Amazon Adventure: Tena

Last weekend John, some of the participants that were still i Quito, and I went to the "doorway of the Amazon forest" aka Tena. We hopped on a 5 hour bus ride from the South terminal in Quito to Tena. The ride was really pretty with huge, high waterfalls and views down into the valleys. I thought the driver was driving a little out of control down the curvy mountain roads... but we made it there safely so I guess he knew what he was doing. In Tena we searched for the perfect hostel. We eventually settled on one with the very cliche name "A welcomed break" (and yes it was in English). It was neat though and had hammocks and bunk beds. Plus it was only $7/person a night.

After securing the hostel room we went looking for lunch. We wanted to go to a vegetarian place that was mentioned in the tour book but it was closed. The boys of the group ended up at a pizza place where they each got a medium pizza. John and I went to a traditional almuerzo place and had a pretty decent lunch. After we were full we decided to make our way to the Amazonia park that was on a little island in the middle of two rivers. Again according to the trusty guide book there was supposed to be a bridge to the island. After searching for a few minutes we determined that the bridge had been demolished and we had to take a canoe across. Fun. The park turned out to be pretty neat. We saw a few different animals (all in cages) that ranged from snakes to porcupines and turtles to (my favorite) the capybara. ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size)! We also saw small monkeys that were not in cages. We tossed them oranges and they caught them. Also, we learned that the monkeys have really bad tempers. When we took away the oranges they would hop up and down in the tree and shake the leaves violently.

Then we climbed a super shaky lookout tower and eventually ended up down by the river. John was brave and got in the river but I just walked along the shore. To get back across to the main land we took a taribita (wire basket that is person propelled by a rope and two pulleys). Poor John got massive blisters from hauling my butt across the river. When it got dark we wandered in to town where a dance competition was going on. It was actually quite disturbing because young girls were provocatively dancing on the stage while grown men watched. We had a beer at a restaurant that faced the back of the stage... so we didnt really see anything, we just heard the men cheering. Gross. We wanted to find a quieter place to hang out so we went down by the river. Around 10 everyone wanted to head back to the hotel...
   John was up bright and early the next day. We waited around in the hammocks until the rest of the group woke up. We had breakfast at the Tortuga cafe. They had traditional breakfasts and pancakes and things like that too. We didn't really know what to do after that so we headed down to the beach again. This time we found sand at the river (not rocks). The boys went swimming and had turns throwing small rocks at a large rock on the opposite side of the river (fun!). We tried to take the 1pm bus home but it was full and we got stuck on the 1:50 bus. On the ride home I had just fallen asleep when the bus stopped. I heard some Spanish being spoken at the front but I ignored it until John told me that it was a police and we had to get off of the bus. I guess that they chose our bus to randomly search for drugs and stuff like that. I am just glad that I decided to bring a copy of my passport... usually I dont (bad habit... I already know). The check took about 30 minutes and then we were off again.

We arrived back in Quito just around when it was starting to get dark. John walked the participants home and I walked home by myself.
   All in all, Tena is a really neat spot to visit and I would actually consider going back there with John one day. More pictures on my facebook page : )


Interesting fact: Tena is the kayaking capital of Ecuador (and possibly of South America). People from all over the world come to take on the challenge of the whitewater rivers here. From Tena you can access 7 different rivers  and 12 other river sections. You can have a relaxed journey on a Class II section or an expert adventure on a class V sectiion. We did not get the opportunity this time to try any of our mad skills (and by skills...  I mean lack there of)

Con nuestra labor...

