Welcome to the Jungle!!

Well we are back at last, back to civilisation!
What a week that was, I knew it was always going to be difficult for me but I could never have imagined just how difficult, BUT I did it!!!
We decided to fly instead of taking the bus as the bus journey is approx 12 hours, and the Ecuadorian roads are not the most reliable.
The flights were only $120 too which is a bargain really.
We arrived at the airport and were flying with a company called VIP, we got checked in ok and into a nice departure lounge with free sandwiches and beverages, great start!!
The flight is no more than 40 mins and it takes you right over the Andes, the view is fantastic and you get to see all the different contours of the land, it really is an amazing country.
No sooner had we started to ascend were we coming down again and preparing to land.
We got to the airport and there is no security checks, passport control etc, somebody just comes and dumps your bags in a big room and you just help yourself.
We were unexpectedly greeted by a local kid who ushered us into a taxi, he spoke very little English and us very little Spanish (which is now the norm) anyway we ended up in a small town and advised we then needed to take the bus to the jungle.
It was sweltering, we had come from nice cool temperatures to a tropical climate, in less than an hour!
The bus journey was horrible, it was full of locals and their belongings (they seem to take everything they own with them everywhere) there was no A/C either!!
THREE hours later we arrived at the jungle it was pitch BLACK and you couldn't see your hand in front of you!!
We then took a boat along the Amazon for about 10 minutes with some locals and reached what was to be our home for the next very long 4 nights!!
There were a few ozzies there already, playing cards so we soon got chatting, we were given our evening meal of rice and lentils (nice!!) and then shown to our luxurious accomodation (not!!)
We have uploaded some pics on Flickr to give you an idea.
The room was totally exposed, with no windows or doors, the shower was cold rainwater, and the only light we had was our Maglite and a candle.
I started looking round the room almost immediately checking for insects and snakes, imagine my HORROR when above the bed there was a TARRANTULA!!
I fluffin kid you not, we hadnt been there an hour and I had seen one, worse still it was in my bedroom!!
I had a massive panic attack and was almost breathless with fright, I didn't get much sympathy from Matt, although I think it's fair to say that he was shocked by it too.
We went back to the main reception kind of place to join the others and have a much needed beer, and also to find out if it was some kind of practical joke that they played on new arrivals (hoping and praying that it was)
It wasn't!!!
To make matters worse there were another 2 in the place where we were drinking, and the guide started playing with them, letting them crawl all over him etc etc.
Not a great start, when we were ready for bed he agreed to come and move it from our room, but we weren't going to get off that lightly and when we got back it had gone!!
I was gutted, I just crawled into bed fully clothed and pulled the mozzie net over the bed.
The next day I saw it again, curled up in a little ball asleep, actually looking quite cute and furry.
Later that morning we were offered another room as the Ozzies had left, I jumped at the chance of moving, and the room was actually much better than the forst one.
It couldn't protect me from insects and spiders though!
Our days were spent Piranha fishing (for us to eat) walking in the jungle, canoeing and just lazing about in the hammocks, which is great and was, the only thing that stopped me from enjoying it to it's full potential was the ever present spiders, flying insects, ants and other things that I have never ever seen before.
On the day we went out on the motor boat it was agreed that we would paddle back, well it wouldnt have been so bad if anybody could paddle a canoe, but they couldn't and we just kept on crashing into trees and plants that were FULL of spiders and other creepy crawlies, once we hit them they would just pour into the canoe and start running all over us, flying round etc, I'm not just talking your average house spider here either, these spiders could be used for transportation purposes they were that BIG!
I was a nervous wreck for the whole week, I couldn't think about anything else but spiders, I didnt have time to miss anybody as all my thoughts were consumed by insects, it was horrible!
The jungle itself is an amazing place and I loved it, I feel really lucky that we have had the chance to visit it and spend time there.
The sights and sounds of the jungle are fantastic, you hear so many sounds but never get to see what it is that is making the noise.
We saw monkeys, snakes (inc a baby Anaconda) a baby Caimen, grasshoppers, stick insects, some beautiful butterflies (electric blue and yellow) vlutures, a falcon and obviously numerous spiders, ants etc.
We drank from a tree vine (see pics) and were shown medicinal plants, termites that can be used as repellant, cicadas nests and many more things that I can't even remember.
Our 4.5 hour walk in the jungle was probably the highlight, we were taken off the beaten track (didnt know beaten tracks existed in the Amazon) through puddles, under trees, over trees it was like a proper expedition.
The guide who lead us had no compass but his knowledge of the jungle was like a 6th sense to him, I never feared being lost the whole time we were in there.
I had my fair share of falls while we were in there as it is so wet and slippery from all the rain, I fell down a hole and lost my leg, I was then trying to get through a very deep puddle by climbing on the fallen trees rather than get any wetter, I was doing so well but lost my footing and went in almost waist high, into a wet muddy puddle, I was soaked and needless to say my wellies were overflowing!!
If I could have visited the jungle and there were no creatures I would have had the best time ever, unfortunately it did take the edge off the visit for me and prevented me from relaxing and fully enjoying the whole experience.
My dad was in the jungle in Malaysia during his National Service when he was only 18, so I'm glad I have done it so that we can share our horror stories over a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea in the safety of our cosey home, with the lights on, hot running water, internet access and a lovely clean bed with no mozzies!! (I did only get bitten once)
We found an English bar in Quito last night, although we were the only English people in there it was full of yanks, who are a bit like Southerners in that they can't take their beer!!!!
After that we went for a hot curry (not a jungle one) we reckoned we deserved it after the week we had had.
Today we are heading south to Banos, they have thermal baths there (which is what Banos means, bath)so we will be taking a dip there no doubt.
We will be there until about Wednesday when we will head south again, making our way towards Peru where we hope to be in just over a weeks time, we have a lot of miles to cover this next week on Ecuador buses.
Oh the joys of travelling!!
Looking forward to some beach sometime soon, we are hoping to go to Brazil for a week now which we hadn't originally planned, so I better get myself in shape if Im going to expose myself amongst all the fit Brazilian women!!
Anyway that's about it for now as we have to head off, it's great to be back and back in the land of blogging!!
Enjoy the pics.