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January 10, 2005
coca, ecuador
so after leaving quito, aaron, kristy and i went to tena, to do some rafting. tena is renown worldwide for kayaking, but the water was low, so all the kayakers were hanging around, getting drunk. we had a really good day rafting down a tributary of the rio napo, it was class 3 water, and buzz and i made a point to go over the side at least 3 times. it was so amazing to float down the water and look at all the green mountains surrounding us, i felt like i had stepped into prehistory. during our lunch break we pulled out my trusty balloon launcher (never leave the country without it) and fired rocks across the river. this was the opportune time for the black flies to eat the shit out of my legs and back. at the end of the day i discovered that through the cloud cover the sun had burnt the hell out of my shoulders and back. i knew i would get at least one sunburn on this trip, but holy hell i can barely shoulder my pack.
after tena we were going to climb a volcano, but the indigenous guides seemed uninterested in taking us on a 5 day trip, plus they would not tell us an exact price, which was sketchy. so we hopped a bus out of their tiny village and continued on to coca, where we are now. this morning we set up a 5 day jungle trip, during which we will lodge at a primitive platform, and spend days walking and canoeing through the jungle, looking for wildlife (cross your fingers we see anacondas and boas). aaron is very excited and plans to smear mud all over his body and possibly hunt other tourists with spears. good times.
after this we are not in fact taking a freight boat down to iquitos, but instead heading back towards the coast, with plans to stop in banos for thermal hotspringing and mountain biking. i miss my bike very badly. after that we will try and meet up with matt and denise, go to the organic farm, and then rocket north towards colombia, though i am fairly certain we will miss carnival in cartagena or baranquilla. no matter.
i am very happy and should have bronzed shoulders in a few days. hello to everyone, hope you all are not snowed in up to your necks.
Posted by bendan at January 10, 2005 10:50 AM
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