Tena

This week has been a busy week! Josh got home from hiking Cotopaxi on Monday, then Wednesday morning we left for Tena. Tena is a city on the very western edge of the Amazon rainforest, to the east of the Andes. Tena and the surrounding areas have a large population of indiginous Quichua people. We went because Josh planned a white water rafting trip down the Misahuallí River. Josh had said one of his goals while in Ecuador was to go rafting in the Amazon, and he had an AWESOME time! I was bummed I had to stay behind with Owen.

Here he his with Eddie, Sarah, Sarah's friend Jennelea, her new husband Troy (he's to Eddie's right), and a guy from Belgium.

Below is the The Misahuallí River, and it goes through primary rainforest. There were waterfalls all along the way. Josh said this was a great way to see the jungle.

These rapids were too dangerous to raft through, hence the look on Josh's face. They had to get out, walk the raft around the rapids, and then get back in the river.

While Josh was rafting, Owen and I went to the Parque Amazonico, a little reserve/zoo situated on the peninsula at the merging of the Tena and Pano Rivers. We had so much fun that we went again with Josh the next day. We had to cross this foot bridge to get there.

All the animals at this park are brought here due to injury or whatever, and are being rehabbed. We saw lots of cool things including snakes, huge rodents, cats, ostrich, tropical birds, monkeys, and a tapier.

This is the tapier. Looks like a huge pig, but with this strange face and long nose. I even got chased by it the first day! Well, not really "chased" I guess, more like followed. Good thing he didn't walk very fast!

The tapier really liked Owen, especially his pants!

We were able to get up close with this wooly monkey, Coco. She was so friendly and cuddly!

I was a little nervous, this was my first time touching a monkey.

The two little monkeys checking each other out. Coco even reached out and touched Owen's cheek! It was soooo cute!!

Owen is always quite an attraction wherever we go, but we're used to it. This was a rather larger crowd than we're used to though, so I had to take a picture. Owen was more popular than the animals were!

We had our own personal guides at the park, and they were really nice. This man is Javier, he's Quichua. He taught us about traditional medicinal practices, many of which were interesting. (they say rubbing termites on your skin works better as an insect repellent than DEET. not so sure about that one.) At the end of the tour he made himself and Owen leaf headbands.

Owen is our little King of the Jungle!