After a week in the jungle, we had to get out of it.
We left in a pekepeke, at night, for Nauta where we took a cargo for Yurimaguas. We stayed two days on that boat crowded with people and hammocks, where the food is prepared in the brownish river water of the Marañón river. There were also animals that people were buying on the way, even though we think they come from illegal hunting. We met very nice people though, such as a teacher, a girl from Trujillo, a brasilian lady aware of illegal hunting but who preferred buying a baby monkey as it was in such a bad state...
Once in Yurimaguas, we took a crazy camioneta to Tarapoto. Sitting down on the edge of the vehicule, I had a pretty bad buttache.
And once in Tarapoto, we decided to go to Trujillo, in order to see the sea again, see the precolumbian ruins, and so on. The bus ride lasted 22 hours but it's more comfortable than european buses and then, we could enjoy a lot of the peruvian landscape.
Finally, once in Trujillo, we thought it'd be better to be right on the beach, so we took a super cheap taxi to Huanchaco, the day before New Year's Eve, ready to party!
To see the amazonian jungle, you have to see the national park Pacaya Samiria. But first, you have to go to Nauta, a town on the Marañón river.
We spent two nights in that charming little town, which seemed to us more genuine than Iquitos. We met quite a few people, including Alberto, a spanish missionary who told me the best places where to find shamans for San Pedro.
In the reserve, we met a guide who took us in the whole "department" of Veinte de Enero, with a driver and a cook, how classy! (We paid the price though...) We saw pink dolphins. Yes, it does exist:
Monkeys:
Caimans:
Peter took that picture of me, I find it nice :)
On the first night, we camped, and Mario, our guide, found a very dangerous snake, the jergon, and had to take it away to protect us.
We also fished and I managed to catch a small fish with a harpoon. When I saw it fight for its life, I wondered whether I should go veggie :(
The last day, we went back to the community where our guide lives. They gave us bracelets, played volleyball with us, and stuff. I could also buy a present for my twinsister, made by a teenage girl in the comunity.
Our stay in Iquitos wasn't very exciting. A very attractive city when you think that it is the biggest town in the world that is not accessible through road, but finally little interesting. Belen market is nice though.
The most interesting thing that happened to us was that Ada went briefly to the hospital and we could see how it works here. If you don't have insurance, you have to pay for everything, even needles, upfront, before being allowed to be treated. But hey, it was cheap.
The town is famous for his numerous shamans but many people try to scam you on the street: "I've just cooked the best ayahuasca in the world!"
Beside that, a guy that probably suffered psychiatric trouble was staying in our hostel. He was impossible. (He was french by the way...) I made the mistake to tell him I was gay because it usually calms people down when you're honest with them. But in his case, it was the absolute opposite and he was telling everybody that he would punch me.
But hey, we also met a very interesting person, Ivonne, a german girl creating her own self-sustaining community in the jungle. This is the address of her website but I don't think it works for now: www.reservacoapazu.de
We also saw a representation of Jesus' birth, indigenous style:
And during our last night there, we nearly got into that club:
Like what...
Careful: this is a long and boring post.
If you're looking for info on this trip, you should check this page on Follow The Road. As well as Hobo Traveller.
Day 1. To get to Peru, we had to get up early to take the boat at 7am sharp. The boat was full and we were given chairs in the middle. Actually it was better because there's often water splashing on the sides.
The trip lasted 12 hours and finished at night in Nuevo Rocafuerte, the last town on the Napo river before the peruvian border. On the boat, we also met Tatzjo, a 21-year-old guy from Holland travelling alone.
Once there we met a Peruvian, Fernando (There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando...), who took us to a hostel and offered to take us to the other side of the border the following day. Sorted!
Day 2. We woke up early, went to the migration services to get an exit stamp from Ecuador and took our boat to Peru. A picture of the border:
In 2 hours, we were in Pantoja, Peru. The visa thing was very quick. Fernando introduced us to Maryan, a Israeli travelling with his bike and desperate to leave Pantoja to join Iquitos. There was a pekepeke (tiny engine) leaving the day after but the price was way too high for us. He bargained a lot with the captain and finally decided to pay a big part of the trip and was really pushing for us to come with him, so we accepted.
The night at the hostel was nice. The kids (who greeted us with a warm "Hey gringos!") came to do some slack line with Ada and Peter. After they went to bed, we drank and slept in tents to pay less. When all the lights went off, we could see the fireflies everywhere around us, hear the animals...
