Going back to Thursday, June 21rst, i partied again some more on Thursday, which is always fun. On Friday, i was supposed to go on a date with a Ecuadorian who i had met from where i work, but she canceled earlier in the day. Instead, i went out with another Ecuadorian girl that i was set up with by the family who drove me back from Papallacta a week or two earlier. It ended up going really well.
The next day, Saturday, i got up early to run the club myself. I enjoyed it a lot, as i was free to relax and just answer questions. That night, I went out with my friend Nadith to a club that we went to often, The Loft, which was fun as usual. I met another girl that night, who i danced with for a while. I was supposed to see her the following Saturday, but i ended up going to the jungle instead.
On sunday, i woke up late and took a cab to Parque Carolina where walked through the park for a while. One of the activities going on that caught my attention was the aerobics, which i have a video of. There was a big bodybuilder guy leading the informal class, with techno music blasting at 12 in the afternoon. A few hundred Ecuadorians (old men, fat middle-aged women, little kids, ect.) were following his every move, and it was perfect. It kept me entertained for a while.
I also watched a bit of soccer, ate some cotton candy, and wandered over to the mall where I got some delicious fried fish for lunch. It was a pretty good afternoon.
I completely forget what happened on monday. On Tuesday the 28th, i went over to my hostel with a co-worker to watch a movie before we went out, and ended up meeting a nice guy from England, who we have been hanging out with since. It worked out well, as my good friend Nadith flew off to Paris that past sunday. Anyways, we all went to Bungalow 6 that night, which was pretty nice. I met an Australian girl who i danced with for a while, and got back pretty late. The next night, we went to the same place again and had a good time.
Then on thursday, we had a fruit tasting presentation at work. I really enjoyed it, and got to try a bunch of new fruits that i had never seen or heard of that are pretty rare. Afterward, we went out again to the same place with a few girls we met at the presentation. It was pretty boring at first, and pretty quiet there. I eventually met a girl from NYC who i talked with for a while which made the time pass.
On Friday, I decided i had been in Quito way to long, and decided i was going to the Jungle! After work, i grabbed my belongings, got some sushi (took way to long…40 minutes), got a taxi to the bus station, and then a bus to Tena.
The bus ride was one of the scariest i have been on yet. We were so close to the edge with huge drops. Combine that with bridges under construction situated pretty high over fast flowing rivers where the bus is literally inches from going over the edge, and there was no way i was falling asleep on the 6 hour bus ride.
I got into Tena at around 11 or so, and checked into a hotel pretty close by the bus station. I wanted to get a good nights sleep as i was hoping to do some white water rafting, but American Beauty was on TV. I finally got to bed at 3, only to awake again at 8. By 9, i got to a reputable rafting agency, but they had already left about 10 minutes earlier.
No agency will pass up easy money, and so the owner of the company (an older guy from England) personally drove me to the other van where they were waiting for me. So we caught up with them, and i hopped in the back of the pickup truck (which i suppose is pretty dangerous on a dirt road with rocks flying everywhere) where we road to a place near the river. Once there, we hiked through knee deep some thick mud, down steep hills, up steep hills, until we reached the river. I lost my sandals unfortunately during that hike, and cut my feet up a bit.
Once at the river, they took us on a detour to a little waterfall where we could swim. We also did some cliff diving (no more than 20 ft.) which was spectacular. To get to the top, we had to climb up part of the waterfall, go through a cave, until the we finally reached the top. It was kind of like the the little waterfall/cave area in the horror movie Turistas.
After the detour, we finally got into the rafts, and begun our journey down the river. I was in a boat with an Ecuadorian guide and four other Americans a bit older than I. The scenery like always was incredible. It was exactly how a jungle/rain forest would look like in the movies. The rapids were pretty decent (class 4). I got to swim through the rapids a bit which was nice. I also rode on the front of the raft for a bit and one big rapid completely knocked me over straight back into the boat. I imagine it was hilarious to watch.
We stopped halfway through for lunch which was very good. Burritos with cheese, beans, rice, guacamole, ect. and chocolate cake for desert. The guides prepared all of the food on a small beach in the middle of nowhere, which was pretty impressive.
We ended the day at about 4, with a few vans waiting for us with cold beer. for $60, the day was well worth it. I wandered the town for the rest of day, and then went to bed pretty early.
On Sunday, i got up at about 10, and took a local bus to a few town over where i was to go caving. I got to the caves, paid a guide who was waiting there $5, and had my own private tour. I had gone spelunking/caving before, but this was something else. We had to swim to get to certain parts of the cave, climb small waterfalls, ect. I really enjoyed it.
I took another bus to a little resort called “Monkey Island”, where i could supposedly go swimming and see monkeys. I was a bit disappointed at the pool, and the monkeys were all hiding in the trees. I ended up just getting some lunch and did spot one monkey in a tree that i got a nice video of.
I waited on the side of the road for about 20 minutes until i saw a bus i could flag down. I took the bus back to Tena, and got some more food. I had heard about a nice little zoo a few minutes from my hostel, and so i walked there after my second lunch. The zoo was beautiful. It had parrots and monkeys out in the open. I played a little peekaboo with one of the monkeys. I think he/she almost had as much fun as i did. The zoo also had a cayman, toucans, leopard, and some other neat animals that were kept in the cages.
After the zoo, i decided that i had done all i wanted to do in Tena, so i took a bus to the bus station. Once at the bus station, i decided I would go back to Banos until i had to be back at work on Tuesday. The bus ride was just a few hours, and i got there at about 8.
As usual, i checked into a hostel, and then got some dinner. I chose what i thought was a good pizza place. After the pizza, i walked to the hot springs where i relaxed until they closed at 10. Once back in my hostel, i started feeling sick, and vomited a few times. It was not fun. I forced myself to get up the next morning and change hostels because my bed was a rock.
On the way to the other hostel, i vomited again a few times. I spend the next day and a half in bed. It was awful. I started feeling better tuesday afternoon, and was ready to go back to Quito. However, there had been landslides the past few weeks and the road was closed until 6.
I passed the time reading a book i had started earlier while in the jungle. At around 6, i walked to the bus station and got a bus going to Ambato, because there were none straight to Quito.
A few hours later, i arrived in Ambato. I got another bus to Quito no less than one minute after arriving in Ambato. So that tuesday pretty much.
I went back to work on wednesday. It was a pretty good day since it was busy, and the time went by fast. I stayed in that night and got some good sleep.
Yesterday was a pretty busy day. I had to finish arranging everything for the big fund raiser party we were having that n
ight. I organized all of the materials to bring there, made sure the restaurants i had contacted earlier would provide us with food, and coordinate some details with the owners of the club. I got there at 8 and helped set up.
All in all, it went all right. A few hundred people showed up, and the club made some good money.
Work has been pretty slow today. I am leaning towards quitting on july 14th and going to the Galapagos Islands for two weeks. After that, i am planning a trip through Colombia with my remaining weeks. So far, my plan would be to fly from Quito to Cartagena. From there, i would possibly go to San Andres/Providencia, San Gil, Santa Marta, Medellin, Bogota, Cali, Popayan, and then fly back to Quito to return back home to the US.