Day 62 10.09.15
We woke up and I enjoyed a bit of the view while my roomie packed her luggage.
We headed down for breakfast and had some eggs, bread and jam. After breakfast we headed to the water where I said goodbye to the other group. They were heading on to another town in Ecuador and left me behind to fend for myself. No, just kidding, it wasn’t as bad.
For example I headed out with the canoe straight after them to enjoy a day walking around seeing waterfalls and being closer to nature.
The first stop was the Cascada de latas. The waterfall of “ladders” is called this way, as it runs over a set of stones all piled up onto each other.
The walk to the waterfall was a little adventure too though. First of all we saw another strangling fig, this time of a very impressive stature. Apparently if they have the space and enough nutrients they will grow to be very large.
We walked past several beautiful plants, for example this tree. The flowers on it aren’t actually a parasite, but belong to the tree and rank around its stem and reach out all they way to its branches.
On another tree we could see the entrance to a bees nest. They live in the trees stem and build themselves these entry passageways. We made sure to not irritate them and headed on.
I also saw this creature. There were actually 3 on the stem, but we couldn’t really pinpoint them. I think the guide said they were cicadas with some sort of fungal infection.
Everywhere you looked you could find little specs of colour, for example through these red flowers.
We saw little and larger frogs such as this one.
There was a large amount of bamboo growing along the way the yellow bamboo is a native plant to Ecuador.
We then reached a little section below the waterfall, which looked like a little slide. The sound of the flowing water was really relaxing and a great indicator for my dwindling motivation.
Moving on we saw a really hairy caterpillar, perhaps a relative to the caterpillar we had seen during our night hike.
Further up the way we saw a tree that looked very strange. It had its roots positioned quite high up off the grounds. These roots belong to a tree that doesn’t need subterranean roots but manages with roots that take up nutrients from the air. This would be a great specimen for Halloween!
We then got to the start of the ascent towards the waterfall. Walking around with my rubberboots made this quite a wobbly ordeal. I actually managed to slip and fall straight into the water. Yey me. But the cool water was a refreshing experience, even though now my trousers were covered in mud.
The fall was made worth it when we reached the waterfall. See for yourself.
While the boys went swimming and I only dipped my feet into the stream, I observed the beautiful butterflies.
I found a leaf on which the butterflies had laid their eggs. Quite a considerable amount right next to the river.
The butterflies most have been attracted to my sweaty and salty arms, and so I was a real butterfly magnet.
Their metallic colours were really beautiful.
After the waterfall we headed back down the track a little only to reach a set of natural slides. The water was sooo cold, but I somehow managed to make it.
The slide was so much fun and I am glad I managed to ignore the cold. The rocks were nearly completely smooth, and only later did I notice a small tear in my bikini bottoms.
Next to the slide a small stream brought minerals to hundreds of butterflies. I was a natural observatory for butterflies. Who needs a proper butterfly garden if you can have that?
We headed back to the start of the trail, hopped on the bus to the town and went to a local restaurant.
I had some rice with grilled chicken and red cabbage salad.
They also served fish and chicken in their leaf wrapping, grilled on the barbeque outside of the restaurant. The smell was just delicious!
I dropped off my rubber boots at the company or their “mainland” office, as there was no further need for me to protect my feet from dangerous animals along the pathway in the jungle.
While we were waiting on the town square we saw the little monkeys that were sitting and waiting in the shade. It was the same group of monkeys however; who had just about 10 minutes ago gone and attacked a nearby restaurant, scaring away the customers on their way of looking for food.
From the plaza we took a pick up taxi to the “arból grande”. The large tree, is a large ciabre tree that has a high meaning for the indigenous here. It is so large that is must be thousands of years old. Like many of these trees it has been sought after by several mills to be cut down for its wood. However the indigenous managed time and time again to save their tree.
There is even evidence where the mill started cutting some of the tree and then stopped.
The tree is connected to the spirituality of the people living around it. Their god is pacha mama, or better said, mother earth. Therefor such a large tree symbolises their connection with nature very well, and like in other cultures the ciabre especially.
There is an eerie feel to this place, just like when walking into an impressive cathedral, especially because it is that tall and wide. It takes about 40 men to fully surround this tree, that’s how wide it is and that’s how thick its roots are.
The tree is still used in spiritual ceremonies and shamans come and visit this place to be closer to nature. It got me talking to my guide about shamans and how instead of “praying” to a god, they are just the connective piece between the community and the nature. They are “selected” by going into the woods and spending several weeks in the jungle not returning to the community. Or as my guide put it, a shaman will come to the jungle, and the jungle will keep him or her in it until the person is ready and understands more about nature to then guide him or her back to their communities. A shaman will know about dangerous plants, medicinal plants, how to properly follow visions led on by hallucinogenic plants, and to bring the people closer to their spiritual selves and thereby getting rid of bad spirits.
I really like this concept. I feel it is a better way to believe in something that is there, provides and is a known force, perhaps a better alternative to believing a book and the stories that might have been altered to meet someone’s demands.
We returned to the community heading back via land where we stopped to have a look at the community’s school. It was a great way to get to see the last puzzle piece, where the community let all their gained money flow to. It is a lovely complex, with a computer lab and everything taught dually – half in Spanish, and half in Quichua. Some volunteers who come from oversees try to teach the students there English and possibly even French in order for them to give back to the community.
After the seeing the school, I talked with my guide about how it was for him to experience the change that the women undertook, seeing as he was 17 when the project started. He said the change was a gradual one, but as the men saw the positive changes that occurred they grew more accepting to the project and understood the gains that were influencing their community.
I came back to my room and decided to sit and relax in the hammock that was right in front of my room. Here I listened to an audio book, took a little nap and just enjoyed doing nothing.
It then came time for dinner where I enjoyed a lovely soup and some type of goulash with red and green peppers, a tomatoey sauce, beef, some plantain, rice and avocado.
I was being eaten up alive by the mosquitos flying around and so quickly after I headed back to my room. Later I got some company from another person staying at the lodge who was sort of spending his internship at the community, where he could work and in parallel write his master thesis on sustainable tourism. We chatted a little outside in the hammocks and when I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer said goodnight and went to bed.
