Chasing Waterfalls

At the beginning of last week we had no plans. Then, our friend and teacher, Gabriel, offered a trip to the Amazon river basin. He was heading there to visit his girlfriend, Gisell, and explore the beauty of eastern Ecuador. After analyzing our schedules (which were empty...strange), we said, "OK".

With bags packed and tickets in hand we boarded a night bus last Thursday. Our destination the "Oriente", the eastern part of Ecuador. We were on our way to visit two locations-Sucua and Puyo. Our bus departed at 11:00 pm. Six hours later, after experiencing a combination of Brigitte described, "Indiana Jones road meets Harry Potter night bus" filled with more stops and starts than my days of learning to drive a stick shift...we arrived in Sucua. We tumbled from the bus into the cool yet humid night air of Sucua. The occasional rooster and or dog greeted us from a hundred backyards as we stalked the silent streets in search of habitation. We approached Jennifer's hostal. We rang the bell. We rang the bell again. A tired youth welcomed us in. Gabriel inquired about rooms. But there were none. We left and copied and pasted this experience a total of six times. Us ringing bells, waiting in the vacant sidewalks, only to be denied...with a twist. After our second hostal we picked up a friend. Instead of being greeted by the typical attendant, we were greeted by a state employee who was enjoying more than a few glasses of wine on the night before a holiday. He became our unofficial guide. I was skeptical of his company, but thanks to Gabriel's better understanding of Spanish and context cues, we added him to our fellowship. He provided wise counsel ("that hostal is only for a few hours at a time), he provided drunken comfort ("tranquillo" or relax he said over...and over...and over), and he provided transportation. He sloppily pulled out his phone at 4:45 a.m. and called "a guy". Brigitte, Gabriel, and I skeptically discussed in English what our options were. Five minutes later while we were still strategizing..."a guy" pulled up. Thanks be to God and this state servant and his sleep deprived assistant-we found refuge in our seventh attempt to find a room. It had what we needed at 5:15 in the morning...a bed (after a night of "Indiana Jones meets Harry Potter" busing and being denied six other times, we were deeply grateful for our newfound friend).

Guess which person was our new friend? Also, the handkerchief is a shout out to my nephew Jude who sports them with much more class than I can.

After a refreshing mornings sleep of 2.5 hours, we were...refreshed? But we were ready. And after an incredible breakfast of yucca tortillas (tortillas here are more like patties...these were almost potatoish), fried eggs, real coffee (YES!), and "tomate de arbol" (a tomato that grows on trees) juice...we had the fuel that we needed to take on the day. 

The day had two distinct highlights.

1. Standing behind waterfalls. I find that whenever I swim behind waterfalls it tends to put me in a really good mood. We received a tour from a Shuar guide (and his helpful 9 year old daughter who extended her hand to us while we crossed rocks and thoroughly enjoyed drinking water from our Osprey hydration backpacks) that included three waterfalls, snorting small amounts of tobacco juice for sinus problems, and the best six year old dancer I have ever seen. 

1. 

   Our Shuar guide.

   
   

   

   Brigitte and I chasing waterfalls.

2. We watched Ecuador defeat Uruguay 1-0 in the afternoon. This qualified them for the World Cup. The village of Sucua exploded with joy as cars cruised the calles filling the air with a million car horns sounding in disunion. 

The next morning we arose early and caught a bus to Puyo. Puyo is a couple of hours to the north of Sucua. There we successfully obtained rooms on our first attempt (thanks to Gabriel and Gissel making reservations). That afternoon we went rafting on some class three rapids. The guide told us that we should scream, "UNO, DOS" as we rowed the boat. This seemed like a good idea...except that we could not hear the captain's commands. My "UNO"s quickly turned to "Oh No!"s as we were tossed about the Palora river. Gabriel and I were in the front. I was negotiating the river and Spanish...a challenging cocktail for a novice like me.  

Our "capitanito" in the center shouted orders the entire trip. We missed the leadership of Mac Compton and Steven Barnhill, but it was still a good time!

Brigitte and I post rafting.

The next day we took a tour of a botanic garden. Our guide was a gringo named Steve. He said that he had been living in the Amazon for over 22 years. We drank deep from his knowledge. His beard was epic. His bathroom was amazing. They developed a bathroom that recycles everything. According to Steve the gringo guide, 90% of our urine is good fertilizer. So they send the urine straight to plants to fertilize the plants. Then, they take the feces, store them until they are dry...at which time (according to Steve) they become simply soil that is no longer "dangerous" like fresh poop is. The dried soil feces are then used as a sprinkled covering over the fresh feces in order to cut down the smell. Think of a kind of pit toilet with dirt that you sprinkle over the deposits...now realize that the dirt you are using is simply old poop. We stood in awe as Steve broke down the benefits of such bathrooms. To top it off, he collects rainwater for washing hands (it rains every day in Puyo)...but collecting rainwater will draw mosquitoes, right? Not when Steve is around. They have a little fish swimming around the basin. His or her full time job? Eat mosquitoes. 

The fish whose cup runneth over with mosquito larvae.

Steve then gave us a tour. He wowed us with stories of different tribes including the Waorani who use the jungle as if it is a pharmacy. As we toured the garden we stopped nearly every four feet to hear about different plants and trees...trees that provide us with cinnamon...and even trees that walk! We did the tour in Spanish, so we cannot share all of the details. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of important plants and trees that we depend on in the jungle. When we are eating cinnamon toast crunch, or cheddar cheese (the achote die is used to color cheddar), we need to be tipping our caps to the flora of the jungle that provides us with these gifts. 

Steve dispensing wisdom to us in an indigenous home. It is amazing how much more you will believe from a guy who has a really, really big beard.

Gabriel hamming it up with his monkey tail.

"Blood tipped" leaves. All of the leaves of this plant have red tips on the end like this.

After our tour we made our way to the bus and commenced our return trip to Cuenca. Nine hours later, we turned the key to our door and collapsed on our beds.

Brigitte and I thoroughly enjoyed our weekend with Gabriel and Gisell. Thank you to the both of you for showing us more of your beautiful country!