Back in Action

Well this week did not start out so great due to a sickness that came over me for a few days. It was nothing to bad, but I was definitely feeling too ill to kayak or do much outside. I spent a lot of time reading and watched a movie at friend's house. Yesterday I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to get outside again. Unfortunately it was not looking like I was going to be able to go kayaking due to excessive rain and lack of paddling partners, so I decided to take off for the day on my own, exploring the areas outside of Tena. I started out on a bus towards the town of Santa Rosa, with the plan to get off somewhere along the way. While looking through my guidebook I came across an animal refuge called Amazoonica, which looked pretty neat. I spent most of the bus ride trying out my spanish with the bus driver and his sidekick employee. They told me it was time to get off once we arrived at the ¨Amazoonica¨ sign. I walked around a little bit trying to figure out where this place was and had no luck. There was a little house nearby and I asked the guy to help me. He pointed down a little trail which I proceeded to follow for about 30 seconds until it dead-ended straight into a river! I was extremely confused at this point and went back up to the guy in the house for more help. I asked if I needed a boat to get there and he told me that he had a boat and would take me. After about a 10 min. boat ride downriver I arrived at the refuge. It was a really interesting place, and a nice woman volunteer from Canada took me on a tour of the place. She explained that it is a refuge created for animals who have been victim to black market trading. Majority of the animals were sold to someone who eventually realized that that cute, but wild monkey does not make a very good pet afterall. The refuge consisted of lots of animals running free throughout its large jungle campus, as well as some animals that for one reason or another are not able to be in the open and have to be caged. I saw lots of cool Ecuadorian animals including lots of different monkey species, parrots, jaguarundies and many others. My favorite animal was probably the coati named Tinka that followed us around the entire tour. A coati is a rodent like creature that I am not sure sure exactly how to describe. Unfortunately I was unable to get a good picture of her. There was also a monkey that followed us around and climbed all over my guide and a little on me most of the time. My guide also showed me about a very interesting tree that can actually walk! It grows and kills off its roots in such a way that enables it to move up to a meter a year. Hard to believe but very cool. After an afternoon exploring the park I decided it was time to head on my way. I decided that I was not yet ready to head back to Tena though, and instead decided I would stop off at another town along the way. I must admit I was sort of disoriented as to exactly what road I was on. I told the bus driver that I wanted to get off at the town of Mishualli, but I was thinking that I was on the road that passed right by the town. Turns out I wasnt. They told me I had to walk 2km down the this gravel path to get there. I decided I could use the excercise and started my walk. I ended up making a friend, Cesear, along the way and we walked together. It was a good chance to practice my spanish and learn a little bit about the area. Eventually I made it to Mishualli, which is the town I spoke of before that has been overtaken by monkeys. I spent about 45 minutes observing the monkeys and their interactions with another strange creature, the tourist. It was a pretty entertaining experience. Finally I decided that it was time to go, especially because the last bus back to Tena for the evening was about to leave. After a short bus ride I was back in Tena just in time to go out to dinner for Jake's 29th birthday. This morning I got up determined to go boating. I manged to motivate a few people and we headed to the upper Tena, a nearby river with a cheap shuttle cost. It was pretty continuous class 3-4 boogie, finishing up with a couple miles of class 1-2 water. It turned out to be a beautiful day and Keta and I took in as much of it as we could. We decided to stop at a little beach along the way and go for a dip and sunbathe a bit. Another great day on the river!