Ecuador: Day 12

Day 12:
Breakfast was at 7:30 and our tour was at 8:00 so I had the hotel knock on my door at 7:00 to wake me up. That never happened. Instead I was woken up by mom wondering if I was coming to breakfast at 7:30. I made it to breakfast a couple minutes later, grumpy, but awake. We had fruit salad, eggs and a roll along with a juice called Tomato of the tree. Now I've liked every fruit I've tried in Ecuador, except this one. It tastes like tomato but more bitter and a bit fruity. It was interesting to say the least. Next we went to get some boots and rain ponchos then all piled into the van and set off. It was amazing looking out the windows of the car and seeing the Amazon all around us! All the wonderful trees and shades of green. We drove along for maybe thirty minutes the whole time I was lost in the beauty around me.
Suddenly we came upon people doing construction in the middle of the road. They were digging a large ditch to put drainage tubing into the ground. We were stuck. The workers said it would be one hour until they would be done. So we waited in the vain, mom chatting with the tour guide and Greg and Howard talking amongst themselves. I went to get my camera out of my bag and found that for some unknown reason, it had stopped working. After maybe 45 minutes they still weren't done. By now other cars had built up on both sides of the street. Someone went to ask the people how long and again they said "one hour."
So we decided to get out and walk, hoping that our van would catch up with us as soon as the road work was done. Our guide was very perceptive and had an eye for seeing things. He stopped us and said "look a blue morpho." Now the blue morpho is a butterfly that I never thought I'd see in my life. Its famous and supposidly very rare. There is actually a great film about his butterfly called "The Blue Butterfly". We all looked to where he pointed, but didn't see a thing except branches and leaves. After a minute or two I finally saw it. What looked like a brown leaf with a spot on it like an eye. The butterfly had its wings closed and thus we couldn't see the blue. It was still amazing just knowing that we actually saw one of these wonderful creatures.
We continued on and soon came to a fish farm. There were all these square ponds in the grass. The water was clouded so we couldn't see the fish but you could see shapes moving. There, Talapia fish were raised along with some other, very large fish. The large fish we kept in this big pond. A tour bus load of teenagers were at the pond. They had little fish they were throwing in to try and get the big fish to come to the surface. We never saw the whole fish, just a little of it and let me tell you, it was big. Really big. Border lying on huge. It was like a serpent rippling in the water. Soon the kids started stabbing the little fish on wooden sticks to try and lore the large fish out. I must say this upset me quite a bit. They would impale the fish sometimes while they were still alive and seeing them twitch was not a happy sight. I am very much against animal cruelty and this was very upsetting so I turned away from the scene. One of the teenagers had a "fish-stick" that he held out over the water, sticking the fish slightly under the water. All of a sudden something huge chomped down on the fish and stick, causing everyone to scream and the kid to almost fall in the water.
We continued walking. Patricio, our guide, showed us a type of palm tree that is used to make what are called "Panama Hats." He pulled some of the new leaves off the plant and showed us how to make a woven headband. It was difficult at first but I was soon weaving away. The headbands turned out really nice in my opinion. I wore mine the rest of the day.
Next he showed us a cocoa tree with one of the "fruits" on it. It was really wild looking with reddish pink and brown stripes. There was also this fruit which Patricio cracked open showing us the white seeds. He rubbed the seeds with his finger and they turned bright red. He said this was a dye used mostly for food. He proceeded to paint lines on our faces. We must have looked very odd with our face paint, headbands and yellow or blue rain ponchos.
