The Orient Express

Hello All,

I woke up after another glorious jungle sleep and had the pleasure of the company of those Americans for breakfast. I had to be in town by 845 to catch the bus so I ate, packed, said good-byes and hit the road. The bus ride back actually seemed to go by much more quickly. I caught a connector in El Pangui, a barren town in between other less barren (but still un-noteworthy) towns. I had to take another one of these open-air buses (which, by the way, are made specifically for oompa-loompas...ok, maybe not, but the average Ecuadorian is about a foot shorter than me so every bump in the road equated to another bump on my head).


I had about 30 minutes to mosey about town. I came across a table with an entire pig, or at least all of his parts, and the lady offered to cook any of it for me right there. Now, being a public health student and someone with the slightest bit of common sense, I kindly refused noting that it was 87 degrees out and that pig had been sitting there since this morning... next to the road... on a table...

As if this city decided hygiene was sin, I then found the baños. They were in the town square and even the stalls had no doors. So there I am at the urinal with a bunch of villagers watching! Very uncomfortable, good thing I don´t have stagefright.

The landscape again underwent significant transformations, and it was so nice to see the sun (which doesn´t seem to make many appearances here in January).

I arrived in Gualaquiza at approximately 4. It was a very cute town.

One thing that I have been doing whenever I arrive anywhere is to immediately find a map. It gives me the freedom to figure everything out without having to necessarily ask around. This town was a little trickier. I eventually from the city planner and he printed some maps for me. So helpful! He also recommended a good hotel.

The hotel was lovely and for only $8, I had a phone in my room, a hot breakfast, hot water, and a TV!!! Beyond luxury when you´re backpacking.

That night I had dinner at a place nearby. The owner and I got chatting and he said he was a guide. We agreed to meet in the morning and he was going to take me to some caves, ruins, and waterfalls.

I woke up at walked to the restaurant. I wasn´t feeling great because I was coming down with a cold, but I wasn´t going to let tat stop me from seeing the sites. There was another guy there who explained that he was going to be my guide. We drove out of town to where the path began.

Within 5 minutes of walking through weeds taller than a bus, it was clear we were lost...

He made some excuses and after an hour or so, I saw a sign pointing to the actual path and we started on our way. Now we were making some progress and before you know it, we had reached a cool waterfall and were within 5 minutes of the batcave (which had the ominous name when translated ¨Cave of Some Pain...¨)

Before we could start into the cave, the guide explained that these particular bats were biting bats! We had to cover any exposed skin in rubbing alcohol and he was going to smoke cigarettes the whole time but bats hate the smoke (and so did my congested nose and throat, by the way). It was actually really incredible sperlunking. We crawled through mud, avoided biting bats, went waist deep into guana filled water...very exciting if you´re into that sort of thing!

After about an hour, we had reached the end of the navigable cave system and had returned to the entrance for our hike to the next destination. It was pouring rain so I gave all of my things to the guide to put in his bag (camera, bottle, dictionary). We took an alternate route back, up the river and waterfalls because the guide said it would save some time. We had to traverse the river about 40 times, as it was getting progressively stronger from the rains (when I say river, it was like a fast white water rapids river). We reached the top in about an hour, but it was way too intense to go on. The river had narrowed and definitely would have hurt us really badly had we tried to jump and climb across. I am definitely not exaggerating, I was getting worried. He said we should try, and he went first as I flatly refused. When he finally realized that it was about to kill him, he gave up and came back. Now we had to hike the hour back down the river, traversing a now really angry river another 40 times. I suggested we try a land route, but we ran into a
90 degree rock wall. On the way back to the river, it was muddy and I slipped. In order to prevent myself from sliding right into the river, I grabbed a nearby tree branch. Well, on the branch was a wasps nest and they all came out after me. I was stung a couple of times but slid
to the river, got a grip on a rock and dunked myself to get them off of me. We eventually made it back to the path and up to the road a while later. I asked him to give me my things when we were close to the car. He jumbled around with his bag and then admitted he had left the camera back in the cave, where I had given it to him. I was beyond livid at this point, also tired, hungry, and sick. So I got back into town and the guide said he would go back to get my camera (by the way, I was convinced he had lost it in the river, and that the talk about leaving it in the cave
was a lie). I showered, ate lots of food, and then napped and watched a movie (by the way, there is nothing more fun than watching movies dubbed in Spanish, for example, in Austin Powers, evrytime he used a 60s term like groovy the best they could come up with was ¨sensacional¨). I talked to the guides´s friend who had arranged the whole thing and told him how terrible it was. He apologized, and had found my camera! but still demanded that I pay him. I told him he wasn´t funny and walked away, not wanting to add an assault charge to a rough day.

The next day I was looking forward to going further up the Oriente to Macas.

Love
Kent