Adventures in the Amazon

We finally made it out to the Amazon Rain Forest last weekend!!!! Check that one off the bucket list. Needless to say, it was BEAUTIFUL!! We stayed in a little jungle lodge called Hakuna Matata just outside a small town named Tena. This was just at the edge of the Amazon so a great starting point for us as we get to know this mostly untouched part of the world. Next time we will go further in. We've heard that there are jungle lodges so deep that you have to take a small 6 seater plane to get there. Next time!

I had to get this shot of Maia sitting with our packed bags as we awaited our ride. She was NOT going to be left behind. Little did she know she would be dropped off at a very nice doggy hotel on the way out of town.
 Roadside lunch break with Kain and Graham (and cervesas)

The sign pointing to our lodge.  

We knew we were in for a great adventure when after several kms of a very rocky and difficult road we had to cross this crazy bridge that led to the really rocky road. The bridge wasn't attached at the ends, it was just suspended there.  Hopefully, you can see how much it moved in this clip:

 

 Our hotel was hammock heaven. On the left was a covered area near the pool where we spent many hours relaxing.  On the right are the hammocks outside our room.  Bliss.

 

The hotel had an AMAZING Palm Tree Shaped pool. One of the nicest pools I've ever been in and it was in the jungles of the Amazon.  Crazy!! The other photo is the view from our room.

  

We went hiking down by the river and crossed this bridge of tires. Spencer grabbed this video of my crossing:

 

 

More hiking photos

Being in the Amazon, we wanted to do a little exploring on the river, so we tried to go on the hotel's tubing adventure. We were all prepared for a relaxing American style tubing excursion floating down a calm river (hopefully with a cocktail in hand) checking out the scenery. Well, when they took us into a small shed to grab our safety gear, we started to suspect this was not going to be a relaxing ride. As is the case with everything in Ecuador, they didn't have anything to fit Spencer, but we made do:

 

After a very brief orientation with little info except that we would be riding face down in the tubes, we set off. I only made it about 30 meters down the river before I'd had enough. Evidently, the Ecuadorian version of tubing is an extreme sport with the tubes roaring down the river at crazy speed as you head face first for rock after rock! So, at the first opportunity, I said "is it like this for the whole hour? Yes? Okay, I'm done!" I left Spencer and our other friends to continue and headed back bushwacking my way to a trail and then to the lodge (barefoot because I lost my shoes shortly after we started of course!). Spencer and our other friends came back as well only a short time later having only made it another 30-40 meters before it got even MORE crazy. We're really lucky that none of us got hurt. Lesson learned, in the Amazon, all sports are extreme!

 

I can stare at these views for hours!

Overall the weekend was wonderful and a great appetizer for what I hope will be many many more adventures in the Amazon very soon!

Maia also had a fine time at her doggy hotel, we grabbed this shot when we went to pick her up.  She had her own plot of grass and a nice indoor area to sleep. All for only $12 per night.  Oh, Ecuador!