I survived the jungle!

It was a battle of epic proportions, but I did indeed survive the jungle! Even the crumbling, infested, most likely toxic hostel that Ecuadorian Friend and Other Friend and I staggered to, sleep deprived, at 3:00 in the morning after five hours on a bus.

I mentioned Other Friend the last time I came to Ecuador. The night that Ecuadorian Friend and I nearly got mugged, we had gone out drinking with two of his friends, one of whom was a modern hippie and the other I didn´t know very well. Ecuadorian Friend and I have spent a lot of time on this trip with that other friend, who I found out likes to listen to a lot of music.

So Ecuadorian Friend, Music Friend, and I took a bus from Quito to Tena. Tena is a city in the south of the country, from which we ventured forth into the jungle. I quickly discovered that Ecuadorian Friend had an elaborate plot to kill me and make it look like an accident.

The first thing we did on our first day in Tena was go rafting. Tena is in the province of Napo, and the Rio Napo flows right through the city. We took a truck to a spot about 45 minutes outside of Tena. This took us a good 44 minutes into the jungle.

Our rafting guide got our group (consisting of me, my two Ecuadorians, and six Russians) all situated with life jackets and helmets. Then he proceeded to explain what to do in the various circumstances that would involve you falling out of the boat. Luckily, I´ve been in dangerous boating situations before. If I had no experience, I doubt that I would have fared well at all, because as soon as the guide said, "If you fall out of the raft..." my panic sensors went off.

I managed to pay attention long enough to hear that you need to float on your back if you fall out of the raft, lest an anaconda grab your leg and pull you under and drown you. By this point, I had made it very clear to Ecuadorian Friend that if I was going in the water, I was making damn sure that he came with me.

The next step of the process was to climb down a steep, muddy, mossy, slippery hill to the water´s edge. I made sure that Musical Friend went first so that I´d have something to land on if I fell, which was more than a slight possibility, considering how graceful I am on flat ground.

Astonishingly, I actually made it to the bottom of the hill without falling. I then proceeded to slip on a rock while attempting to climb into the boat, try to catch my balance and miss (resulting in me shredding my right hand on said rock), and land on my right elbow (and crush it between the rock and my body).

So, as we began our rafting experience, I was bleeding and unable to move my right arm, which was not the best situation in the world because I needed to use both of my arms in order to paddle. I was debating going to a doctor, because my arm hurt so badly that I thought it might have been broken. But I was still able to move my fingers, so I proceeded with the rafting trip instead.

Within moments, everyone in our raft (Ecuadorian Friend, Music Friend, our rafting guide, and me) were soaked to the skin and freezing. Let me tell you, no matter how much Tena resembles an oven when it comes to heat, the Rio Napo is NOT warm.

I survived the rafting trip, although only barely. I fell out of the raft six times. Two of those tumbles occurred when the raft flipped over entirely. All of them occurred while attempting to steer through rapids. The last time I fell out, I got caught under a big wave in the rapids and got sucked underwater for a while.

The final stretch of the trip, however, went much more smoothly. My friends and I figured out how to sit and lean in order to keep the raft from flipping. By the time we were done, I was sunburnt, but not drowned. Sorry, Ecuadorian Friend. Your plan failed.

Yesterday, we went to the caves of Jumandy. This was definitely an experience worth the trouble! My friends and I emerged from the caves soaked and muddy and cramped and sore, but the adventure inside was unforgettable.

The caves have water running through them. These vary from small puddles to little creeks to giant pools to rushing rivers. We had to wade through a stream to enter the caves, and then swim across a big pool once we were inside.

Inside the caves, minerals dripped from the ceiling and there was mud everywhere. We climbed through tiny crevices and narrow tunnels to reach wide openings where we could see fossils and the river.

Near the end of the caves was a waterfall. It wasn´t very high, but the current was powerful. We got to stand under it and let the water fall over us. I got blessed by the caves.

This was definitely the trip of a lifetime! I told Ecuadorian Friend that I´d pick on him in my blog for being a wimp on the rafting trip, but really, I see no need. He took me on the most amazing adventures, and all I feel right now for him is gratitude. We didn´t even get eaten by zombies.