waters. We left exhausted from the adrenaline, feeling like we had really experienced some remote jungle time, and were pumped for our trek beginning the next day.

We booked the jungle trek through a company called Akangau, because they were the only company we found which offered tours deep into the jungle. There were plenty of tours offering to show us indigineous villages and tribes, but we refused these on the basis of our Lake Titicaca Floating Island experience - people who live in that way should be left to live happily in that way, and not have white faces gawking at them and sticking expensive cameras in their faces. We wanted to see wildlife and giant trees and weird bugs, and this company seemed to tick all of those boxes. We met our guide, Jamie (pronounced Hi - meh), who looked like he had stepped straight out of the jungle - his no nonsence face, tank of a body brandishing a machete and long dark ponytail made us feel yet again we'd made a good decision! We left late at night on a 7 hour journey to a place called Limoncocha, nearish to the Colombian border. Here we were taken to stay at the house of a Shaman (who was also a park ranger, and owned a farm in Tena, and had a very friendly face!). The house was as expected, basic and wooden and on giant stilts (to stop the creepy crawlies and poisonous snakes from getting to us). We slept for a couple of hours, and then set about our first jungle day.

On our first day we were taken on a tour of our immediate surroundings, and were taught about the various uses of plants, from being used for clothes, medicine and aphrodisiacs! The jungle was glittering with butterflies - some huge, some small, and all vibrant bright colours. Jamie also showed us traps that people set to capture animals, and the tracks of wild jungle boars. He told us that hoards of hundereds of boars stampeed across the jungle, and you have to try and climb a tree as quickly as possible to get away from them so they don't knock you down and tear your flesh apart. Luckily, we only saw their tracks! After lunch we were able to swim in a part of the river where there were no pirhanas (though Caymans come there at night...) we were all a bit giggly at swimming n a secluded area of the jungle, and jumpy whenever anyting touched us - Charlie got his nipple nibbled by a fish and was completely on edge after that!

The next day we were excited to go deeper in to the jungle. We walked to the Limoncocha reserve, Jamie leading the way by hacking our path with his machete, sending insects, vines and plants flying everywhere (so much for ecotourism...). We fought our way deep in to the jungle, crossing rickety log bridges, wading through mud and crawling over giant fallen trees, our ears alive with the incessant buzzing of thousands of bugs, calls from birds and monkeys echoing above us - I have never felt so aware of all of the living things surrounding us. Jamie managed to find us some monkeys - squirrel monkies high in the trees, swinging from the treetops and vines. Eventually we came across one of the most magnificent things I have ever witnessed - an absolutely enormous tree. Enormous doesn't even really begin to cover it, the trunk was the size of a small house, and it stretched higher than the eye could see. With echoes of my mother reading 'the magic faraway tree' to me as a little girl in my mind, the best thing about the tree was it was completely covered by jungle - five minutes of walking away from it and I'd never be able to find my way back to it.

After having lunch at a spot by the laguna, we piled in to a canoe to go fishing for Piranhas. Although fun, the experience was filled with false hope, as we managed to catch a grand total of zero fish. We did however spot plenty of 'watsins', or as we nicknamed them 'jungle turkeys'. And as the sun set, we were taken out again on the shallow canoe in search of Caymans - which was successful! You can spot them from the red gleam that hits their eyes with the torch, and as they eerily ease through the water, the prehistoric scales shine in the moonlight. Creepy. Upon our return to shore it became evident we were going to do the return hike in the pitch black of the night. Prepared as ever, we donned our head torches and off we set. Needless to say the noises were more prominent without the use of sight, the paths all the more perillous, and the intrusive logs blocking the pathways even more of an obstacle. The log bridges were almost impossible, and the whole experience was hilarious and exhausting. It was along this route we saw my favourite creature from the jungle, as unexpected as that is even for me, a tiny little glow worm.

On our third day, the Shaman joined us for our outting. It began with our faces being painted with achiote (which Charlie identified straight away). The tone for the day was playful (see our 'toucan nose' petals). We were taken in shallow canoes down the river, and were taken on land to be shown more plants and trees. We were shown bark which can heal UTIs, branches which cure rhuemetism and epilepsy, leaves for headaches and tummy cramps, saps for skin conditions, and also sampled some jungle-grown ginger, basil and a jungle onion! As we walked around the Shaman told us tales from his ancestors, including one of the rain tree, where people would dance around it in a ritual, and sure enough three days later it would rain. We went to visit the rain tree - and as we got there, the heavens opened and we were soaked! Suspicious...The leaves and plants of the jungle are so jurassic that we were able to use leaves as umbrellas - which left me feeling a bit like Thumbalina!

The highlight of this day was the activity of vine swinging over a giant tree, the Tarzan experience. Although the urge to shout  STOP DEFORESTATION as Jamie and the Shaman cleared a huge space for this activity proved unstoppable, the experience was great! Charlie and Dave even managed to swing from one vine to another, quite the monkey men.

Needless to say by the end of the four days, we were all exhausted and half eaten alive by mosquitos - but left feeling exhilirated and extremely happy!