Day 3. Unfortunately, some ill-intended people heard the price we got (advice: always give the original price or the group price if you're asked, not the one you got for cheaper as some people try to keep the prices high) and stole quite a lot of petrol. It delayed us but didn't prevent us from leaving.
We navigated all day long and it's only at 9.30pm we could stop to cook some food and sleep, in an empty school, lost in the forest. (...why not?!)
Day 4. Same thing: getting up early, very tired, navigating... but this time, we stopped at Santa Clotilde, the time to buy a bit of everything. Peter and I had an argument but as soon as we got back on the boat, we talked and everything was alright. That night, we stopped at a small village and slept at some hosts'. We could also use their kitchen and sleep in our hammocks.
Day 5. We didn't take a shower since Coca, we were very tired and looking forward to get back in a town. Which explains this:
The pekepeke finally stopped in Manta, where we took our first mototaxi to get to the other side of the town, where you can find the Amázonas river. There we could take a rapido (it was kind of difficult to get Maryan's bike on) and we FINALLY ARRIVED IN IQUITOS!!!
I'm currently in Peru, but before I tell you how it goes, let me tell you a few things about Ecuador...
First of all, Ecuador is a country with NOISE. All the time! You quickly get used to it though... In the streets, everyone is honking. In the restaurant, the TV screams. On the bus, salsa never stops. Here is the proof:
On buses, there are also travelling salesmen selling everything. Usually, food. They take the bus, they sell their products for a few minutes and get off to look for new customers...
The driver's assistants are here to help load the coach but also to get new passengers. They are always at the (open) door of the bus, screaming the destination.
In Ecuador, do you know how they serve coffee? Like this:
I know, it's shocking. An instant coffee you have to prepare yourself. Nestlé, moreover. Nevertheless, it's a good coffee! The ecuadorian breakfast is otherwise pretty close to the french one:
In Ecuador, there's poverty. But I've never seen homeless people. Maybe one or two but they mostly looked like ordinary men a bit drunk. I don't know how they do that, maybe it's solidarity. Nevertheless, there are many stray dogs, always looking for your affection. On the beaches of Puerto López, there are loads.
The country is going through a rather bad energy crisis. Everyday, in all the cities of the country, electricity is cut for several hours, at different times and durations. It's because of the drought that prevents power stations running.
It's nearly crazy when you think that it's a big oil producer. In Internet cafés, they warn that, at such time, se va la luz...
Ecuador is a magnificient country where you can find three kinds of landscapes: 1, the coast.
2, the mountain.
And 3, the jungle.
(And don't forget the Galapagos islands.) In a few hours you can cross the country and see completely different landscapes.
But the most important is the people, who are amazingly friendly. I remember, when we arrived in Malchingui, straight from the plane, when our fellow passengers helped us find our way, even getting the grandmother, it was great.
I have a very good memory of Ecuador and I highly recommend it.
Before going to Peru, we made some detours...
We went to Ambato to get some ingredients for a recipe for a super-repellent against evil mosquitoes but we found a tarot games. As well as the book Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza. We also watched a very funny telenovela (soap opera, there's TV everywhere here, especially in restaurants), La Rosa de Guadalupe, where a young girl had to tell her parents she was pregnant. A commercial later, her parents were marrying her to the future father, and after the following commercial, she was already giving birth! Genius! We also saw a product to stimulate the vagina with Lindsay Lohan's face on it! (My statistics are about to skyrocket!)
We then left to Coca mais but stopped in Tena, in order to be sure we could find a place to sleep. Tena is cute.
The morning after, we gathered information about the trip from Coca, Ecuador to Iquitos, Peru. We had a panic attack and rushed to take the bus to Coca, a town where many petroleros (oil workers) pass by, where everything is expensive, and not necessarily better. We didn't find that town interesting, but hey, we could feed the monkeys living by the port with peanuts!
The following day, to get ready for mosquitoes, we prepared our super-repellent and gave in to the popular belief that mosquitoes don't like vitamin B-filled blood, injecting ourselves with it into the butt several times (I'll tell you right now: it does not work). As soon as I manage to upload the pictures, I'll add them here!
We left very early the day after, to start our journey to Iquitos on boat...
Our stay in Baños was just amazing.
First of all, before going there, we went to La Libertad, where Luca and I could buy new cameras for hardly $140 each! Luca could also buy himself a guitar. On the bus to Baños, I think I had food poisoning and I had to retain myself for most of the travel, until we found a traffic jam and I could relieve ALL my sphincters. I only had 5 minutes to do that though.
