Finally Out of the jungle

and I must say that I am glad to be. We spent two nights staying with a family that lived in a place that I would describe as the most rustic I have ever experienced without actually living in a tress. They were very nice, but WoW.

The first day that we were there, we went for a hike in the Amazon near the Napo river. We hike UP hill for about 4 hours. We did get to see a very beautiful waterfall and we ended at the beach (Napo River). Both very beautiful. However, the terrain to get to both of these places was very wet, steep, and slippery. There were many times that I gave up trying to stand upright and when I would fall, I just resorted to sliding on my behind. You should see my pants.

I have had my fill of chicken and I am another step closer to becoming a vegetarian. Not yet but I figure within the next year, most meat will be out of my diet.

From that first lodge, we moved on to Tena. The lodge in Tena was nestled betwen several mountains and it was beautiful. However, that lodge had every bug ever known to man. Katherine, one of the other people on the tour, had a tranatula in her room last night. Not kidding. Most everyone has red spots on their legs and they think they are flea bites from the first lodge. I have a few bumps but I think I am allergic to the laundry detergent that was used in the last lodge.

We are now in Banos for tonight and tomorrow night. We have a great room! Tile floors, three beds, I can´t see outside through the walls. It´s on the 2nd floor with a balcony. We will leave here and go to Cuenca (I think).

I have met a very nice, good look guy on this trip named Bernard. However, he is from Austria so you can guess where this will go. Yep, no freakin where. But it has been great hanging out with him. He picked up some virus and has been sick. NO, I am not taking care of him because I don´t want to get sick but he is sitting beside me in the internet cafe. Heee.......Yes, I have pictures.

The bus rides here are amazing fun. We ride on the chicken buses but no one thus far has gotten on with a chicken (damn the bad luck). But we drive through everything. Today, we took a 4 hour chicken bus ride from Tena to Banos and we apparently had to drive through a rock quarry. Yes, please think Fred Flintstone....heeee. OMG it was amazing, and the tires on the bus were spinning because we couldn´t get traction. Then, we get out of the quarry but we are not trying to climb a mountain (think City Bus), we are going 3 mph while the truck in front of us is going 2 mph. So, because of our incredible speed, our bus drive decides the best thing to do in this situation is to pass on a curve while trying to climb a mountain. Yep, you guessed it, just as soon as we are even with the truck that was in front of us, here comes another truck in the lane we are using to pass. So now, we have to drop back to 1 mph so that we can take out place back in our lane. Finally we pass them. Then an hour or so later we are passing another truck and I ask, hey didn´t we see those guys before? Yep, we passed them, then they passed us, now we are passing them again.

OMFG, the best story ever!!!!!!!! I saw someone get bitten by a monkey yesterday. I know you are thinking this can´t be true but it is soooo true. Nola and here daughter Iesha are on our tour. They are from Canada and Nola is interesting and her daughter is 14. So, we go off to the zoo and there is a monkey running about looking incredibly cute and all of that. All I want is for this damn monkey to stay away from me because I want to be let out of Ecuador and let back into the USA on 1-5-2009 (or whenever the hell I´m coming home). However, Iesha gets all chummy with the monkey, the Nola decides hey, since the monkey is at my feet, I should pick it up. I am on the verge of throwing up a little inside. Dirty, filty animal I can´t think of anything grosser at that moment that cuddling with a monkey. I have pictures to prove this mothing of the monkey. Well, finally after everyone else gave a resounding NO when Nola asked if we wanted to hold the monkey, she put it down. Well, then the monkey starts to stalk us. Showing up in random bushes and such unexpectedly. Then Iesha decides she should go and stand next to her mother. Well, monkey goes mad! Teeth come out and he start screeching and carrying on. I mean he doesn´t have many teeth but you can see them all. Then he jumps on Iesah leg and sinks his teeth into here ankle. I am sorry to admit that I do not have pictures of the crazed monkey executing his attack. The reason for this is because the moment it was clear that he was going mad, I got the hell outta there. I am truly not kidding you, I am loving this vacation SOOOOOO much, but I don´t eat off other peoples plates, I don´t let other people eat off of my plate, I don´t buy food from people that get on the chicken bus selling it. AND I DON´T CUDDLE WITH FREAKIN MONKEYS. I swear this story is true.

I know this is all that you can handle so I will say good night. I hope that you all are well and I will still make an effort to post some pictures. Yes, one will be of the monkey love.

Heee....love you all....miss me;)