Another world is possible

'Another world is possible' is one of the slogans painted across the main building of the Rhiannon Community - and it is fair to say that the world they have created on a mountain in the cloud forest little North of Quito is far from the one we Westerners spend our days in. The idea of the community is to promote Permaculture and self-sustainability - minimising waste and maximising productivity in the things around us. Unfortunately the arid ground in the harsh setting of the Ecofarm is forbidding much to grow there, so fruit and vegetables are delivered from the local community, but through various methods soil is beginning to appear, and fresh salads are harvested daily. There is a bicycle operated washing machine though!

Volunteers can sleep in yurts, teepees or tents, and the landscape and beautiful vistas that surround you daily are eye wateringly beautiful - often we found ourselves fully encased in a cloud, or dancing on the tips of rainbows. The Community is run by a beautiful couple, Helen and Nicky, who started out around five years ago to create this special space where everyone is accepted; peace and harmony are the main pillars of the family, along with hard work, and an intention to heal and care for every one and every thing. Every room is instantly welcoming and cosy, and alongside the smiling faces of other volunteers, the house is a lovely home. Each day you work from 8am until 1.30pm, and prepare one meal a day for the community (Dave found that aspect particularly challenging - what with him just about able to cook for two, twenty-two vegans was quite a mean feat). 

While we were staying at the Community we were lucky enough to take part in a San Pedro Ceremony -an ancient cactus used as medicine which contains mescaline. The ceremony was held with 30 or so people sitting on cushions around the room with a sacred fire in the middle, and was led by a local Shaman. We were joined by his close family as well, who were expert at making everyone feel comfortable from a distance. The ceremony started at 3am and lasted until around 10am, and we were encouraged not to interact with each other but to savour our own journey. I won't go in to details here about what we experienced or how we felt, because to be perfectly honest I don't know if I will ever be able to put it in to words. Maybe one day I will try - but I feel it would be better talked about face to face. I will say that the experience was one of the most powerful I have ever felt, and the amount of energy and raw emotion in that room I can only hope to feel again. We both left feeling enlightened, and agreed it was the most inspiring ritual we had ever witnessed. 

The  daily work on the farm varied from looking after animals (I became particlarly fond of the chickens), watering the garden and greenhouse (and the trees with the community's urine - Dave had this job quite a lot!), harvesting salads, weeding, cutting grass, building adobe houses, cleaning...etc. We both decided we enjoyed the Adobe building the best, and became quite good at it. The idea is you have bags of cement in a house shape, then you plaster Adobe on top of it - a mixture of donkey poo, mud, water and grass. The technique of slapping it on with your hands is quite difficult to master, but the satisfaction of seeing the finished result was worth it! 

The entire vibe of the Farm is extremely tranquil, with meditation and yoga being focused on. There are even outside yoga platforms overlooking the valley, which were a brilliant place to while away lazy afternoons, watch sunsets, or...do yoga on!

The full moon fell while we were staying at the Community, and on this night a sacred ceremony was held. The room was decorated with great care, with candles lit in the corners, and individual altars set out in a circle. We all sat as Nicky, who was taking the ceremony, welcomed in the four elements, and proceeded to bless and thank everyone. As most of us were new to holding ceremonies, Nicky provided an explanation and introduction to the sacred and spiritual meanings of the service and altars, and helped to guide us through the service. Then two members of the community cast a spell for luck in the financial world - which is pretty materialistic, but the people asking for it were the type of people you could never begrudge anything. We were pretty sceptical about the spell - but four days after leaving the Community we were both greeted with a surprise tax return of just over 500 pounds each! Dave still rolls his eyes and refuses to believe it was anything other than HMRC doing their job, but I am not so sure...I'll leave that one open to your own sceptisim and speculation.

We left the community after a night around a bonfire with a bottle of rum and some good friends, feeling enlightened, grounded, healthy and carefree. I felt I found a part of myself there, and left a part of myself there too, and would love to one day return and see how the place has changed, and the people remain the same.

Mitad del Mundo

On our first day off, we arranged to meet up with Charlie and head to the middle of the world (the Equator). We met at a little bus station and hopped on a bus to the first site, where an enormous monument was set up by the French to mark the spot of the Equator. The monument is huge, and the surrounding centre includes various art galleries and museums sporting various photographs, paintings and displays. The whole place has a very epic feeling, and would be brilliant except for the fact that....the actual ecuator is about 400m off the site. 

At the actual site of the equator there is a small museum which tells you a bit about indigenous Ecuadorians and various rainforest tribes and traditions (focusing mainly on spearing people, burying people alive and shrunken heads). 

Then, on the actual line of the equator they show you funny experiments, for example - balancing an egg on the end of a pin. This is possible because the liquid inside the egg should be pulled in only one way, due to the force of the equator. We saw someone manage to do it, but the three of us were alas unable.

We were also shown how on each side of the equator, water swirls down plug holes in either direction depending on the hemisphere. This has been tested in various sinks and toilets, but plumbing apparently renders this futile. 

Another trick was to close your eyes and walk one foot infront of the other along the line - this proved pretty impossible, as the pull from either side makes you wobble and go off either to the left or the right. 

There are rumours that all of these tricks are, well, tricks, and are made up. To these accusations we say well done if they are, it would have taken a lot of effort, and they are done very well - we couldn't work out how they are a hoax if they are!