Once in Baños, we rested and the day after, we started with renting cuadrones to check out the top of Tungurahua, the volcano over the city. Unfortunately, there were too many clouds, but we could still take very nice pictures anyway!
The day after, we went swing jumping. It-s some kind of bungee jumping except that you're supposed to flip around the bridge or something! The bridge was about 60 meters above the ground and the rope was about 30 meter-long (we are not sure, agencies were giving different information, going up to 100 meters, probably to get us). Peter's jump, perfect:
Ada's jump, clean:
My jump, fucked up:
Then we took bikes to do the road of the waterfalls but I hate biking so I took a bus to go home, while the others went on.
The day after, we quickly checked out the parade for the Baños festivities and we went out.
The following day, we went canyoning (sort of) and we did some canopy in the forest. Peter made a video of the canopy thing, 300 meters above the ground...
We kept going with rafting, with a crazy guy who enjoyed simulating accidents. It was fun:
That very night, we went to the karaoke. Luca sang Yesterday, I sang I Want To Break Free and we finished with a duet on You're Beautiful. We didn't meet great success but at least we tried. The thing is that Ecuadorians take karaoke very seriously.
The last day, we walked in the forest to see other waterfalls. They were quite disappointing, but the mosquitoes though, were totally not!
We went home in a camioneta full of young Ecuadorians with whom we sang, Luca on the guitar, it was very nice...
Update: OK, let me repost this!
OK, I was supposed to talk about Montañita and stuff but I can't resist the temptation to show you this:
I didn't like Montañita. But I learnt a lot.
Montañita is a place where many surfers and tourists in general go for the beach. The thing is that the whole town is based on that and you can't find anything traditional or genuine. The other thing is that the gringos own everything, so all the money spent in Montañita goes right in their pockets. Even the youngsters selling bracelets on the streets are gringos. And the divide between the tourists and the locals is stunning. As soon as you wander away from the hostels, you discover a low quality life, crumbling buildings... Besides, everything is expensive in Montañita.
We spent most of the time on the beach. I read a lot (The ending of "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende is very nice), Ada, Peter and Luca were doing slack line (it attracted all the children on the beach), and stuff. We went out quite a lot and we had fun, even though the clubs in Montañita play over-formatted music. The Saturday night, we all went out in one of the two clubs open, and we realised that for the tourists, the entrance was free, but the locals had to pay! In the other club, it was even worse, they were not allowed at all! With all the usual apologies: "It's full, bla bla bla.", although we could easily get in. It really shocked me to see that. Somehow, it reminded me of the situation in France, where, if your skin is a bit too dark, you don't get in. The gringos stay among the gringos. It disgusted us and we quickly left.
The last day, Luca and I went walking around aimlessly. We saw the wild landscape surrounding Montañita, the town from high, the nearby village, Manglaralto (which we had already checked out with Ada) and then we came back by the beach. There we found Ada and Peter speaking with nice Columbian people and trying to save baby turtles.
As soon as I manage to get the pictures, I'll upload them :)
Ada, Peter and I left the Rhiannon community and we took a fourth mate with us: Luca, a Briton with italian roots.
Then we visited Quito quickly (3 days). The first night we went, with Cheryl, Lily and Anna, met in Rhiannon, to have a drink in the Mariscal (the "trendy" area) although we wanted to go to a bar who represented more the alternative scene but it was closed. We saw the cathedral, the vivarium (we touched a boa!! but we didn't take pictures, rubbish), a gay bar (very low-profile... and they listen to Lara Fabian in spanish), and so on. We stayed in a cheap hostel, Hostal Sucre, on San Francisco square, where we met nice and crazy people. Oh, video!
We decided to go to Montañita but the way was long (10 hours) and there was some shit happening with the bus so we had to stop at Puerto López. In the end, we liked the place and we stayed there for a week. We could visit Salango island where we did some snorkeling (oh, all the little fishes in the sea!) and I wanted to test my waterproof camera and it was a bad idea because it wasn't that waterproof and it just died. 200 pounds up my arse after 3 weeks, it hurts. But hey, I managed to take that nice picture:
Our hosts, Solanda and Victor, were very nice and she cooked really well. I recommend their small hostel, very comfortable and cheap, the "Dannita". We also went for a bit in Montañita, to check it out, then we visited national parc Manchalilla: we saw iguanas, bathed in a small lagoon full of sulphur (boiled egg perfume) and at night, we slept under the stars on an amazing beach (although it's forbidden, but we left before the guards started working again, hee!!).
Yesterday, we spent the day on a nudist beach (we were the only ones, so it was nudist!) and then we left for Montañita.
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