Ok, here we go...

So its been a while and a fair amount has been accomplished in the time since the last post, so this is going to be in to parts.

Part One, sometimes getting there is half the fun, or all of it: My last two days and nights in canoa were interesting. I somehow managed to play 3 games of ¨mission¨ Risk (yes, we played two games in one day) with a dutch fellow, an irishman and an englishman who worked at the hostel where we were all staying. i also played my first truley sucessful game of poker (and by that i mean that i didn´t loose, which was imparrative since i was betting money (just a one dollar buy-in to keep things friendly) that i didnt have. After my various expenditures, which included internet cafes, a call to peru, food and drink, and a couple spanish lessons which were of no help, i had $43.25. i owed the hostel 43, and had to borrow a buck for bus and ferry fare from the very kind alaskan owner.

After saying goodbye to the guys i had met, i headed to the bus stop. i caught the last bus out of canoa (at 7pm) and got to san vincint a half hour later. i found the place where i was to catch the passenger ferry (and i use the term loosely) to the town from which buses depart to quito. the ferry docked and we all got aboar. at this point it was pitch black and i was suprised there was still service between the two towns. the ¨ferrry¨ turned out to be a 35 (or so) foot long boat wooden boat that rocked back and forth (especially to the left, dont ask me why) despite fairly calm seas. as we boarded i noticed that the engine was quite similar to that of an old truck, and was sitting in the middle of the boat with little walls around it. the capitain (or whoever was driving) only steered, and he honked the horn once when he wanted the deckhand to put the boat in gear (or into netural on the other side) an honked twice when he wanted to speed up or slow down. i had to laugh. no only that but the hot radiator water (after cooling the engine) spilled out into a bucket in the boat, and every 5 min or so the deckhand would refill the reservoir with a yogurt cup from the bucket. but we made it and i got the bus to quito.

From quito to tena, a jumping off point for amazon tours (which i had no plan on doing because of cost and the need to find a group of 4 or more) is a ¨must see¨ in many guide books. the dirty, shitty little town is anything but something that i ¨must see.¨ its only redeeming value is that the amazon is easily accessible from it, and it has a park with monkeys that will steal your camera if your not watching out, which i find slightly hilarious. i found a dank hostel for $4 a night and i had plans to leave the next day, but the guy that worked at the hostel (for $3 a day, plus room and board) was a guide and trying hard to learn english, so he talked to me a lot. i mentioned i would have liked to go on a tour. he disapeared and 5 min later said a big group had just gone up and i could join them on the 3 day tour for $100. thats a good deal, considering im spending close to $30 a day anyway. ok, we leave tomorrow at 6 am and we´re going on a jungle tour, hike to waterfalls, and take canoes to see monkeys and butterflies.

Part two, the tour: we arrived at 8 am at the lodge, after travelling by car, bus, and canoe, and breakfast was pancakes with chocolate, bananas, fruit, coffee, and bread. but there were only 4 people there when i got there, all elderly french people. i was hoping for some families on the tour, with kids, maybe some that spoke english...no luck. i left on my personal jungle hike with my guide jacob, and he showed me what plants are pain killers, what do do if your lost, we ate ant eggs out of leaves, and some other stuff. jacob is a indigenous indian, his parents live a 2 day motorized canoe ride from the nearest town, and his father was a healer. he did brief little ceremony that is supposed to harness good energy and release bad energy. all very cool. a few hours later we return to find 15 sweaty old french people who just got back from their activity for the day. a few hours later, those who wanted to took canoes (with guides) to a small community to see how they make a special alcohlic drink, called teechwa. it was on this brief excursion i met a guy named Pims from holland. thank god. we talked the rest of the day and he told me how being with these french people the last 2 days had been like living in a cartoon, they were so ridiculous. but they were all leaving in the morning and new tourists were coming.

next day me and the two new tourists, from italy and a local, went on a 6 hour round trip hike to some water falls were we encountered an asian tour and we all went swimming. the walk back was long, but in exchange for english lessons for jacob he helped me with spanish. the third day was a canoe trip to a animal preserve, were we saw monkeys, mini jaguars and mini leapords, all kinds of birds, and some snakes. then to a museum about the indigenous tribes. then lunch, then to a ceramics place and a woodworking place, all indigenous indian run. it was good. we got back to tena and i hoped on the 6 o´clock bus to baños, a touisty town that brags hot springs and an active volcano that you can go see at night. thats tonights activity.