Baños day 3 - Ecuador

La Selva

Today I spent a full day in la selva(the forest) on an organized trip. We drove out about two hours and the weather got bleaker the further we got. We arrived at a little cabin where we were given lunch.

After lunch, we walked around the cabin mad were greeted by an animal shelter/reserve. We were immediately greeted by a little monkey not in any confinement and then we walked around the reserve and saw everything from different large jungle felines, to monkeys, parots, crocodiles and even wild boar. As we walked, it began to pour. Within moments of the sky having opened up, we were all soaked.

We went back to the bus, running for shelter and continued our drive. We had arrived at a path that led into the forest. And so, dawning our sexy yellow, plastic ponchos, we marched on. This hike which was mostly up hill, had us walking through mud, streams, and over less than reassuring bridges.

We stopped at a swing that swing over a cliff and I am proud to say, I braved my fear of heights and swung on that mother clucker. Unfortunately I cannot post videos here, so you will have to check it out when I get around to posting my scream fest in Facebook.

After the swing we continued further until we came to an enormous waterfall. As you can see in the photos, I came as close as I dared.

After having hiked out of this part of the forest We were taken to the riverbed where we were met by canoes. We floated down the river, absolutely soaking wet from the rain and waterfall from earlier. And the water that kept splashing into our canoe certainly did not help.

Our last activity of the day was to be taken to a village of indigenous people. We had our faces painted by little girls dressed in traditional straw skirts and later when I tried to have a conversation with a few of them I was fought over(who got to paint my hands). All very entertaining. We also got to shoot a traditional hunting weapon made of a long tube you stick an arrow in and blow on the tube to shoot the arrow. I hit the target perfectly(must be my skills from working with weapons for so long).

We got back around 8 pm and went out separate ways to our separate hostels. When I got back to the hostel, I was greeted by a full table of travelers playing drinking games. They called me to join but I was frozen and still soaked to my bones from the extremely wet day. And so I showered quickly and then joined. It was then that I met Cara.

Cara is from Australia. Cara was going to hike up to the swing at La Casa de Arbol tomorrow. I announced that I would join her. More on that tomorrowRead more