Tena

Welcome to the Jungle.

From Otavalo we took a two hour bus back to Quito.  We grabbed lunch in the Mariskal neighborhood before heading to the bus depot at the far south of the city.  We purchased two tickets to Tena, doorway to the Amazon.

Though the ride was said to take 5-6 hours, we arrived 9 hours after departing.  Our driver was happy to make additional stops.

Tena isn't much of a town, but after being in the jungle I'm such it could feel like the height of civilization.  There are a few backpacker hostals, but nothing stood out.  There are jungle lodges outside of town that seem lovely.  Ever independent, we booked in the hostal & decided to create our own tours.

We found a guide, Sergio Delfin, to take us to El Gran Canon & the caves of Jumandy.

The following morning Sergio met us with his 9-year-old son, Rey.  We drove out of Tena on a non-descript highway.  The driver took us down a gravel road lined by Quechua farms.  Eventually, he stopped, and we walked through the high grasses into the jungle.

Sergio pointed out this leaf.  There is medicine throughout these jungles.  This leaf is said to help regulate menstruation.  He explained that many Quechua women work very hard, physically.  Many farm in addition to child-rearing.  Often this physical labor can cause irregular menstruation.  After drinking tea brewed from this leaf, under supervision of a healer, many women experience renewed health.

What excited me most about this lesson was Rey's attentiveness.  I wish I'd learned how to pay attention to my environment at his age.

I began to understand why the Amazon is characterized as a rainforest.  In Tena, I was consistently damp from the intermittent rain.  However, once in the dense foliage of the jungle I was often dry despite downpour.  I'd never seen such thick vegetation.

As we crossed this bridge, Kevin started hopping from foot to foot!  I looked down to see tons of big ants crawling in and out of his sandal.  Sergio came over & helped Kevin take his shoes off.  He brushed all the ants off Kevin's feet and out of the sandals.  Kevin's feet were chewed up!  He said they throbbed for awhile after the incident.

Sergio took one ant & held it carefully.  He picked up a bit of Rey's sleeve & held it away from his arm.  He put the ant on the sleeve & watched as its pinchers sealed around a tiny bit of fabric.  Sergio explained that Quechua people use these ants as sutures.  If someone cuts themselves with a machete or has an open wound of any sort, they gather these ants to pull the skin back together & close the wound.

In this private lagoon, the boys dove in.  They swam into a cave where prior visitors had left a ladder.  How friendly.

Kevin & Sergio ascended past the rushing falls.  This brought them to a small wooden platform about 30 feet over the deep lagoon.  Swifts circled overhead.  The sound made Kevin & I originally misidentify them as bats.  Any movement and tons of birds would sing and rush past your head.

Kevin & Sergio got their nerve.

& jumped!

Sergio explained that often these type of grasses emerged in the areas bordering farm & jungle.

We had lunch at his friend's farm.

Those tendrils dripping from the tree?  Birds nests.  Birds swooped in & out, feeding their young, resting, & flying off.

Sergio prepared traditional Quechua-style salt-rubbed Tilapia.  Slow roasted over charcoal.  Kevin & I played with Rey & two of the resident's children.  The other adults were tilling the soil.

Sergio made a salad, boiled yucca, & made guacamole for the vegetarian.  Guacamole drenched boiled yucca is DELICIOUS.  This was my best meal since arriving in Ecuador.

Those banana leaves?  Picked fresh during our hike.

Our lagoon has a name.

As we wandered from the farms to the highway, we came across this border of coleus along the edge of a farm.  See it in better detail on the Rooted Blog.

We waited for a bus to take us 4 miles down the highway to the Jumandy caves.  Tons of Ecuadorian families had come into town for Carnivale.  Every passing bus was full!  I didn't realize how close the caves were-- we could have walked!  Sergio walked across the street to ask a store owner if he would give us a ride on his motorcycle.  The man agreed.  Before I knew it, Rey had hopped behind the store owner & was waiting for me to hop on behind him.  I got on before I could change my mind.  I hugged the store owner while trying not to crush Rey.  The motorcycle took off, racing down slick, steep Andean highway.  I began to giggle.  It was fun!  Then we crested a hill & I saw the approaching descent.  It occurred to me that the store owner had a helmet-- & Rey & I did not.  We approached a switchback & whizzed along.  The motorcycle dipped so far into the turn I thought my shoulder would get road-burn.  That's when I closed my eyes.

My prayers were answered and we reached the Jumandy caves.  Rey & I waited at a bus stop while the store owner went back up the highway to collect Sergio & Kevin.  Now my prayers turned to their safety.  When I saw them approach I audibly sighed.  Kevin enjoyed it, but he had struggled to stay on a bike with two other fully grown men.

We entered the Jumandy Caves.  A mini-park has been built around them that was packed with vacationing families.  A cave-fed pool was filled with playing kids.  The muddy water is said to be medicinal.  We put our things in lockers and waited in line to enter the caves.  Twelve people are admitted at a time.  We received headlamps and began sliding through the pitch black.  Soon we were swimming.  And rubbing the medicinal mud on our faces and bodies.  Kevin bravely dipped into a 12 ft deep tunnel.  Refreshed, tired, and content, we emerged from the caves and rode a bus back to Tena.

Where we got dessert.