El Oriente: the citified jungle

Cheryl and Bradley convinced me to go to the jungle. Jesus H Christ. Luckily we flew, because I just don’t have it in me for some long, jenky, Ecuadorian bus rides right now. So, we few into El Coca – apparently that’s a person and not the drug. I guess I was expecting something a little nicer from the town, but really I can’t think of why.

So, we flew into El Coca and stayed at some abandoned resort with a ginormous pool. Then we caught our lancha in the morning to go to the Yarina Eco Lodge, about 30 minutes up the Río Napo. Given that it’s in the middle of nowhere, it’s all-inclusive. Cheryl would later be unimpressed with basically everything, but I think she just wanted something more exotic and less civilized.

We were greeted by a tarantula and Cheryl’s screams. I think Bradley wanted to kill it, but he didn’t. I’ve seen bigger 😉

We also saw snakes and caimanes and got robbed by cheeky little monkeys!

Grey Beach Bummin’

August is winter in Ecuador, so not typical beach weather. Normally that would mean a cleaner beach and better deals. Of course, it is the contrary in Ecuador. The town of Montañita was filthy to the point of being gross and full of the voluntarily homeless (begging for drug money and going to the ATM when they decided to eat). But during the day the beach was okay – cold and drizzly, but okay. I could have missed it.

Let’s see those photos!