I am in absolute awe! Everywhere I look there’s something new and fascinating. Let me back up. I was picked up bright and early by our naturalist guide Roberto and was quickly joined by the rest of our group. There are only 4 of us! There’s another solo woman traveler named Jen from San Diego and a sweet couple front the UK called Louise and Shane. So far we’re all getting along and as usual, these people are so similar to me – a bit crazy with a lot of great stories to tell.

We were to drive from Quito to another Ecuadorian tourist town called Banos and then from there to another town called Shell where our Cessna would be waiting to take us into the jungle. We were on the Pan American highway and would go through an area first called the avenue of the volcanoes. After that it would be referred to as the avenue of the waterfalls.

Roberto is awesome! From the get-go he told us history and news about the country and also about our tour. As I said in an earlier post, there’s an active volcano called Cotopaxi that sits outside Quito. Apparently when and if it erupts it won’t affect Quito but will displace 250k people from its surrounding towns. Well, currently this volcano is spitting ashes… and we got to see that! I’ve never seen a volcano in any stage of eruption so that was a pretty amazing way to start the trip. We were told, however, that we really don’t want it to get more active because of the devastating effect it would have on thaw people and ecosystem. The last eruption of Cotopaxi was in 1905 and simply covered the towns below. Apparently there’s an area where you can see the original top of a tower of a church from that long ago.

On we went for a brief stop in Saucedo which is a town known for its ice cream. So I had ice cream for breakfast. Why not, right? Then we were onto Banos where we’d stop for the last time before the jungle. Banos is known as an adventure seekers paradise. Right up my alley! It’s situated in the cloud forest so there are points where it looks like the clouds are on the same level as the people. People go there to mountain bike, hike, rock climb, raft, zip line… you name it. And it was a sweet, charming little town.

On we went through the mountains onto the town called Shell which was named that because of all of the oil money used to develop the town.

It’s here where we encountered the tiny little 4-seater Cessna that would fly us into the jungle. This was so freakin’ cool! Loud and hot and slightly scary. Off we went through the clouds. My stomach jumped just a few times but I wasn’t too afraid. Our pilot seemed to know how to fly through the clouds that I couldn’t see past. As we flew the terrain got greener and thicker and even more lush. Finally – just as it started raining – we landed so softly(!) on a strip of grass in the middle of the jungle. The Huaorani were there to greet us! There were mostly teenagers there and a few of them carrying children of their own. They seemed shy and didn’t say much and didn’t seem to want to make eye contact but Roberto says that’s just because they’re shy.

This was my first impression of the jungle. It’s wet and humid and oh so green. We went for a short walk to the Shiripuno river where we got into the dugout canoe that would take us to the lodge. A dugout canoe is made entirely from one very large tree. The Huaorani’s use natural power to navigate the rivers – for the most part. They would be “polling” us down the river. That’s exactly what you think it would be. Young, strong Huaorani men sticking lone poles made of bamboo into the soil beneath the river to get leverage to propel us forward. This is a physical, hard-working, strong tribe!

You’re immediately struck by the peacefulness of this place. It’s so quiet except for the sounds of birds and insects that our tribal guide, Uweme, knows inside and out.

We arrived to the lodge to a lovely lunch served to us by a local Huaorani teenager named Angelica. We chatted some more and were shown our cabins for a siesta. I have my own cabin! It is 4 walls, one of which is covered only by a screen. There’s a sweet little porch with a hammock that looks over trees and the river. I couldn’t be happier. Although I do now see why the documents reminded you not to be afraid to get dirty and smelly. I’m already there!

Throughout our trip Roberto has slowly been telling us about the tribe we’ll live with for 5 days. They were and are known as the savages of the jungle. They’re hunters and were very resistant to any outside influence into their way of life. In fact, in the 1950’s a group of 5 missionaries tried to come to their land in peace to help. They were all killed by spears on the spot. Then 2 doctors tried to make contact. The female doctor had over 50 spear wounds and the male had over 60 when they found their bodies. The tribe, we’re told, will fiercely protect what they love at all costs. But they’ve realized the benefits of their Eco lodge in the jungle and have come to rely on it. Roberto says they’re also the friendliest people you ever meet if you don’t disrupt their way of life.

I’m off for a quick siesta before we go on our first night hike. Our only warning, “ciudad” snakes 😊