We continued on our walk. It was so nice feeling like we were away from all the towns and media of the world. Just in the trees in the middle of nowhere. It grew very warm and we were able to take off our ponchos which was nice. We came upon a termite nest and our guide placed his hand upon it and then showed us all the little bugs crawling on his hand. He than rubbed his hands together and all over his arms crushing the little bugs. Once he was done, the bugs were gone and all that was left was this interesting smell like ceader-wood. He said the wax from the bugs is a natural insect replant. Mom loved the smell and hoped we come across anther nest so she could try it. We walked on, enjoying the sights, and soon met up with the van. We drove on for a little while and then parked on the side of the road. We walked into the jungle, following Patricio. I really felt like I was in the rain forest now. There were streams with big mossy logs over them that served as bridges. We came to a clearing with all these wooden houses raised above the ground. We stopped there, put our backpacks in one of the huts and headed over to the bank of the river. Although it is not the Amazon river, it still looks rather like it. Maybe smaller, but with that same feel. We got into a wooden canoe and sat on little seats of wood. It began to rain so we had to wear our ponchos. It was amazing to be on the river. It made me feel as though I was back on my eighth grade rafting trip and it made me realize how much I love rafting. This was much calmer of course with little to no rapids, but it was extremely wonderful. Seeing all the types of plants and trees on either side of us. It was so calming and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The man who was rowing for us was extremely good as dodging the rocks which stuck up at intervals. I was sad to leave the boat once we'd reached our destination. We met the van and they drove up a little ways to this little hotel. It seemed like an extremely nice place. It had a little pool with all types of plants and fruits and it looked out over the Amazon and the river. It was a stunning sight. (I have a picture, but I cannot upload it yet, I'll publish it as soon as I can.) It was amazing. We watched around the gardens a bit, Patricio pointing out all types of bugs, including these awesome spiders.
We got back in the van and drove back to the little village of huts for lunch. It had cleared up and was now actually sunny which was nice. For lunch I had chicken, rice yucca and a bit of salad. Basically the same thing as the night before, but it was better here. Mom, Greg and Howard had fish. We even had the caned peach again.
We found out that this was a sort of hotel and you could stay in these little houses overnight. I thought it sounded fun but mom and Greg didn't think so, they were more skeptical then I. There were these two dogs, one old and losing fur, the other a little adorable puppy. They would sit under the table and hope for food. They were quite cute especially the puppy!
After lunch we got into the van and drove a couple minutes to a village that looked a bit like the one we'd just left. We grabbed our packs and followed Patricio across and bridge and into the jungle.
Everything was just gorgeous. The velvety green moss that clung to the trees, the canopy of leaves above our heads, the scent of freshness all around, everything. Patricio showed us many things in the forest. Different saps including "Dragons blood" which is red and thick and hence the name. We saw many types of medicinal plants that the indigenous people used to use and still do today. We also saw some neat creatures along our journey. Although no monkeys, which I was hoping to see, we did see cutter ants which were really neat. It was just like in "Bugs Life" and "The Ant Bully" seeing the ants carrying their pieces of leaf, usually more than twice as big as them. There were also some bigger ants that clung unto our shoes and wouldn't let go. They were a bit freaky actually. At one point, Patricio picked up a gray blue rock by the river bank, got it wet and began to rub it. It began to take on the texture of clay. He covered our faces with this blue gray clay because he said it was good for our skin.
After a long, yet very enjoyable walk threw the jungle, we came to a wooden bridge over a creek that made me feel like I was in an adventure movie. Across the bridge we could see an amazing waterfall. It was huge and so calming. Unfortunately, the group of annoying (fish stabbing) teenagers arrived there at about the same time and all went into the lake at the foot of the waterfall. It wasn't so calm anymore, but it was still lovely to watch the waterfall. We saw some people who had made rain hats out of giant leaves. It was funny and very practical. Greg and Howard changed behind a rock into their bathing suits and went into the freezing cold water, but mom and I decided not to. Instead we washed our faces in the river. My skin felt so smooth and soft afterward, I guess the clay was good for the skin. We stayed at the waterfall for maybe half an hour and then began our journey back through the forest. We saw a tree frog on a rock, which was neat. We couldn't touch him because Patricio said he was probably poisonous, but it was nice to look at him up close. We also saw a stick bug!
The journey back felt much shorter for some reason, but it was still nice. Greg had fun drumming on the hollow roots of a tree. It was very loud and made a good drum.
Once we emerged from the jungle we got back into the van and drove to a bridge that lead to a village of indigenous people. The village was small, with several huts and a school building. In one of the huts was a little "store" where the people sold jewelry and other handmade goods. I bought myself two bracelets.
Upon returning to El Pigual, mom, Greg and I headed over to the "sauna" to relax a bit. It wasn't quite what we were hoping for. The steam rooms light was out, the jacuzzi had no water and there was no towels, but it was still nice to lie down in the sauna.
We headed over to dinner, only to be informed that we were having beef, which mom, Greg, and I don't eat. Howard got a bit angry because they wouldn't give us another option of what to eat, so he went to talk to the manager. In the end, we ended up having salad and Greg ordered fish off the menu. I thought the whole thing was a bit unnecessary, but then again, maybe not.
I headed back to my room, read a bit and fell asleep. It was an amazing day.