off to the jungles

We're in a humid and sleepy jungle town called Puyo. Hank and I are starting a three-day tour into the Amazon Jungle tomorrow. The company we're going with is Qechuan-run (one of the local indigenous tribes), contributing most of the profit to the community, as well as providing job opportunities from town - in the office, as guides, etc.

Looking forward to canoeing through the jungle and swimming at the waterfalls and waterholes, otherwise I'm not sure what else to expect.

We've spent the past week in Quito, Ecuador, staying with Hank's aunty and meeting all the relatives. Went for a mountain hike one day after taking the cable car at TelefetiQo, it goes about 2kms up a mountain overlooking the city ... it's one BIG city. We celebrated Mother's Day here while it was my Mum's birthday in Australia, so that was doubly special. went to the Fresh Market in the morning for fish and veggies. We ate cerviche and drank wine, and then went for a walk to a nearby park and a bike-ride around.

On another day we went to The Middle of the Wooooorld! Stood right where the Southern Hemisphere meets the Northern, and took a tour explaining all the indigenous tribes of Ecuador - very interesting. I think we will go back to The Middle of the Woooorld, though, as there is another museum up there that has cool experiments, like showing the water running in opposite directions in each hemisphere, etc. It's only a half hour from where we're staying in the city.

We drove through Baños today on the bus, which we will also return to in a week or so. There are Thermal waters there that are popular to soak in. The other cool thing is that there is an active volcano overlooking the town. It's the first time either of us had seen a volcano with grey clouds billowing from it's peak. Pretty eerie!

We will be returning to Quito late on Thursday night, and taking off again on Friday morning to Cotopaxi - one of the biggest mountains in Ecuador. Should be great to do some walking up there. We'll be going from humid jungle to very cold mountain. This country has it all. The coast, as well, but maybe we'll do that the following week.

Had Hank's birthday on the weekend, too. His dad put on a party for him from Australia and we had about 30 of his Aunts, Uncles and Cousins over for a BBQ. We had a fun time meeting everyone and stayed up until 2am, trying to catch the meteorite shower that was expected. I saw 2 shooting stars through the cloud cover, but it was not going to be a spectacular spectacle the way the weather was looking. We haven't been having big nights at all, not since Mexico, anyway, so 2am was such a fair effort for us! Enjoyed catching up on episodes of LOST the next evening in that slightly hung-over kind of state that television is meant to be enjoyed in. It was very relaxing.

We also had a lovely lunch at another uncles in the South of the city. More delicious cerviche, and some beer with lunch as the rain poured down outside. It was very cozy as we looked through old photos of the Tapia family.

Quito is known for for it's '4 seasons in one day' for all of the year, apart from August, when it doesn't rain. The day we arrived we had to drive 10 meters through nearly a meter high puddle that covered the floor of a tunnel. Apparently if we'd arrived a half hour later, we would have been diverted, as they closed the airport. This should be nearly the end of the rains, though.

And nearly the end of this part of our adventures. London's calling and so is the need to earn some money ... hhhmmmm work. What a foreign concept. will have to get my head around that one soon.