Living in a Developing Nation

Spencer found this great, if cynical, blog post about the difficulties that come along with living in a developing nation like Ecuador. I'm not a huge fan of the term "third world country" especially in relation to Ecuador, but it does describe some of the difficulties of living here very well. It isn't all adventures and beautiful scenery!

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!

Spencer had an Ecuadorian Root Canal

And he said it went great!!!

We're really exploring ALL the medical services available down here. So far so good.

Amazon Pictures coming soon!

Spencer's Big Adventure

Last week Spencer went to Quilotoa on a class trip for a 3 day adventure in the Ecuadorian countryside. It was incredibly beautiful and cool, but also a hell of a workout!

First, Quilotoa is a volcano that collapsed 800 years ago and a lake formed that is over 800 feet deep.  It is incredibly beautiful. So, Spencer and his 30 kids took a 3 hour bus ride to this magical location and hiked down the inside to the lake.  Here are a few photos:

 

 

In the photo on the right is Spencer's principal Eddie and another one of our fellow new teachers Laura.

 

 On the left is the beginning of the long trail down.  On the right is about halfway down, looking straight up.

 

Finally at the bottom!! 

The walk back up is so difficult that most people will hire a donkey for that portion of the trek. A few of the kids indulged.

After sleeping in a rural hostel that night, they set out for a hike around the rim of the volcano headed for the next hostel. 

 

Hiking the rim on some incredibly narrow, sketchy and dangerous trails. This never would have been done in an American school.

Awesome, just Awesome.

 

In the far far distance you can just see the hostel they hiked to. Up and down, up and down the whole way. Eventually passing a sign pointing back the way they came. It was about 12 kms by the end of the day.  Wow.

The hostel and some kids the next morning getting ready for the 30 + kilometer bike ride!

Here they go.

Crazy terrain. Long steep hills, UP and DOWN for nearly 20 miles!!

Some local kids in one of the towns they passed through. They were super camera shy at first until Spencer asked them if he could take a photo.  

Amazing scenery!!

Caught this great shot of a local bus, those are children hanging off the side because it's so packed. Again, never in America! I think they're in front of the line.

After a long and hard three days it was a long drive home on very windy roads with super steep sides.  He took this photo looking straight down from his window.  That is a sheer cliff with no railing or anything. Again, NEVER in America!!!

I finally saw a Doctor

Why is it that it is not until you finally concede and go through all the trouble to make a doctor's appointment that you feel better? Unfortunately, I have continued to have some swelling and discomfort in my sprained knee heading into this week. And much more unfortunately, that discomfort was causing other issues in my back and calf due to my funny walking for soooo long. So, my awesome Spanish tutor helped find me an orthopedist this week and she even too me to the appointment to help me communicate with him.

Anyway, I had a very interesting trip to see him on Thursday in the hospital, where the doctor's offices are located and payed just $18 total to see him for 15 minutes. He examined my knee and declared that the remaining swelling is normal, my knee is stable, and best of all he is confident that I did not tear my ACL or MCL.  Phew!!

He gave me a much stronger anti-inflamatory and told me to do at least 10 sessions of physical therapy and I should be fine soon.

The best news is that after only 3 days on the pills, my knee feels tons better!!!

Anyway, feeling great, I went on a really long walk with Maia yesterday and came across a new and amazing lookout so I grabbed a shot for you:

Spencer went on an amazing trip this week to a place called Quilotoa and he promises to write and post lots of photos about it soon.

Big Tree

A random photo for today. Spencer went on a long hike yesterday and stumbled upon this HUGE tree. My favorite part of the photo is the happy cow hanging in the back.

It's Like Christmas Morning

I've been unable to find some important items here so I sent along a short list with Spencer on his trip back to America. I am so excited for these few creature comforts:

We will be having tacos for dinner tonight!