La Selva, La Costa, y Navidad

My apologies for not posting in quite some time; I have been very busy traveling to different places in Ecuador. Two weekends ago I went on a 2 night weekend trip to the jungle with some friends. It was about 6 hours in a bus from Quito to a small jungle town called Tena, where we spent one night. The next morning we traveled by bus to Misahualli, a small village on the banks of the Rio Napo. The trip was set up through my school and they arranged a stay with an indigenous community in the heart of the jungle close to Misahualli. We arrived in the community to find numerous different animals I had never seen nor heard of before. Monkeys climbed up to greet us, while Toucans relaxed close by. We learned about all the plants the community uses in the absence of traditional doctors. Instead of a medical professional, each tribe has a Shaman who knows all the plants and their medicinal uses. If you need anything you visit the Shaman. It was fascinating to learn about a civilization that for many years existed without any contact from the outside world. Many of these tribes and their customs are only beginning to be discovered. Obviously there is a good side and a bad side to this. The positive aspect is our ability to learn massive amounts of information from these cultures, but the negative aspect is that the depth and mystery of these native cultures is slowly decaying because of their contact with the outside world and our many luxuries. I feel blessed at having the opportunity to experience this and can only hope the money I spent will go towards preserving the culture and not eroding it.

The following week, after only two days of classes, I jumped aboard another bus headed for the beach!! It took around 7 hours to arrive in a small town called Bahia de Caraquez, from where we took a small boat to San Vicente, and another bus to an amazing secluded beach town called Canoa. We found a perfect hostel on the beach and settled in for 5 glorious days. The main activity each day was to relax, but I was able to ride a horse on the beach one day and attempt to surf. It was a beautiful spot where all the locals surf by day and party on the beach by night. I spent Christmas in Canoa and the hostel even made a traditional turkey feast for the guests. It was my first Christmas on the beach, and although I missed my family and friends back home, I was happy to spend Christmas in such a beautiful place. By the end of my time in Canoa I had become accustomed to the slower pace of life and didn't want to leave.

Tonight is the celebration of the Old Year here (instead of celebrating the New Year, they celebrate the Año Viejo) in Quito and I am looking forward to witnessing the many traditions of the Quiteños. I will write soon about the celebrations and post pictures when I have some time.