We haven't gotten bored with writing on the blog.  We have just been very busy these past few weeks.  From June 20th to 22nd, our university hosted a tropical disease convention.  Roughly 500 people from different nations attended.  There were many presentations from doctors and students.  Amber was in charge of keeping track of who paid, who showed up, and who gets refunds.  She's still working on this 4 weeks later.   She also checked people in during the convention.  I was part of the audiovisual staff, and was in charge of one of the presentation rooms.  I basically set up the PowerPoint for the presenter and configured the meeting sharing program, so people in other countries could present to us.  I also had to give a 12 minute presentation about the work I'm doing with GIS and Chagas disease.  We usually worked about 10-12 hours during this convention.  The Sunday after the convention I took one of the students up Rucu Pichincha, the mountain overlooking Quito.  After, we ate salchipapas, which are french fries and cut up hot dogs.  I believe here is where I got my first food sickness in Ecuador.  I think I ate some bad mayonnaise or ketchup on my french fries.  I had a really bad stomach ache and fever for a day and so did the student I went climbing with.

One of the SNEM men fumigating a house. 

 The next week, students from Ohio University and other American universities started trickling in.  They were here for the summer program that the Tropical Disease Institute hosts every year, the same program Amber and I did 5 years ago.  On June 26 Amber went with a group of kids to the International Research Training Course in Cuenca, Ecuador. There she stayed at a hacienda in the county that had 65 horses. She basically helped to keep things organized and ran around when people needed something. At the end of the course she was able to take a horseback ride with some other students from the group. For the final night the group moved from the hacienda to a local hot springs hotel. Then the whole group moved to the city of Cariamanga to start the program.

Map I made of Chaquizca

   On June 30th the full program began and everybody(except for the people from Cuenca) took the 12-14 hour ride from Quito south to Cariamanga.  The first day involved an orientation for the students and a rough schedule of events.  The next two weeks followed more or less this pattern.  We would get up at 5:30, get dressed and meet everybody in our hotel for a quick meeting at 5:50 to see who was going where and in what vehicle.  I was in charge of making sure everyone had a two-way radio, so during this meeting, I would be running around handing out radios.  At 6:00, we would leave for the rural communities.  When we got to the communities, we would eat breakfast.  Our options were usually rice, chicken, eggs and juice, or if you wanted to be hungry one hour later, there was cereal and milk.  We then went to work.  There were 3 different groups that had their own job.  One group was the Clinic.  They went to a community and did physicals and various medical tests on the community members.  They also did eye exams and gave glasses to people who needed them.   The Entomology group went to a community and conducted home searches for the chinchorro bug (Chagas vector), filled out housing surveys, and fumigated the home.  The groups consisted of 2 SNEM (Servicio Nacional de Erradicación de Malaria) men and 2-3 students.  The third group was the Mammals group.  Their job was to go into the woods near the communities and place traps to catch live animals, which they would later test to see if they had Chagas disease.  This was the group that Amber was in for the two weeks.  There was another group called the Healthy Living, and they got to the communities a few weeks before us.  They were focused on community development.  I bounced around between Entomology and Mammals and some days I was by myself.  I was asked to make maps of 3 communities which contained photos of each home in the community.  These were then shown at the community open house at the end of the two weeks.  Most of our days in the field ended around 5:30pm, for Amber sometimes 8:30.  We would usually have more work back at the hotel, so really the day ended around 9:00 or later. 

Amber holding one of the animal traps

  While out in the field, we saw some things we don't get to see in Quito.  At one house, I got to see the panela making process.  I'm beginning to think that panela is more of a cheap, easy-to-make sweetener, than simply a sugar candy.  

The press they use to squeeze the juice from sugar cane.  The wood crank at the top is pulled by people or donkeys

The juice while it's boiling

The panela right before it is poured into the molds. It is like a very runny and hot taffy at this point.

On our last day in Cariamanga, we got to climb the small mountain that overlooks the town.  I have been up it before, but it was Amber and the students' first time.  Then it was time to go home.  13 hours later, we were back in Quito.  

Cerro Ahuaca, the mountain Amber and I climbed

 Interesting Fact:  A very common decorative tree in Ecuador is the elderberry tree.  Amber and I walk past at least a hundred along the road on our way to work and they line many of the sidewalks in Quito.  I've also seen them in people's yards and in the park. Strangely, I don't think they use the berries for anything.  I have never seen any kind of jam or pie or dessert that uses them.  I ate one off the tree to be sure that's what they were, and it tasted like one, and I didn't get sick.

Us on the mountain