After reaching Tena we jumped on the back of a truck and headed to our home stay with Delphin and his family. We expected to be staying in a one-room hut with a dirt floor, but the g adventures homestay was more luxurious!! We stayed in purpose-built wooden cabins, in beds with mosquito nets, with a proper bathroom with flushing toilet! So far more civilised than we had expected!! We didn't see many Amazon animals, they are much deeper in the rainforest. But there were HEAPS of HUGE bugs - ahhh!! Especially cockroaches, huge moths, spiders and fireflies! One tarantula photo is included for Rach! So as soon as we we took our torches to go to bed, Sarah jumped in her mosquito net, preferring to sleep in fully clothed than contend with the insects!
Amazon activities included making chocolate the old fashioned way straight from freshly picked cocoa beans, canyoning up waterfalls in the jungle, a visit to the local school, and a three-hour jungle trek. We finished up with a local shaman ceremony on our final night. The family were really friendly and we got to eat a lot of traditional food and experience a lot of their culture.
A highlight for Sarah was visiting the local school. There were only ten pupils, from five to thirteen. The kids were very cute, and some were quite shy, but they taught us some Spanish, and we taught them some English.
On our last day in the Amazon, we went white water rafting from close to our homestay for four hours back to Tena. We got completely drenched, had a great lunch of the 'best chicken in Tena' and headed on the bus to Banos.
We are exhausted tonight so more on Banos tomorrow!!
Hasta luego everyone xo
oh. my. god.
ReplyDeleteIs that blood on its face?!?!?!?!
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