A Whirlwind Tour

So we´re out of ecuador first thing in the morning, it´s unfortunate that it´s gone so fast but we have another 4 weeks in Peru and I´m travelling onto Bolivia for about 3 more after Pete is gone. Hopefully more pictures will follow, Pete has no way of getting his pictures onto a computer right now so these are only representative of my own. Ecuador is amazing, between the orriente (east), sierra (mountain) and costa (coast) there is amazing amount of diversity in both plant and animals as well as the Ecuadorian culture. We´ve had the chance to briefly visit each part but there´s so much left to see that another trip will have to be done in the somewhat near future. Besides some of the most beautiful coutryside I have ever seen the people here have been amazing as well. We really lucked out having Aaron out here, we worked with him in Honduras and he´s doing two more years out in the jungle. Through him we´ve met and been spoiled by so many of the PC Volunteers here that it´s gonna be hard to travel Peru without having them pointing out the best spots to see. So thanks again to Aaron for showing us the orriente and helping to set us up with everyone else; Dan for the rafting, it was awesome; Megan, Elaina, Lindsey, Janet and all the rest of the girls that let us crash their party in Santa Domingo, sorry I was under the weather; Dara for putting us up in Guayaquill, it was short but sweet; and last but certainly not least, Stuart and Emily for showing us around and helping us sample some of the local flora and fauna. Being former Peace Corps volunteers really has it´s perks. Enjoy the rest of youralls time down here if I make it back before you´re gone I´ll definately let you know. As for us, starting at 6 in the morning, we´re on a bus for what we´re estimating to be about 20 hours tommorrow, so at least there´s that.

Cajas

Cajas
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

When we got low enough the clouds and mist would come and go really quickly. When it did clear up for a few minutes it was really gorgeous

Cold and Foggy

Cold and Foggy
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

it didn´t start out so well, if your ever there I recommend waiting for a really clear day

(the guy in the back is Willem, a guy from Holland we met on the bus up there, we ended up having a few beers with him in the city later that night, other than looking a bit like Billy Idol he turned out to be really cool)

Cajas

Cajas is

Cajas Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

a national park outside of Cuenca. It was weird, a lot of the plants up there seemed like they belonged more in a coral reef at the bottom of the ocean rather than on the top of a mountain

Laundry in Cuenca

Laundry in Cuenca
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

just though it odd that laundry was still done this way in a city of 300,000 people

Rio Tomebamba

Rio Tomebamba
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

The old road along the river is really nice

Cuenca stairs

Cuenca stairs
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

Cuenca is a really cool, layed back colonial city

more rafting

rafting Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

five were in the raft and Dan kayaked down in front of us in case anyone ended up in the river. We were lucky enough though to keep that from happening even though each of us got close a few times.

A little cliff jumping off a waterfall

A little cliff jumping off a waterfall
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

Pete´s the one in the air

rafting

rafting Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

The company´s name is Water Dog tours in Chaco, Ecuador. The section of river we did they call Aguas Salvages or Savage Waters, and we were lucky enough to be one of the first five groups to ever go down it in a raft.

The rafting crew

The rafting crew Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

Aaron is in the middle and Dan is on the left, the other guys are local guys that help run the business that Dan is helping

Waterfall outside of Chaco

Waterfall outside of Chaco Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

Aaron´s friend Dan, another volunteer, is starting up rafting tours in his site and we went to see him in Chaco, this was taken nearby

The finca in O´glan, out in the jungle

The finca in O´glan, out in the jungle
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

We went out to see the family land of Aaron´s friends, which was even further adentro

Bridge out in Arajuno

Bridge out in Arajuno
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

One of the main reasons we came to Ecuador was to visit a Peace Corps Honduras buudy of ours thats now doing two more years out here. This is a bridge out near his town, it´s way out in the Amazon water shed and it´s a completely different world.

Banos

Banos
Originally uploaded by Road Trip.

This is a cool little town with tons of things to do around it, it actually sits right under a volcano that´s currently erupting

A quick run-through

This is more for my own records than anyone else, but feel free to follow our route if so inclined. So we started in Cuenca and were able to visit Cajas while there. We then moved onto Banos through Rio Bamba. Aaron met us there and took us out to Puyo and then his site of Arajuno and eventually really out into the jungle in O´glan. We then went with him onto visit Dan and raft in Chaco. Our next step was onto Quito, unfortunately on the way up there I realized I left my passport under the bed in Banos. Lucky for me they found it when I called and were able to hold onto it for me. So I bussed to and from Quito that same day and met up with Pete and Aaron around 10 pm, it was a pretty miserable day but at least I got my passport back. Aaron left us there but he was able to put us in touch with Lindsey and Megan in Santa Domingo. It turned out that they were having a little get together so we decided to cut Quito short and move on. A few of the volunteers we met recommended Canoa to us so we headed out that way. After a few days on the beach we ferried over to Bahia and then bussed into Guayaquil. It was just one night but we were able to stay with Dara, another volunteer living in the city. We then puched onto visit Cuenca a second time and hang out with Emily and Stuart, a few more of Aaron´s friends. We all stayed a night in Sucedi (sp?) at stuarts place and sat around the majority of the next. After a few more nights in Cuenca we moved onto Loja. We´re actually there while I´m writing this and we´re on buses for about 20 hours tommorrow to et back into Lima, Peru. Thats about it I think, of course more might come to me next time I look at a decent map.