From the jungle to the coast

So scratch Mindo...we got to the bus station, and learned that there was no bus until 4am. So we just went ahead and decided to go to the jungle.....completely normal, right?

So we hopped a bus to Tena, which was about a five hour bus ride from Quito. We didn´t get there until 2:30am, went to our hostel (which we actually booked in advance on the bus, weird) and went to sleep.

We tried getting up early the next morning so that we could go find something cool to do, but early is a relative term, and we pretty much missed a lot of opportunities to do any day-long or overnight trips. But instead we found an agency that offered a trip to the jungle.....

The jungle! Who goes to the jungle? It was insane. We hopped in the back of a pick up truck(like always in Ecuador) and started driving toward the jungle. Everything around us was so beautiful, and we had to keep reminding ourselves where we were. Unfortunately our ¨reminder¨came in a different sort of fashion this time...while we were driving along...not paying attention to anything but the view. All of a sudden we hear/feel this crash....we hit a dog! And by hit I mean killed! It was the saddest thing ever...I was so upset. My friends told me not to look back, but I couldn´t help it, and I saw the little guy suffering and it was awful....pobrecito perrito.

So that was bad news, but luckily the rest of the trip compensated. We took a little motorized canoe to the jungle, put on our super cool jungle boots, and started our three hour hike through the Amazon. It was absolutely amazing. We had great guide who showed us tons of stuff about how the natives utilize almost every resource in the jungle to some capacity or another. We walked through a river, swung on vines like Tarzan, and saw some ridiculous wildlife. I´ll put up some pictures soon.

It was so incredible...such a great experience...like usual. I´m sure I will have more to add later, but for now we have to head out and get ready for the beach......what a life!

I miss you all, all the time, every day. I hope everyone´s happy and healthy. Take Care!

Love Laura Lynn