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D&G's 2023 AdventureD&G's 2023 Adventure
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D&G's 2023 Adventure

March - October 2023
Amazing trip to South America and Europe! Read more
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  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    1
    Day 1

    Leaving Sydney Airport!!

    March 18, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Oh the places we will go!
    Thank you to our Mums for driving us to the airport and saying goodbye 👋

    Syd -> San Fran
    San Fran -> Houston
    Houston -> Quito, Ecuador 🇪🇨 Stop 1️⃣ 🛩🛬

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    11
    Day 2

    Quito

    March 19, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Hola!! After a failed attempt at breaking some USD (note for future - don’t take anything bigger than a $20 note!), we boarded the hop on/hop off bus to see the sites of Quito. It definitely doesn't feel like the narrow streets and low wires in Quito were made for double decker buses! We explored some different neighbourhoods at an elevation of 2850m, passing some colourful colonial houses and the cathedral (with gargoyles that represent the animals of the Amazon such as crocodiles and turtles) on our way to the Panecillo (statue of the Virgin Mary with wings crushing a snake). We took in the magnificent views of the Quito landscape and learnt about the construction of the statue (made completely of aluminium) before having some awesome bbq chicken for lunch on a skewer with veggies and rice and traditional hot alcoholic drink called canelazo.

    We then took an extension on the regular tour to visit Mitad del Mondo - the centre of the earth (this included driving through rioting soccer fans of rival clubs who were playing today!). Quito is one of the few cities through which the equator passes so it was very cool to be standing with one foot on either side of the equator (so we were in both the Southern and Eastern hemisphere at the same time!) Our tour guide taught us about Ecuadorian history such as the customs of the three main different regions (highlands, Amazon and lowlands), including one which involved beheading and wearing the shrunken heads of their enemies; another was the medicinal powers of Guinea pigs ‘Cuy’. There was a musesum there which also contained a lot of information about Ecuador and we explored and took some photos around and Daniel bought his souvenir shot glass for Ecuador here.

    We made our way back to where we were staying for a quick dinner at a cool rooftop bar/restaurant (where Daniel had a tiny bottle of Corona) and Gab had a huge glass of wine for a couple of USD. We then met our group of 17 people for the tour with G Adventures which starts tomorrow! Surprisingly, we are the only Aussies on the tour. The tour group members are mostly from the UK and there is also one American guy and 2 Dutch guys. Our tour group leader for this part of the journey is Guido and he will help us translate things from Spanish as well as lead our group. Looking forward to starting tomorrow!!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 3

    Travel to Tena/Amazon Jungle

    March 20, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    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

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Day 4

    Amazon Jungle

    March 21, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Our first full day in the Amazon! The roosters at the lodge woke us up nice and early at 5am and then it started pouring and thundering!

    We had breakfast of plantain (vegetable with is very common to the area), eggs, strawberry juice and tea. Following this, Delfino gave us an explanation of some more customs of the area and tribal face painting. Each person was given a different face painting with various symbols for different meanings/roles. Gab's face painting representing the free and balanced woman (which referred to the fact that previously in the Amazon the women had a lower standing to men and carried the babies and all food on their backs but this has changed). Daniel's face painting represented a tiger in the Amazon sharpening its claws.

    We then went for a walk through the pouring rain and Miguel, one of the locals, explained information about different types of plants in the jungle. There were plants for period pain (which actually has a red sap on its leaves), antiseptic plants, plants to help when women experience difficulties with lactating, poisonous plants used for hunting animals and we even ate termites from a nest on a tree (they didn't taste great)!

    Miguel showed us a gold panning demonstration. There is gold in the rivers around but the locals only pan small amounts when they need some money for a particular reason. Miguel showed us how he made shelters to hide from predators (or if you get lost in the jungle and need a place to stay!) He also showed us various different types of traps hunters used to catch animals (such as anacondas and rodents). On our way back for lunch, we tried some cinnamon and lemongrass leaves.

    After lunch, the rain had stopped and we went canyoning/abseiling through the jungle in our helmets! We made our way upstream through a few different waterfalls and then abseiled back down to our starting point - a fantastic and fun afternoon with our group.

    We then made our way back to camp for dinner (which included hot soup and then a large cooked meal of veggies and chicken). We then enjoyed some drinks and cards with the group before bed.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    2
    Day 5

    Amazon Jungle

    March 22, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    After breakfast, some of the tour group went white water rafting whilst a group of us went on a walk to the blue lagoon. It was a sort of water park where we could swim in natural creeks and jump off rocks into the water - lots of fun! It was a "short" walk of about 1.5 hours there (we are learning that the local people's definition of short may be different to our definition sometimes!! But we love it!)

    On the way back, we caught a ride in the back of a ute back to camp where we said goodbye to our hosts and made our way on bike to the next village for the evening. The bike ride was quite enjoyable and it was mostly flat with some gravel roads.

    On the way, we played a game of soccer at a local school which got quite competitive (imagine a lot of English guys in particular who love their football!). Gab made friends with some local kids and started playing tag with one boy which ended in a lot of running around the school grounds! That was all very exhausting and it was quite humid and hot.

    We finished our bike ride at our new accommodation for the night which is another lodge and we had a much needed shower!

    We then had an awesome chocolate making demonstration where we experienced all the steps of chocolate making starting from picking the cocoa beans which are ready after around 2 years being on the tree. We then worked together to roast the beans over the fire, peel the beans, process the seeds, add sugar and then add powdered milk to make melted chocolate that was around 70%. We then enjoyed our amazing chocolate dipped in strawberries, biscuits and bananas - yum!!

    We then had a fantastic dinner which started with a soup made from unripe papaya, very interesting and yummy! We were very full from all of the food and stayed up for a few hours drinking local beer (Pilsener) and playing drinking games with some of our group!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    2
    Day 6

    Amazon Jungle/Travel to Baños

    March 23, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We had breakfast this morning and left our lodge in Shandia on a private bus headed for Banos.

    We stopped at Devil's Waterfall on the way where we walked down an amazing rock face to see an incredible waterfall from the bottom - including some cool rainbows. We walked across a few cool suspension bridges as well to see the waterfall from different angles.

    We had a delicious (and huge!) lunch just outside the waterfall. Gab had trout (which has been introduced to the area from Canada but is very popular) and Daniel had steak. We then had a short drive in fhe bus to a cable car that went across the valley. The cable car was powered by a car engine! We experienced an amazing view of the canyon and waterfall suspended in the air.

    We then had a short drive to La Casa del Arbol (a famous treehouse which is home to the swing at the end of the world) and had heaps fun swinging off the edge and going on the flying fox! It is such a beautiful area! It was at a 2600m altitude so a bit of a difference from the lower areas we have come from in the Amazon.

    We then drove to Banos and checked into our hotel which is really lovely! Banos is quite a touristy town and is the central point for lots of different activities. It is definitely more built up than where we have been staying in The Amazon. We went to a local tourism office to talk about activities we can book for tomorrow and then we went to a restaurant for dinner with the group. We enjoyed yuca with guacamole and beef tacos. Then back to our hotel to sleep before more adventures tomorrow!    Read more

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