Tween Travels

It was time to move out of the cold and into the heat of the jungle.

Our first stop was Tena, a small town known as the best place in Ecuador to go river rafting. After a long nine hour bus ride we didn’t actually end up at a bus station; instead, we were dropped off at a random roundabout in the pouring rain on the outskirts of the city. After a taxi ride in the dark down dirt roads we got to our Airbnb which was thankfully really nice and even had a small pool.

Tena was HOT. Even the locals said it was extra hot. There was nowhere with air conditioning except the supermarket, so we spent some time there.

The reason we came to this city was to go river rafting. The last time we went rafting we had to jump into the river so we would know what to do if we got thrown overboard. I was worried we would have to do this again because the rapids were quite strong. Also, the water was freezing because it came from the top of Cotopaxi mountain. Happily William volunteered and jumped in for all of us 🙂

The rafting was so fun and we all had a great time. My mom somehow got forced into being at the front of the boat and got soaked by every rapid.

We saw some eye-opening sights along the river. We saw a child around my age washing his family’s clothes using a big rock. Next time I do my laundry I will not complain. We also saw people panning for gold and using machines that sucked up dirt in the river. The guide said that someone got grabbed and killed by an anaconda while using one of those machines. He also said that families pan for gold in August to try to earn money for school supplies for the beginning of the school year.

Our last stop in Ecuador was the Amazon rainforest. It took us several buses and a two-hour boat ride to get there but it was worth it!

The jungle is an insane and crazy place. Within the first hour of the boat ride to our accommodation we saw three scary snakes including an anaconda and four kinds of monkey.

The lodge was beautiful but there was no air-conditioning or even fans so it was very SWEATY. You could choose to spend 2, 3, or 4, nights. Somehow we ended up staying the longest possible amount of time🙄. Our group consisted of our family plus Maisy, a Swiss family of four with a 13 year old daughter and a 12 year old boy, and finally a woman named Sarah. Lastly, our guide Fabricio. Everyone was so nice, and us kids got along so well!

Starting with the good activities:

1- Every night, we would get to swim in the lagoon and watch the sunset. Even though there were anacondas  swimming around the edge, we would swim in the middle because the pink river dolphins swam with their babies in the middle, so apparently it was safe there.

2- One night we got to go looking for cayman, which are little alligators, and you can see their eyes glow red when you shine a flashlight on them.

3- We went stargazing, and the stars were unimaginable. No pictures or words could explain the feeling of seeing them

4- We took a night walk to see a point that is exactly on the equator. John was hopping between what he thought was the two sides of the equator but in fact he was on the wrong side of the monument so was actually hopping around on the same side. On that walk we got to experience the jungle going from day to night, and saw a giant tarantula. I wasn’t a big fan of that.

5- Last but not least, our group came to the rescue and saved another group whose canoe sank. As we were heading out for our night walk, we saw a group of people waving in the lagoon. We thought they were being friendly, but soon wondered where their boat was. Our boat driver drove the boat over to them and they were actually waving for help! They said that they had paddled so hard that water came in and then some waves started coming and tipped over their boat. Crazy!

Now for your faves, the bad bits:

1- Nina got sick, and had to stay in her room for 2 days, but luckily missed the worst day. (See below)

2- There was an unnecessary amount of plantains and yucca neither of which I like. They put it on every dish in Ecuador. So if I never eat another dish of plantains, yucca, rice, and meat, I will be absolutely fine, because that was every dish there.

3- The worst day ever. We started out well, and had nice weather for the first ten minutes of our 6-hour paddling trip. Then the sprinkle of rain came, next the harder rain, and after 2-3 hours, we were in our ponchos paddling in the crazy rain. We had to stop to hide under a tree to eat our lunch which was rice which quickly turned into rice soup. That was the most depressing bit of that trip. Luckily when we came back, we got to drink about ten hot chocolates each😁

After we took a 2 hour boat ride, 2 hour van ride, and a 8 hour bus ride we got back to Quito. The next day we sadly said goodbye to Maisy who flew back to England while we flew to our last destination. It was a very fun 3 weeks, but there’s always an ending.

Last post coming soon. Love you all, only 2 days until we fly home!

🩷Madeleine