oops

just got back from the most amazing weekend ever.  a bunch of us decided to head over to tena for some of their jungle excursions for the weekend.  we took off thursday afternoon (yup i skipped clinic oh well) and got back sunday night.  itinerary is as follows:

day 1: took a super long bus ride (5.5 hours) from quito to tena.  we were all a bit nervous since right before we took the bus, a random tourist came up to us and asked if we were traveling on a night bus.  according to him, it´s pretty common for a night bus to "accidentally" pick up guys who will hold us all at gunpoint.  needless to say, i was nervous every time the bus stopped at some random road to pick up more passengers (and they did that pretty frequently).  we had to stop halfway and get out the bus b-c the police were checking IDs and bags.  minus that and the loud music that was blaring in the background and the weird kungfu movie they showed, the bus ride was ok.  we arrived at tena around 9pm.

day 2: headed out of tena bright and early and headed over to the middle of the jungle.  the lodge we stayed at had an amazing view of the amazon basin.  we put on our "water proof" boots and hiked for the next 4 hours in the middle of the jungle.  the views were really beautiful.  i had to keep reminding myself that i was really trekking through the primary forest.  we came across a bat cave which was pretty neat..but definitely not so neat when i was canyoning and had bats fly right above my head.  that was a bit freaky but also kinda cool.  the canyoning was really fun...it consisted of using only my back, arms and legs to schimmy my way up two really close surfaces if that makes sense at all.  we headed back to the cabin for lunch and then trekked for another 3 hours to an indigenous village.  the kids all had ascites which was kinda sad to see, but they were really cute.

day 3: full day of rafting that included getting thrown into the water by my guide about 10 million times, but i´m proud to say that i managed to throw him out at least once haha.  highlights include capsizing our raft where everyone was thrown into the water.  we also passed by this small cave where we docked and walked around inside.  one of the guys decided it would be funny to give me a mud facial by surprise.  pics will be posted whenever i get them.  we also played futbol with the local kids which was really fun.

day 4: climbing up waterfalls! that was an amazing experience.  the scariest part was when i was crossing over to the other side of the waterfall and lost my footing.  yup, i was dangling under the pressure of the waterfall holding onto dear life, praying that my hands would be able to hold onto the rope.  if i fell, it would have been pretty bad since i had already climbed pretty high up and there was nothing but a small pool that was 2 meters deep below me...wouldnt have been able to surface that easily since the waterfall was directly over the pool...thank goodness i managed to stabilize myself with the help of our guide...although i do have some scratches and bruises on my legs.  nevertheless, i would do it again! i´ve never climbed a waterfall before, and that day i climbed three..yay! after that, trekked for another 3 hours and slid my way through muddy soil downhill and back to the cabin.

back to quito after that.  if any of you ever come out to ecuador, definitely head out to tena.  the tour i went with..amarongachi tours...has cabins in the middle of the jungle and no other tours go there, so we felt like we had the jungle all to ourselves...all in all, highly highly recommended.  i´ll post an ugly pic of my legs haha...they are both covered with about 15 sandfly and mosquito bites each and about 4 big bruises on each..my war wounds..

safe and sound back in quito after my brief stay at the coast in a little town called chone.  so one of the things that really stands out is the amazing amount of machismo that exists here..especially along the coast.  when i was in chone, there wasn{t a single time where i can leave the house without being harrassed with comments such as "chica bonita!", "chica americana!", or some other variation of chica from guys that stand in the streets.  even worse, there would be guys who were riding their bikes with their respective wife and kid, and as we walked by, their eyes would obviously follow our movements as we walked along.  arghh..soo annoying! i{m definitely glad to be back in quito and can somewhat blend back into anonymity.

i saw some really cool things in the hospitals here...some of the stuff is pretty sad..makes me appreciate our healthcare system back in the states a bit more..the lack of resources here in some of the hospitals is mind blowing.  it{s really sad to just stand by and watch helplessly at a patient when i know in the back of my head that if they were in the states, they would get the treatment they need.

on a brighter note, im taking advantage of the weekends here to travel all around ecuador.  my goal is to hit north, south, east and west of quito before i leave..would like to see a lot of ecuador this summer. 

pics to be posted soon.  hope everyones having a great summer!