Bat Caves

Somethings are obvious in life, like for example the jungle is green because it rains a lot. I figured it would rain but not terrential downpour. The people there love to do activities in the rain such as go for walks, river raft, check out medicinal plants and what not. Which is refreshing mind you but being in wet clothes for long periods of time kind of erases the novelty aspect. What they refer to as walks we call hikes and you have to wear rubber boots because you are climbing up slippery rocks (i.e. the face of a waterfall) and need these boots for traction.

My favorite hike was through canyons that were super skinny and you had to hoist yourself up putting your arms behind you, inching up to the top. On this one we walked through bat caves and tons of them fluttered over us. The picture on the right is the only one I was able to take one of these hikes because it was raining so hard. The pictures below is the view of the Amazon from the jungle lodge where I stayed and of a baby taking her afternoon nap in a hammock.


After a few days of jungle rain I took a bus to Banos which is known for its mineral baths. I considered doing taking one myself but I also considered how weird it would be to be in a giant pool of hot water with a bunch of strangers and thought against it. Banos was the place where I wanted to start my trip here in Ecuador but because of the volcano having a minor eruption the papers said the roads were closed. I am here now and everything is status quo.

Last night I went in a chifa, an open air bus, that takes you to a place where you can view the volcano at night time and hopefully see some of the lava flowing down. It was pretty cold outside and they had these hot tea drinks mixed with this weird liquor, I think derived from sugar cane. The cool thing with Banos is that all of the friends I have met here have been locals, they are super friendly with the tourists and it is great to hang out with people from the city you are hanging out in. Apart from the locals and the tourists there are a ton of military guys here, all of them about 18-19 years old and here for the purpose to help evacuate should an eruption occur. They look really bored walking up and down the streets with nothing to do so I figured I would get a picture with a few of them.



Today I took a bus to Quito where I plan to spend a few days before I go home for a week on Monday. I have had a great time but am also looking forward to connecting with my family and friends for a week before heading off to Thailand.