Baños is so great! Such a party town.. Last night I had the most amazing burrito and danced away to some hard core reggaeton music in Leprechaun bar. It was actually really fun!
This morning we woke up at 5.15 am to go to the thermal baths and see the sun rise over the hills. I was really suprised that it was so packed at that time. There is three pools, one cold, one warm and one boiling. I went with Chad and Liv and we mostly stayed in the warm one because the cold one was freezing and the hot one was BOILING! It actually hurt!
Then we came back to our hostal, Plantas y Blanco and had the most amazing breakfast I´ve had in 2 weeks: eggs, home made bread, cheese, jam, freshly squeezed orange jus and tea. YUM! After that, we didn´t go zip lining. We actually went Swing Jumping off El Puente San Fransisco above the Rio Pastaza! It´s similar to bunjy jumping except instead of bouncing you jump off the bridge nd swing back and forth.. I was so so scared and almost didn´t do it! I climbed up onto the ledge and freaked out and wanted to get down but the guy litterally pushed me off! SOOO SCARY! But so amazing! I´m glad I did it! Not sure I would do it again though. The drop was terrifying, until you start swinging, because you ´re litterally free falling and it feels like it´s never ending...
We also walked around Baños and walked into one of the masses at the cathedral which was quite impressive. The cathedral was packed and they played music. And yes papa I light a candle :-)
Baños is really beautiful and fun, and I will definitely come back for a day or 2 when I leave Arutam.
We´re heading back to Arutam this evening so I nead to stock up on food before we go! Oh I also forgot to mention that whilst I was in Irshim, I was given a Shuar name. My name is Nunqui. Pronounced Nunkwi. Nunqui is a goddess, mother of the earth, a forest spirit. She is very special to the Shuar, especially to women. She lives in the ground, caring for the roots and at night comes out and cares for all the things around her. In the old days, Nunqui offered a baby to the Shuar who could receive anything she asked for. The baby made the Shuar discover Chicha and how to prepare it as well as learning how to hunt and cook. Howver the Shuar were ungrateful and became greedy, so Nunqui took the baby back leaving them frantically searching for the it. Since then, the Shuar are very thankful to Nunqui and have apparently learned from this and teach their children to be grateful to the plants and all around them.
Chad is called Nurinkias, which means warrior and Katie is called Ipiak which means crazy women!
I also wanted to share with you that I currently have about 90 mosquito bites on my body! It is awful!! I can´t wait to leave the forest and stop itching! The hydrocortisone cream is really helping but I need more!!
Maintenant pour les francais! Excuses pour ne pas ecrire en francais, mais je sais que vous comprenez et j´attends des commentaires!!! Allez Allez! Vous me manquez tous enormement! C´est genial ici!
Je suis a Baños en ce moment, a 3 heures de Arutam, on sámuse vachement ici! Ce matin j´ai fais du ´swing jumping´ c´est un peu commen le saut a l´elastique sauf que au lieu de rebondir tu ´swing´sous le pont! C´etait genial mais je pense pas que je le referais. Ca fait trop peur! Le mec m´a litteralement pousser parce que je pouvais pas y aller toute seule!
On retourne a Arutam ce soir.. Pas trop heureuse de retrouver la nourriture des Shuars apres un weekend merveilleux, mais je survivrais!!!
Je vous embrasse tous tres fort et j´attends vos commentaires!!!
RIM!!!!!! Ou es tu??
omg!!!!!!!!1angeliqueeeeee i am SO SO SUPER JEALOUS!!!!sounds incredible..is swing jumping part of your volunteer thing?or private?cos these kind of things cost so MUCH usually .what an amazing experience!Nunqui,so cool!but oh no..mosquito bites!try not to itch too much :S can't wait to read your next update!kisses xxx have fun!!!!: D sophia
ReplyDeleteCrazy girl should be your shuar name!! Jumping off bridges tss tss ...
ReplyDeleteCan't you get a mosquito net ?
xxx
...You got up at 5.15 am?? I'll remember that when you are back in London!
ReplyDeleteNot too sure if I understand "swing jumping"...What happens when you get to the bottom? And how is your neck?
I tried to google nunqui but cannot find anything of interest...
I left a message on Rim's phone but will try again.
Enjoy the next part of your adventure!!
Lots of kisses from Steven and us of course.
she jumped off a bridge with some kind of elastic and swung from said bridge!
ReplyDelete@ sophia! i did swing jumping in baños, which is a small town near Arutam. Its a really nice place. it only cost 13$ which is great! and no its not part of the volunteer thing.. on weekends we´re free to do what we like.
ReplyDelete@ papa you jump off like super man with your hands stretched out like a bird and then you naturally flip over .. you dont hit the ground (obviously) you bounce slightly on the cord and then swing... the difference with bunjy jumping is that you jump with an elastic and bounce , swing jumping is with a stretchy cord.. my neck is better now, i got whiplash because i got so scared when i jumped and instead of keeping my hands out as if i was flying i grabbed onto the cords and my neck was thrown back.
once you stop swinging, they lower you down to a ledge below where a guy catches you and u walk back up to the bridge.
I know, there isnt much about nunqui on google.. the shuars explained it to me and there is a shuar book here which i read and it explains it too.
jai parle a rim par texto. merci xx