Spring Break! Puyo, Tena and Cuenca

I just got back from a week of traveling through Ecuador with my friends Becky and Sarah. We wanted to see/do a variety of what Ecuador has to offer, so we decided to make it to both El Oriente (the western/Amazonian part of the country) and La Sierra (the central part of the country/Andes mountain range). So last Saturday morning, we hopped on a bus from Quito to Puyo, our first stop. It was about a six to seven hour bus ride descending from the mountains around Quito to the flatter rain forrest where Puyo is situated. In Puyo we visited a nature reserve which sits on land that just 30 years ago had suffered severe deforestation and now is a thriving beautiful rain forest. We also visited an animal rescue with 52 monkeys, birds, turtles and other animals. The rescue center consists of an empty house which the monkeys have taken over and surrounding forests where the animals are free to roam. Most of the monkeys have been rescued from animal trafficking, so they are pretty used to being around people, some very affectionate. Once we walked into the area, we were greeted by many of them, and they promptly started climbing up our legs onto our arms and heads just checking us out. They were also very playful and before we knew it, one of us would be covered with three or four monkeys. It was a really cool experience, way way better than a zoo. One of the curious monkeys even managed to grab my headband and run away without me noticing!

Sunday afternoon, we took another bus trip about two hours north to Tena another city in the Amazon. That afternoon we checked out a park which also had a lot of rescued wildlife. In the park we took a dip in one of the rivers where we saw a Tapir also taking a swim. Tapir are big black animals that look like a mix of a pig and an anteater. It was quite a sight seeing him swim around in the river, definitely didn't want to get too close. On Monday, the three of us got in touch with a small company that does river rafting in the area, in rivers that feed into the Amazon. We went on about a four hour trip, it was absolutely beautiful, we were surrounded by lush forests and we could see the peaks of the Andes in the distance. When we stopped for lunch, one of our guides even climbed up a tree to bring down some Guaba fruits. It was a really cool day, we definitely went through a couple exciting rapids, but there were also some calmer pools so we got to jump in and take a swim various times. By the end of the day, we were exhausted, which was perfect because Monday night, we took a 12 hour night bus from Tena to Cuenca!

We got into Cuenca, a cute colonial city in the southern Sierra, at about 7am on Tuesday morning and started looking around for hostals. We ended up choosing Hostal La Escalinata where we paid five dollars a night (!) for a cute room with three beds and a little balcony. It was also in the perfect location, so we were pretty pleased with our find. The next few days we explored the city which is just full of old cathedrals and colonial streets. It also has a beautiful river, Rio Tomebamba, running trough the center which was just down the hill from our place. We met a few Peruvians and Argentines and one night all went out Salsa dancing at a little place called La Mesa. We all really enjoyed Cuenca, it was a relaxing end to our trip and it was nice to stay in one city for a few days for a change.

We finally headed back to Quito on our last 10 hour bus ride Thursday night. Fun fact about the trip: we spent $26 the entire week on hostals--total! We were pretty proud when we added that up, and yet the trip definitely wasn't free : )

On Monday I start teaching, so wish me luck!