Molly & Bill's Visit

As some of you may or may not know my sister Molly and her husband, Bill, came to visit me a couple of weeks back and we had a great time. Here is a little summary of our adventures!

After a long flight to Quito and then a short flight to Loja (which is worth its weight in gold by the way) Molly and Bill finally made it! Unfortunately due to flight schedules and vacation policies we only had a short period of time so we decided to cram as much into their stay as possible.

On Sunday morning they got into Loja and we took the 2 hr car ride back to my site, a ride that enabled me to point out the route of my 25 mile walk which they were very impressed with. Once we got back to my house, we walked around my site and I was able to show them all of the projects I had been working on the past couple of months and I had also arranged to have a meal sharing session with my host family where we made a typical “American” dish, aka pizza and they made the typical Ecuadorian dish, aka mountain of rice with chicken. I think Molly and Bill had a great time with my host family though, everyone was laughing and cracking jokes (mostly at my expense) and I think it was fun for all. But the fun didn’t stop there, because after our lunch I was going to be debuting my soccer talents for the people of San Pedro and Molly and Bill were going to be there to witness it! Well let’s just say that it wasn’t all that great a showing seeing as they didn’t even get a chance to watch me play. As the story goes, I had to leave lunch early and run up to the game with my host brother because it was starting and Molly, Bill and Katie (my girlfriend) all finished lunch with my host family. The sad thing was that I was able to start the game and play my heart out for about 15 minutes, but unfortunately, due to my lack of talent, I was switched out immediately after a new team member showed up. Molly and Bill then came a little bit later and thus never even got to see me play…tear…

After spending the night consoling me on my soccer inadequacies, the next day Molly, Bill and I decided to scale one of Vilcabamba’s best tourist attractions, Mount Mandango, aka the sketchiest hike ever! This Mandango trail starts out with a quick summit to the top, where there are great views of both Vilcabamba and of the mountain ranges in southern Ecuador. Then as you start to walk along the ridgeline the trail progressively gets thinner and thinner until there is one section that is so thin we were all more comfortable going down on our butts versus our feet. But, after braving these couple of parts you get to walk along the ridgelines of the mountains for a while and are surrounded by nothing but beautiful views. Our descent was filled with spider webs and fighting off crazed dogs with rock but we finally made it home ok. Once home, Molly and Bill got enjoy true campo living by each taking a cold shower and then, after meeting up with Katie again, we headed for dinner at the famed Izshkaluma Hostel nestled in the hillsides overlooking Vilcabamba.

That next morning Molly, Bill and I headed back to Loja’s airport to catch the 45 min plane trip to Quito (again worth its weight in gold vs. the 14 hr bus ride). Unfortunately we did have to brave the Ecuadorian bus system for our next leg of the journey and caught a 5 hr bus for Tena, Ecuador. I figured bouncing around in an old beat up bus that stopped every 5 minutes to pick up someone new would give them a good feel for the Ecuadorian way of life and would enable them to get a glimpse of the beautiful Ecuadorian countryside.

We arrived in Tena late in the afternoon on Tuesday and paid the $8 cab fare for the 10 minute ride to our hostel (in comparison to the $5 bus fare for a 5 hr ride). We were staying at the Cotococha resort where we definitely were living the good life! They had a fire pit, 4 course meals and these beautiful huts that came complete with hot water (yesss!!!) and oil lamps for when the sun went down. The resort was really unexpectedly nice and to top it all off they basically had our whole stay planned out for us.

Our first day, after breakfast, we did a beautiful 3 hr hike to a waterfall. Along the way our guide would stop to tell us all about the different plant and animal life as well as the history of the people in the jungle. This hike was a little strenuous and that, along with the humid jungle climate, made us welcome the idea of tubing down the Rio Napo, back to our hostel!
After lunch, we then headed out to jungle on the other side of our hostel and went for another nature hike, away from the river. About 5 minutes into our walk, our guide decided that if we were going to explore the Ecuadorian jungle that we needed to look the part. Therefore he made each of us our own authentic headdresses and even painted Molly’s face like the queen of the village! Now dressed as village people/super tourists (with our cameras and our LL Bean Cargo pants) we headed into the Jungle. Again our guide showed us the huge array of plant and insect life, explaining how they all live together in harmony. At the end of the loop we had the chance to do a Tarzan style vine swing! The whole ordeal didn’t seem to scary so I grabbed the vine, swung off the ledge and immediately found myself to be 30 feet off of the jungle floor! An experience definitely not intended for those folks who are a little scared of heights.

The next morning we all boarded a canoe and headed south down the Rio Napo to an animal sanctuary right on the river. Here we were able to see all the different kinds of monkeys, birds, turtles and other organisms that were either saved due to the threat of poachers or because of the population was impeding on their habitat. Packed full of visitors, this organization was run solely by volunteers who were very knowledgeable on all of the different animals being protected by the sanctuary.

After the animal refuge we had a little bit of free time to swim in the Rio Napo and try our hands at a rope swing on the other side of the river. After braving the swim back across the river, our hostel prepared a picnic lunch for us where we feasted on pasta salad as the bugs feasted on us!
After almost being utterly consumed by the bugs on the side of the river, we hopped back in our canoe and started the 3 hr trip back up the river. On the way back we stopped by a small indigenous village to experience a little bit of their culture. Our first presentation was learning how they made their pottery. Crafted from clay they found in the river, the women molded this pottery by hand, fired it in a makeshift kiln and then smoothed it using rocks. It was very interesting to see they techniques they used and the small pieces of pottery were beautiful. After our “pottery class” we headed over to another little hut where a woman was mashing and boiling yucca to make the famous drink “chicha.” The ingredients for this drink are primarily just fermented yucca with some water and sugar. In the past they used to make it with human spit but they finally realized that using the spit is what was making everyone in their communities sick. Anyway Bill and I sampled the chicha and it wasn’t too bad, if you like drinking paint thinner. For our third and final presentation we got to learn about and how to use blow dart tubes and I have to say that I think Molly was the only one of us who was able to hit the target. The rest of the afternoon we spent enjoying the beautiful scenery on our canoe ride back up the Rio Napo to our hostel.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and Molly, Bill and I had to leave Friday morning and brave the 5 hr bus back to Quito. Once there, we walked around the downtown bar and restaurant area known as the Mariscal, where Molly and Bill enjoyed one last meal of typical Ecuadorian cuisine. The next morning we woke up early and headed to the airport where I was able to see Molly and Bill off. Our entire trip was a blast and it was great to do it with two people who are very adventurous and pretty much can have a good time doing anything, I hope they come back!