Following the Dream

Christian April 27th, 2008

The bus ride from Quito to Tena was five and a half hours long.  The closer we got to the jungle, the better the scenery was.  It was great to look out the bus window and look over the rainforest from the dirt mountain roads.  We arrived in Tena around 4:30 or so in the afternoon.  We hired a taxi for a $1 to take us and our bags up the hill to our hostel.  We were pleasantly surprised by the place (Limonchoca).  For $10 a night we got a great view, cable TV, a kitchen, and complmentary hammocks to use on the balcony.  It was a steal.  The first night we talked to the owner about scheduling a white water rafting trip.  Our options were to go class 4 or class 3.  We opted for the class 3, and let him know we were interested.  The next day, we were unable to go since they had a full raft.  We spent the day walking around the jungle city.  It was very interesting.  There are chickens everywhere, roosters that crow all day, tons of little shops selling building materials, rip off shoes, and baby chicks.  Many of the stores had funky smells coming from them.  It is definitly a change from Quito.  The main square looks a bit run down, without much action.  It is hard to believe that many Gringos (white people) come here, since we got our fair share of stares.  At one point when sitting in the main square on a bench a little girl stared at us and tugged on her sisters shirt getting her to take a look at us too.  It was pretty mellow at least.  After our walk we made our way to the hostel to spend the rest of the night enjoying our two english tv channels.  We verified with the owner that we would definitly be going white water rafting in the morning.

We woke up the next morning ready to go.  At around 9 am, the guide came up to our room to get us.  We were fitted with wetsuits and piled into the truck with the raft on top.  We drove for about 45 minutes on dirt roads through deep jungle.  When we got to the launching point for the boat, we unloaded it and got fitted with helmets and life vests.  We even got a couple of instructions in Spanish to help us out.  When we looked down the hill at the river, both Casey and I got a little nervous.  The water was moving so fast.  It was nothing like the¨”exhilarating” whitewater rafting we did in the Poconos a year before.  This was going to be intense.  We had to hike down a muddy hill in the jungle.  Our guide let us know to use our paddles for balance as he slipped and fell down the hill.  When we finally made it to the river, the guide had us get in the boat on the dry land to practice following his spanish instructions for paddling.  Then we were off, into the wild.

It was crazy.  The first set of rapids set the tone for the rest of the trip.  Within the first five minutes we had water crashing into the raft.  After the first set of rapids we had a nice calm stretch to relax.  During this calm stretch our crazy guide thought it would be a great idea to push both Casey and I into the water.  It was not cool, since there were more rapids quickly approaching.  Casey got pulled in first as I was clinging for dear life to the side of the boat as the rapids got closer and closer.  Luckily he pulled me in just before.  The second set of rapids had huge waves and was so fun.  It was on the third set that we hit the monster.  We hit this huge wave sideways and the boat went straight up on its side.  First I flew out, then Casey followed.  The guide managed to stay in somehow and was laughing hysterically as he pulled us in as we went down the rapids.  We hit one more set before stopping for lunch.

For lunch we stopped at cabins owned by the hostel we were staying at.  While lunch was being cooked, we got a jungle tour by our guide.  He showed us all kinds of plants used for different things.  We got our faces painted with a type of red fruit.  He showed us a spiked plant that is used to whip yourself with when you have sore muscles, and all kinds of other things.  The lunch was good, it was pasta with chicken along with other sides.  I even learned that eating Avacado is good for male stamina from our guide.  After lunch we went back out to risk out lives on the river some more.

The guide was insane.  During one of the rapids, I look back in the raft to see where he was sitting empty.  We then realized he was floating down the rapids.  He would direct us right into the biggest waves and rapids and would just be in the back laughing away.  At one point, he said he looked up and could not see us in the front, just water pouring into the boat.  It was great, but tons of work since it was just Casey and I paddling away.  We enjoyed it a lot and look forward to rafting again sometime in Central America.  We made our way back to the hostel and got ready to head to Baños.

• Ecuador
• Comments(5)