Travel to Tena/Amazon Jungle

We had a quick breakfast at the hostel with the group before getting on board to our next destination, Tena. We were dropped at a location (which looked like the middle of nowhere) where we changed buses and boarded a ‘public’ bus (better than some Australian coaches!) on our way to the Amazon!
We arrived at the small town of Tena before switching to a 4WD and heading to the Amazon.
We had a delicious lunch and checked into our homestay lodge before heading out on a walk to learn about the uses of various plants and then the ‘spa’ where we got very unique clay face masks! We then washed off our masks in the river - our skin was very smooth after that!
We headed back to our lodge to one of the huts and the local shaman, Delfino, taught us about traditions local to that area of the Amazon including the process of becoming a shaman, local rituals (which include the use of ayahuasca for healing) and marriage (which is arranged for young people to take place at 15 years old). We even saw an example of a shaman's ritual and then participated in a wedding ceremony (where we got married again!) which involved us dressing up and dancing with our "bridesmaids" and "groomsmen". We danced to drums and guitar after trying some local chicha (alcohol made my fermenting yuca- a root vegetable which is local to the area). We had some dinner which included cooked fish which was super delicious (but quite bony!) We enjoyed some drinks and played cards with some of our new friends on our tour group to end our first night in the Amazon :)Read more