Hot springs, jungles and beyond. . .

Today is October 2 and it´s pretty amazing all the stuff we´ve done in one week and a half. After leaving Quito we took a 2 hour bus ride using local transit up to a hot spring resort high in the cloud forest called Papallacta. These hot springs were beautiful and super clean and the setting was like a Polynesian village.

We were in a valley surrounded by lush green mountains and spoiled ourselves in almost all of the 25 pools. We got up early in the morning and took a walk through the cloud forest before breakfast and after breakfast spend the morning pool hopping.

From there we took a scenic local bus to Tena which is the gateway town to the Amazon rainforest. From Tena we took a truck into the forest to our jungle homestay with a Quichua family. This place was very basic (no electricity, no hot water). The family was very traditional and very very hospitiable. The opportunity was really special and unique to spend time here. Some of the activities were walking through the rainforest, treking up creeks and waterfalls and (drum roll please) WHITE WATER RAFTING IN CLASS 3+ RAPIDS. This was really exiting! Krista got attacked by giant flesh eating ants but was resucued by the ever valant Petr. OK they weren't flesh eating but they were nasty.

Here's a picture of some of the local kids we met on our rafting trip when we stopped for lunch.

After leaving our Quichua family we went to a jungle lodge with a fabulous view. Perched high on a cliff it overlooked the river Napo and the surrounding rainforest.

After leaving our Shangrila jungle lodge we took a four hour local bus trip to Banos hill town surrounded by volcanos. The town is known for it's hotsprings, but after our awesome experience at Papallacta the not so clean public pools were less than appealing. We opted for a trek up the small mountain for a panoramic view of the town.

Our next destination - Cuenca a colonial city with history that dates back to Inca times. We chartered a private bus for this trip as the public bus would take 12 hours - Our was only 8. We stopped along the way at a local Quichua market where we were the only Causasians. They were as curious about us as we were about them.

Now we are back in Quito - our next destination the Cayambe Volcano and a 400 year old hacienda.