Back to Tena

During morning classes it started to rain.

During lunch it began to pour. And thunder.

And I couldn't stop thinking of being on a great big river in a metal boat in the middle of a thunderstorm. I wasn't happy and neither was Hannele, so neither were our professors.

Amazingly, it all stopped five minutes before we were scheduled to leave! So we had a very pleasant boat ride back to Los Ríos. We scrambled back up the slope, and realized that the bus to Tena had left.... five minutes ago.

Surprisingly, another showed up ten minutes later, so we were off. This bus driver was in a hurry and we made it to Tena in just two hours. I don't want to know.

There, we bought our tickets for Saturday (Hannele was going to take a scenic drive back to Quito, and I was going on to Puyo to meet the end of the women's workshop) and said goodbye to our professors. Hannele was headed to the Galápagos Islands on Sunday, so might not see them again, but I would see them both in Quito on Monday, back at Yanapuma.

Hannele and I made a drugstore run (more repellent!) and a stop at the internet cafe. We then had dinner with someone she'd met at Cotopaxi, an Englishman who was bicycling across Ecuador and happened to be in Tena that day too. I had a very early bus (6AM), so it was an early night. However, I'll leave this post with a few observations from the rainforest, for when you plan your trip there:

✷ Jeans are hot in the jungle.
✷ Lightweight, long-sleeve t-shirts and lightweight long pants are essential.
✷ Boots. Absolutely.
✷ More repellent! Sprays, wipes, lotions, more! And anti-itch sticks too. (I did have that with me.) (And honestly, I only had about two dozen bites from the five days -- amazingly good, especially for me.)
✷ EVERYTHING in plastic. I was good about this too, but missed a few things.... Ants can get everywhere.
✷ Flashlights and hats are necessary.
✷ Be prepared for some of the most intense and amazing experiences.

Somehow, nature is brighter there -- the colors and hues are richer, more saturated. Maybe it's the sunlight. Maybe it's the canopy. Maybe it's just the newness and novelty of the experience. But it is stunning. My week started off rough; in the end, this list is probably more for me, because I would love to go back, and hopefully when I return to Ecuador, I'll get that chance. And hopefully the big spiders and snakes will continue to stay away.