El Oriente

Wednesday after school, the other three students from Ambato and I took a bus to Quito, where we reunited with everyone we had met at orientation. I was super excited to see everyone again. We got dinner at McDonalds. I think the other American girl, Sarah, and I were feeling a weird ownership of McDonalds, like we had some sort of birthright to those mcnuggets. Well, at least I sort of felt that way.

The next day we had a five hour drive. As a lover of long drives, I have to say, this was a great long drive. It was drizzling slightly most of the way and the mountains gradually changed into jungle. This really is a beautiful country. We arrived at the river and went to our hotel in canoes.

The hotel.

That day we had to hang out and swim in the pool. I went with a group for a walk through the little town nearby. It was humid.

Friday we went on a guided walk through rainforest. We learned about some different types of trees and their uses. We got to paint our faces with rocks and water from the stream. Sarah did my face, and I could feel that she was doing an intricate design and I was really excited to see how it was going to look. She wrote "loser" across my face. Thanks a lot, Sarah. The guide gave me a crown made out a palm leaf, one of the prouder moments of my life. To go back to hotel we floated down the river on rafts made from balsa logs. 

Saturday morning we went to a sanctuary for rainforest animals which had been illegally kept as pets. It was called AmaZOOnico (sic on the capitalization), a name which I greatly enjoyed. There were parrots, monkeys, an anaconda, some ocelots, and a whole other assortment. Then we got to go tubing down the river, which was really fun. At one point we stopped and did a rope swing into the water. After lunch we went to a butterfly house. There were all the kinds of butterflies that you only see on posters in elementary classrooms.

Sunday we made the drive back to Quito and spent the night in a hotel there. Other things that happened on this trip: I got a massage, I bought drug rug pants and I am thrilled with them, and we went to a karaoke bar and attempted and failed to sing "Hips Don't Lie" in Spanish. We had the nights free to hang out and we had some great times that I'm not about to write about here. I love so many of the other kids in my group and I had a great time being with them. The jungle is beautiful, but, as always, it's the friends I'll be remembering.

Sarah and me.

Napping on our hotel room porch.

This is how we got over the river on our jungle walk.