The trip down to Shell and Palora was not without its adventures and trials. Before starting the trip I got some good, solid, much-needed sleep; the only downside was that I only got about 5 hours of it. Oh well. On the drive to the bus station I saw my first "squatter". This squatter was a bit different than what you might expect though. He was on the side of the highway defecating...Adventure #1.
After riding on the bus for 5 hours we arrived in the city of Baños. Trevor and I found a public bathroom. (yeah, it is a bit ironic, huh?) It costs 10 cents to use, but the "adventure" of it was that it was NOT gender-specific; there were stalls for ladies on one side of the room and urinals for men on the other...Adventure #2.
After dropping Trevor off in the city of Shell, Wilson (a native of Ecuador who speaks only Spanish) and I continued on to Puyo and eventually Palora. To get to Palora we had to cross a river (the Pastaza river, I think), but there was no bridge big enough for cars, let alone a bus. So the bus, with all of the passengers on board drove up on a large wooden, raft-like, floating thing. I got one, not very good picture, but that was about all I could see too. After boarding the raft, we were propelled to the other side of the river...Adventure #3.
Finally, Adventure #4 was less of an adventure and more of an experience. I got to meet part of the Shuar tribe. They are no longer the headhunters that you may have read about elsewhere. In fact, they were quite civil and seemed/looked no different that one would expect from a Latin American. I am told that there are many Shuar that live farther into the jungle and are still very much removed from our modern society. It was dark by the time we got there and some of the people do not take well to having their picture taken so I decided to keep my head and not push the issue. No pictures. ;-)
The greatest trial on the trip was my lack of sleep. Wednesday night after returning from the Shuar village, I was exhausted and kept falling asleep while waiting for supper. I felt bad for my behavior to my friend Wilson and to the people who gave me a bed, not that I did anything wrong, but neither was I engaging in the conversation. I went to bed shortly after supper around 9:30pm that night. The next day I awoke feeling much more refreshed. For breakfast I was offered rice, lettuce and chicken...I bit strange, but I think that they were offering me the best that they had. I drank half a cup of Colombian coffee (my usual amount) and had a piece of bread. Walter and I then rolled up some calendars with tracks inside and passed them out; my estimate is about 250 calendars were given out in total.
After lunch we boarded a bus to return to Shell and eventually Quito, but we did not leave Palora the same way that we came in. Instead, the bus took us to a drop off point at the Pastaza river. In front of me was a 4'x6' cart connected to a 2'' cable. The cable ran from our side of the bank, across the river for at least 200 yards and found a home in a large hut on the other side. We boarded the cart which would not have passed Disney's safety standards by a long shot. I do not have the words to describe the ride; not exhilarating like a Six Flags ride, but certainly overwhelmingly Adventure #5.
Finally, my last day in Ecuador, I went to a well-known Qichua market in Otavalo.
Here is a picture of the kids sporting their new wears:
Enjoy!
Taylor
