The Jungle!

Back to the world of Quito - I was hanging out with some friends for dinner like two weeks ago.  We split up.  Clara and Brian went home while Nikki walked me to the corner of Plaza Foch to catch a cab.  I ended up meeting a guy named Chris and his two friends because of Nikki.  Hey and Goodbye.  I took the taxi to the McDonald´s to wait for my ride to the jungle.  It cost me two dollars.  I ended up eating their for nostalgic sake but will never eat at McDonald's again.  The memories of Big Macs do not live up to my expectations. 

I waited and this guy named Tobias came up.  He was waiting for the school as well so we chatted.  Only three of us showed up at that spot and got a ride to the bus which cost money as well.  Really, I wished they had just told us where to go for the bus because it would have saved a bit of money.
I was waiting and who should walk up?  Reto, the cool Swiss dude, who I really liked.  We chatted a bit and it was fun.  I met Andre a Canadian man who has been traveling for like two years. We all got on this bus where we got served apple soda and little cookies.  Very posh for Ecuador.  An hour and a half into the ride, the bus breaks down.  We wait for another one which is worse.  I wore my rain jacket through most of the ride because when the bus would stop or turn, the roof would leak on my head.  I was exhausted from my 7 hour hike but could not sleep.
We got to Coca and made a mad dash through the town to wait at a pier.  Why the mad dash?  I do not know.  Perhaps we were a bit late because of the bus breaking down.  Off to breakfast.  Where I learned the joys of hot milk and powdered hot chocolate.  I drank that all week in the jungle.  Then there was an awesome ride in a boat on the River Napo (?) which looked like a lake because it was so big.  There was something so peaceful and amazing about the river by the jungle.  45 minutes later, there was a sign for the Yarinia Lodge and we slid into a tributary.  Ten minutes later, we made it to the lodge.
The jungle was beautiful and there was a lot of structure.  Breakfast was at 6:30am, lunch at noon, and dinner at seven.  My schedule for classes switched around but everyones did so two groups were on the same schedule.  I was a bit sad because I got stuck with the six german girls, two swiss girls, and one really cool Swedish chick.  The Germans were just so annoying because they were so young and always talked in German.  It was frustrating when we had tours and I would ask them to pass information back because that was where I was. They would.  In German. 
Anyway, we had a guide named Marcelo and lots of nice male staff.  No female staff.  The rumor going around the lodge was there was female staff in the past but they kept on getting pregnant. We studied Spanish and when not studying Spanish, would be exploring the jungle. I was a bit lonely because most people wanted to talk their own language. Spanish was cool but the Europeans languages were not for me. I was also a bit sad because the connection with Reto was gone and in fact we argued a bit. Not bad but just a bit of heat butts when talking.

There are some highlights though. Walking through the lodge and suddenly seeing Tapirs hanging out on a porch. The lodge did feed them but still cool to see. I caught the tapirs eating out of the organic waste bucket. Which reminds me of the food - delicious and plentiful. I shared my room with this cool women named Franzika. She was late coming to the jungle because her first plane crashed. It never made it off the runway and went into a brick wall. There was a problem with the door so they had to exit off emergency exit on the wings. She had the newspapers' stories because she was freaking a bit and was trying to cope.

I saw some of the other group swimming in the river and sighed. My teacher told me to go so I ran down and swam instead of learning Spanish, for 15 minutes or so. I got a group of people to play equibole (like volley ball but different) and we ended up playing futbol. Fun because it was muddy.

After the last separated expidition, the guide asked me if I wanted to play volleyball because he saw us all playing like two days before. I said yes but also said I wanted to go swimming. He said there was time for all. He organized a game while I ran back to get my suit on. When I got back, everyone was playing including the German girls! After three games, most people left but a small group of us played futbol. So much fun and tiring. Then we were done and everyone left. I was a bit sad because it was nice and not safe to swim in the river. So I walked to the pier to rinse my feet and legs off. The guide was there as well and asked if I was going swim. I said no because it was dangerous. He was like "Its fine". I stared at hime. "You showed me cayman (like alligators and crocidiles but slightly smaller) and serpents in the river!" "Its safe" swears the guide. He then takes off his shirts and dives in. I think all right. I take off my shirt and jump in. I was wearing my suit and my waterproof pants. It was so nice! It was refreshing and nothing bad happen! I got out after a very little bit. I guess he need to wash his pants because the guide took off his pants and was wearing like a cloth speedo. It covered the important bits but not much. And wow, just imagine a guy who walks all day for a living, and climbs trees, play sports, and swims in a river for fun. What a body! The pants had dragged me down so I got down to just my swimming suit. We did not end up swimming at the same time because one of us would be on the pier but it was great. I was the only one in the school who went swimming at night. I then had a crush on the guide. It is apparently what I do in Ecuador. I get crushes on my guides.

Which is a prefect segue to the current guide story. Nikki and I did go back to the museum two days ago. A different guide met us at the bottom. We used the rest room and when we got out, that guy asked us "You are looking for Daniel?" That is right, he or someone else recognized me and remember. Now the question to ask is what did I say? Hmmmm, really think about who I am and make a guess in your head. ....

The answer - No! I startled the guide. He faltered and did not know where to go from there because he was expecting yes and so was Nikki. I then kicked myself while looking at cool art. I finally pushed myself to ask another guide if in fact Daniel was working that day. He had left for the day. Stupid Shilo! Like a soap opera, I made you all wait for the story and nothing actually change. And! the story might continue. I go back to Guayaquil to catch a plane to the Galapagos Islands on the 13th of October. The museum is free on Sundays and I have even more people who are willing to go. Will I do it? I do not know. The time might be past but part of me really wants to at least get a photo. I will keep everyone informed on what happens.

Real fast about the jungle, we ended with two expeditons. We saw a mock shaman do a ritual and it was interesting but I did not go through it. I want a real shaman. It was long but people really enjoyed it. We also went to see indigenous people living in the jungle. Our guide did most of the talking and there were standing there awkward. So would I if like 15 tourists were in my house staring around. People did buy up the handicrafts.

We took a boat back up to Caco. I tried to get a bus to Tena but two other students took the last two seats. I had paid for a trip back to Quito but changed my mind. It worked out because Franika took it and gave me money. I waited at Coca for an hour and half to catch the bus to Tena. That is when the next segment of traveling happened. Will catch up even more next time!

Oh yeah, I responsed to people's comments in the comment section. I did not try the coffee at Mindo. Coffee in Ecuador is usually hot water with instant coffee. I did not see anything different at Mindo. Anali, you will have to travel down here and try it yourself.