Chapter 16, in which Will befriends the animals and finds, but loses, a large wooden paddle.

So when we left off, we had just arrived in Tena from Baeza, land of waterfalls and cute puppies. Tena is supposed to be the outdoor adventure capital of Ecuador...it`s easier to sign up for a jungle tour or rafting trip here than it is to do your laundry. Will and I wanted to see the jungle. Of course we wanted to see the jungle - how could we come all the way here, to the basin of the Amazon River, and not go on a jungle trip? The problem is, we`re both extremely leery of signing up for package deals. We don`t like being told what to do, and we especially don`t like paying money to do things we might or might not want to do. So, despite the odds, we escaped Tena with backpacks full of clean (although slightly damp) clothes and
without a package jungle tour. Instead, we caught the local bus to the tiny town of Misahualli, three square blocks of monkey-infested palm trees right at the confluence of the Misahualli and Napo rivers.

Our compromise was that instead of a tour, we would spend one night in a¨"jungle lodge" instead of in a hostel in town...more expensive, but theoretically providing more of a wildnerness experience than a room overlooking the square. We chose the Hosteria Misahualli, conveniently located across the river from town, easily accessible by 25 cent motorized canoe ride, and luckily for us, completely empty. Our friend at the reception, a garulous and flamboyant character whose name I never managed to catch, told us that a tour group had just left, and another would arrive the next day, but for the one night we were there, we had the place to ourselves.
We dropped our bags in our cabana and ordered drinks. This is when Will began his quest for interspecific goodwill, by sharing his beer with the parrot, although the wooden paddle had not yet appeared in our lives.

Our first excursion from the deserted jungle lodge was down a muddy and incredibly loud path along the river. I had forgotten that about the jungle. It's really, really loud. Birds? Frogs? Insects? We had no idea, but whatever they were saying, they were screaming it at the top of their lungs.
The waterfall turned out to be the shower-in-it-if-you-dare type, just cold enough so that you catch your breath but not strong enough to knock you over. It was beautiful, and we scrambled down the stream below it to swim in place against the current of the river as well.
A few hours in town got us pizza and a front row seat for the monkey show, first on the beach, and then in the central plaza. Prominently displayed signs informed us to be careful, "monkeys are a part of life." These particular monkeys, about a dozen in all, including three little ones, have certainly made themselves a part of life in Misahualli. They spend their days on the river beach, swinging from trees and stealing ice cream, and then move to the plaza in late afternoon. There, they chase the local dogs and eat whatever snacks the tourists provide (willingly or no) until in gets dark. Where the monkeys sleep was a bit of a mystery that first day...but never fear, unlike the whereabouts of the wooden paddle, it was a mystery which we were destined to solve.

As evening fell and the monkeys faded into the dusk, we returned, via canoe, to our secluded jungle lodge to pass time the playing rummy and drinking beer. The highlight of the night was sneaking (totally unnecessarily - who was going to stop us?) down to the beach for an after-dark swim.
The next morning we learned an important lesson about travelling in Ecuador. We wanted to visit the butterfly gardens, but found the gate closed and padlocked. "Hello*?" we yelled to some guys working on the house next door. "Can we get in here?"
*Note - all conversations transcribed in English actually occurred in Spanish, and may have included requests to repeat what was just said and/or confused looks by any and all parties involved.
"Ask that guy!" they shouted, pointing across the street.
We repeated our question, facing the opposite direction but just as loudly, because the gentleman in question was similarly busy.
"No problem!" he said. "Wait here!" And he ran away. A few minutes later, he returned from the plaza with a boy, two dogs, and a cute Ecuadorian with a goatee and a bandana tied around his head. The boy opened the padlock by hitting it with a rock, and we were in.


After the butterfly gardens, our next mission involved finding something inflatable upon which to float down the river. My prediction had come true - it was now a beautifully sunny day, and as I ate lunch, Will headed off to find Carlos, who often wears a red t-shirt and apparantly knows something about tubes. To make a long story short, the mission was successful, we paid a canoe driver too much money to take us half an hour up the river (interestingly enough, this time the time discrepancy worked the other way around, and the half hour only took twenty minutes to pass) and we were all set to enjoy a relaxing afternoon floating back to town.
Here is where the wooden paddle came into our lives.
Will found it on the beach, and with no thought for the poor indigenous fisherman in the dugout canoe who may or may not have been left stranded by his actions, he took it. The laws of karma being what they are, however, three minutes into our relaxing float trip, Will found himself beer-less, paddle-less, very nearly tube-less, and upside-down, flipped into the water by the only rock of any size in an otherwise flat and slow-moving stretch of water.
Despite the loss of Will's dignity and the wooden paddle, the rest of the afternoon was a resounding success...the river was almost deserted, and incredibly beautiful.
That night in Misahualli, after enjoying the monkey show from our balcony over the plaza, we realized why we had spent so much money on our fancy lodge accomodations the night before. No fan, a mosquito net, and monkeys on the tin roof added up to a night of little sleep, and we decided to leave Misahualli for higher elevations this morning.
Yet again, Blogger is not letting me post any pictures...so check Will´s blog to see them...