We took a local bus from Tena to our Jungle Lodge where we stayed 2 nights. The bus dropped us off in the middle of a paved road, surrounded by lucious green plants, and trees. I assumed we must be transferring to another, to take us to a more remote area… but no, that was it! I was surprised that the road was paved, and there was public transport which took us to our lodge. However, as we discovered when trying to get back to Tena, public transport down this road was few and far between. Our lodge was so amazing. The room we were given overlooked the Napo River (see pic 1). The room itself was built of rustic wood and flax, and came complete with family of bats in the roof! HIGHLIGHT! No sooner had we dumped our gear, we set off to see some Jungle. We visited a local Quichua family who showed us how they pan for gold, blow pipe their prey, and make the local drink “Chica” out of yuca. I wasn’t an expert blow-piper but Rory managed to get the dart in the wooden parrot - win! On our way back to the lodge we stopped for a game of soccer. I opted to be cheerleader. No idea who won, but the prize was a 3litre bottle of coke. 3 litres. 
Day 2 was nothing short of AMAZING. We set of on a canoe/boat thing up the Napo 10 mins or so, then trekked about an hour through the secondry forest. The trek itself was so wet, we were thoroughly saturated. We saw termites (which to our disgust were used as insepct repellent by the local guide), millipedes, poisonous plants, ancient trees, and flowers brighter than I’ve ever seen before.
Our destination was a breathtaking waterfall - ‘La Cascada de Latas’. We had to join forces for a river crossing (see pics) to get there, and once we had it was definitly the coolest place I’ve ever been. Hands down. We sat behind the waterfall, being pelted by it’s heavy drops in fits of laughter. So much fun. Then we got to tube back to the lodge, I’d never done anything like that before but I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. Waterfall and tubing; best part of the trip so far. The afternoon was spent at a butterfly farm, and we even got the privledge of seeing a tarantula (or at least, his legs poking out from his nest on a pole - that counts, right?). The lodge had no electricity, but was lit by kerosene lamps. It was perfect, if a little less remote than we’d expected. Oh, how could I forget the jungle cat… Kristopherson, as I named him. The cutest little kitten ever, and the little gang of monkeys who saw us off in the morning.
So excited for what was yet to come…
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