Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Rafting trip

So I survived my two day rafting trip through the jungle.
I am so glad I decided to go. The trip was amazing. I do not have pictures to upload yet but I am working on it. Gorgeous, the whole way was just gorgeous. I mostly enjoyed the jungle canyon, waterfalls, and tropical birds flying overhead…… and the level four rapids. The guides were awesome and very good at their job. One guy fell out of our boat early on and by the time I thought “oh shit he is in the water” the guide had already jumped over all our gear and pulled him back in the boat. I went with a great group of people too, a lot of really good paddlers. One guy had been rafting all over the world and said this trip was in at least his top five. I think it moved up the ranks through out the trip though.
Our campsite for the night was a little "beach" that we had to be prepared to leave at any moment should the water level rise. I was sure we would have to pick everything up in the middle of the night and hike into the jungle because it kept raining. We did not have to though thank god. It would have been a bitch and a half to hike with all our gear.
All of the big rapids were the first day, but we still had some pretty awesome moments and ways to keep things interesting our second day. For example, sitting on the front of the raft and trying to hold on through some level three rapids. I also got to enjoy a couple of nice swims throughout the day. When the water was calm I usually just jumped off the boat and swam about till I had to be pulled in for the next rapid ride.
By the end of the second day we were all rather sore and a little sunburned.
To wrap up the trip we ate dinner at the marquis, Tena's fancy restaurant that has sloths just hanging around in the thatch work. Got to see two of them. Restaurant knows how to entertain its dinner guests.
The next day the other two volunteers and I probably should have taken the day off. Everything hurt. Great improvements today though. I can walk without pain and stairs are only a minor challenge.
Despite the recovery processing I recommend this trip for anyone who makes their way down to Ecuador. Provided of course they come during season. Next weekend is the last trip before the rain makes it too dangerous.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

my life these days

hey guys

sorry i haven't written in awhile. I am back living in Archidona and working in Tena. It takes about 40 minutes and 2 buses to get from home to work, but I enjoy the trip. My view along the way is the jungle and Andean foothills so can’t complain.

I am working in the hospital in Tena with a program called pedi-habilidad. They work with kids 0 to 12 with disabilities and illness like cerebral palsy. I help out the physical therapist when they need me and translate once in awhile. In addition to this I am going to start doing some work in the medical records area comparing charts and in general tidying things up a bit if I can. The more boring office type stuff will only be two afternoons out of the week.

I think I have formulated an idea for the final 40 page paper I have to write. Its all very up in the air right now but I would like to write a proposal for expanding the program to other rural areas in the country. We will see how this develops.

In other news I am going on a two day rafting trip this weekend. It the second to last one of the season before the rains get too unpredictable. Really excited about it, mostly for the part where we go rafting through a cave. I will be sure to write about the trip as soon as i can.

Last weekend i worked as a volunteer at a festival celebrating the Napo river. It was a great weekend. We spent Saturday at a little down about 30 min east of tena called Misahaullí. This town is FILLED with monkeys. Seriously, they were everywhere climbing trees, climbing light posts, stealing food, and going into people’s boats. I loved just hanging out and watching their crazy antics.
But i did not have too much time for this. As a volunteer we carried around rafts and set up about a dozen tents for the days activities. Two of the other volunteers and I sat a the info booth for a little awhile before deciding to join one of the teams for the rafting race. The race was held on level two rapids and at the end you had to flip over your boat and get back in before paddling to shore. It was exhausting. We won second the first round and couldn’t flip our boat back over for the second round. hahaha
I spent the night in Misahaullí hanging out and meeting some new people from all over the place. Cause I was a volunteer i got free meals and a free night at a pretty nice hostel. Good deal.
I am definitely going back to Misahaullí if only to hang out on the beach and watch the monkeys wrestle in the trees, which i guess is really all there is to do there when there is no festival going on.

so yes, my life in a nutshell right now consists of a week of routine with weekends of adventure.

oh and I must add….no snow or sub zero temps....sorry guys