Jungle Tour from Tena

Today was great. We had a nice little hostel on the edge of town. It is a sparkling gem in the midst of all these less than fancy residences, and overlooks the nice town of Tena. We arrived last night at met someone from Columbia (actually he was British) and shared some good conversation, food, and drinks together.


Today, we were off to the rain forest for a jungle tour package that we signed up for. It included a close look at a family's home in a small village, a museum of artifacts from hunters and other native people in the area, and finally a zoo area of local animals. Everywhere, we met a bunch of volunteers, which seems to be a big part of this trip. It seems that volunteers from all over the world come to Ecuador to hang out for about 3 weeks at a time to be emerged into Ecuadorian life. They typically are involved in projects from rain forest regeneration, to wildlife rescue, to education and English/Spanish exchanges. A lot of them come to Ecuador with no Spanish, no knowledge of the place, and just a sense of adventure. It's a little strange, but I guess the country benefits a lot from the free labor.