Out of the jungle and on a new adventure..

Angelique has left the jungle!

We arrived in Baños yesterday and are leaving for Cuenca today. So the last few days in Arutam were good, can´t really complain considering the amount of work we do... or don´t do! On monday we worked with Timoteo, the medecin man, one of Enrique´s 375 siblings! Timoteo the medecin man is really quite funny. If you are poorly, he will prepare you some concoction from his medecin garden which he calls a tea and he also like to burn leaves around your face in some kind of ritual which supposedly works. Timoteo was sick once apparently and guess what he did.. a concoction from his medecin garden ? oh no! Timoteo went to the chemist!! I thought that was just hilarious. Timoteo the medecin man goes to the chemist when he is sick! Hmm.. reassuring!
Anyhow, we worked in a corn field in the morning, surrounding the base of the plants with more earth. Fun times! Instead of working Liv and I, hid in the corn field and found a small caterpillar which we named Bruce and we built a small house out a balls of dirt. He looked happy in his new home.
Timoteo eventually found us and said we hadn´t done a very good job with the dirt around the corn so he made us do it again!
In the afternoon, we picked some plants in the jungle which we re-planted in the "medecin garden". There was a plant which supposed is used when women have their period. I´m not sure if it stops the bleeding or is used to help with cramps. There was another plant which from what I understood is used as a next day contraception.. Not sure how trustworthy that is though! Another plant we dug up is used for acne. And we also found this very strange bright white mushroom thing surrounded by some kind of netting, which apparently lights up at night! Unfortunately, we forgot it in the forest so we didn´t get to see it at night.

We left Arutam, yesterday morning, after saying goodbye to everyone. I left with Liv and Chad, with whom I´ll be travelling for most of my trip in South America. We arrived in Baños for lunch and went to the central market where we ate. I had a $2 almuerzo, set lunch, which consisted of a chicken soup and the main dish was rice, potatoes and meat, and a soft drink. In the afternoon, we hiked up to the Bella Vista mirador on the southern side of Baños, which is only 1km up but so steep. It took us about 40 minutes to get up there and the views of Baños and the surrounding hills were beautiful! We then continued our hike further towards Runtun, from where you can see the Tungunrahua volcano on a clear day. On the way, a very excited lady invited us into her pick-up truck, saying they were going to the Casa del Arbol which is higher than Runtun. I´m not sure how high but it´s over 3000 meters. We were in the clouds! There were a swing at the tree house which was so cool! I´ll upload a picture soon! Unfortunately, it was so cloudy that we didn´t get to see Tungurahua.
We started walking back down and we soon jumped on a small truck which charged us 50 cents each to get back to Baños and we caught a quick glimpsed of Tungurahua as the clouds cleared before winding round the hills of Baños.
In the evening, we ate at Cafe Good which served amazingly yummy food but ridiculously small portions.. Then again, I have become a beast since I have been in Arutam, always eating and finishing Liv and Chad´s plates!

Today we are off to Cuenca, further south in Ecuador. I think it´s an 8 hours bus ride. I am super excited about eating peaches, Papa!

La traduction francaise est a venir.. on est un peu presse, on va a Cuenca dans le sud dÉcuador. Grosses bises xxx