Rio Napo

In the morning I headed to the port to board the boat that will bring me to Nuevo Rocafuerte - the last village on the ecuadorian side of the Rio Napo. It was already packed with people and I had to scramble for a seat. The chickens beneath me made me feel really cousy. The boat was not to fast, but we were definitly moving. Primary jungle can be viewed at all times. Besides of me there were two other travellers in the boat. A guy from Puerto Rico and Mauricio from Argentina. Every now and then we stopped at some shacks because people were getting of. Even though the landscape is truley amazing the moment when things get boring is bound to come. So I was glad to get out for the lunch break in a unsignificant village. Tasty chicken and way to familiar rice out of plastic cup was the best I could hope for. The puerto rican guy got out of the boat. After a total of 11 hours in the boat the few people that were left arrived in Nuevo Rocafuerte. 20 houses scattered along the river is the pride of the peruvian navy when they captured it some decades ago. The town is dangerously tranquilla and has only two "hostels". Maurico and me quickly found out that there is no boat scheduled to leave towards Iquitos anytime soon. Mauricio who only had 70$ left, because he thought it's going to be a short two day trip got a bit worried. But there were so many different opinions about how to get down the river as people live in the pueblo. So the next day we sat at the port for the whole day asking every passing boat, if they were going to Pandoja.
Mauricio is on a trip to follow the footprints of the famous Che. He likes to make artesan (aka rubish) to sell them in the next major city to extend his trip. He's 21 years old and dosent speak any English. So I had to speak Spanish all the time. He also dosent beleave in hygiene. He smells and he is wearing the same clothes all the time because somebody robbed his clothes in Quito. And sadly he dosent brush his teeth as well. So, all in all a good guy.
When it started to rain in the afternoon our mood turned because we still didn't find a captain. And people kept telling us, that this wouldn't change anytime soon. I checked in to the hostel and Mauricio camped at the harbor to safe some money. In the evening we found somebody, who would take us to Pandoja for 30$. But an hour later he wasn't sure anymore. In the evening we were playing with the local children the guy of the ecuadorian navy told us, that there will be a cargo boat tomorow morning. Yppiee...
This boat turned out to be really cool. We turned into a side river to a finca to get the cargo. It was really silent there and a lot of animals could be seen. Cows, pigs, monkeys, chickens, fish and of course dogs. Then we left for a laidback trip to Pandoja.
After dealing with the immigration (the captain didn't have a passport, but after a 10 minute discussion they allowed him to enter anyway) who told us that there was no cargo boat for the next 8 days, the mood turned once again, because even the swiss guy didn't have enough money for both of us for 8 days. But shortly afterwards some peruvian soldiers told us, that there will maybe be a navy ship in one hour going close to Iquitos. A half an hour later it was alreadly scheduled for the next day. So we spent the misty day at a local house and were also able to spent the night there. At 6 PM we boarded the boat. It was smaller than expected with 20 young soldiers fooling around singing songs of pride and honor. For lunch we got out at an other settlement and the soldiers quickly ran into the woods and came back with yucca, burning wood and bananas. They ignited the fire by burning plastic that was laying around. I talked with the owner of the nearby house, who provided the rice and salt. He was laughing all the time and proudly told me that he has 9 kids. Since I still had some mustard from Coca with me, I gave it to him. I didn't know what it was and insited that I have to eat something of it first. The food was delicious - well lets say ok. Mauricio asked the poor locals for free bananas. He also had some fever and I gave him some medicine.
In the evening we arrived in Puerto Elvira. The people there only drink water out of the river. But the gringo stomache can't take that, so I had to organize some water. After an hour a kind local ran up the hill to a spring to get some water, while I was waiting in the candle lit house with his familiy, who offered me some soup. After he returned he didn't wan't to charge me for water. Mauricio who had a bad headache was happy for some liquid. After eating and fooling around with soldiers for a while we got to sleep on the concrete floor.
The next day was a long, rainy journey with another short stop at a shack to eat some jungle deer, yucca and rice. In the evening we arrived in Santa Clotina. A by comparison major village with all coka cola and soon. The captain of the boat and the boss of the soldiers invited Mauricio and me to a friends place. It was an opulent meal served at the kitchen table, with "cafe con leche", chicken and fish. Afterwards it became increasingly clear that we were going to get drunk - a pleasant surprise. When we were finished Mauricio and me went to the local "discotheca". The poor soldiers were dancing all by themselves - no girls around. They shared their beer with us and I bought them another 4 bottles. Then the boss told them to go back to the house to sleep, that once again was just a concrete floor.
Since there was no gasoline in town, the navy boat would have to go upriver the next morning to look for gasoline. The captain knew that we wouldn't like this thought and paid for a fast boat that left the next morning to a village close to Iquitos. Another TukTuk and a short boattrip brought us to the biggest city in the world without access by road.
Even though I helped Mauricio a thousand times with giving him money (that made it possible for him to get to Iquitos), food, water and medicine, he didn't want to give me 1/3 $ to much back and insisted to change money first.

Coca

Coca is the lasy city reachable by bus while travelling east. I arrived there at 4 o'clock in the morning at a remote street and was glad to be able to check in to a hotel next door. Coca is not a nice place. Only the "malecon" at the river offers some beauty. Kids play there all day and in the trees there are a lot of small monkies. The already impressive river Napo slowly passes by. The only turist I saw were peruvian turists. Otherwise there were no gringos around. I hung out with a peruvian artesan seller and later on with his friends. The market is tiny and dirty. There were a lot of fruits I didn't know, grilled bugs and a little crocodile on a leash. Since there are not boats going down the river every day, I had to stay an extra day. That day I met an ecuadorian who has spend the last 20 years in Virginia. He just got divorced from his lebanese wife and lost the kids, his company and even his dog. Now he want's to teach English to the local people in Coca. So if you get divorced, get a good lawyer.

Quito

After arriving in Quito I went to the "Cafecito hostal" - a place recommended by a good friend (Melanie Schnidrig) of Switzerland. It turned out to be a very nice place with clame patio and in the middle of the fiesta district of the locals. The streets offer italian style restaurants and the general mood in the city seems to be very upbeat. After organising a new camera I hung out with 3 israeli guys for a day. The streets are covered with police - sometimes they are in groups of 20 and more. People get drunk more or less every evening and do the salsa-thing. Downtown Quito is packed with colonial buildings, that are only matched by the masses of middle aged turists. In my eyes the parks are the most impressive locations in the city - also because of the noise level - and thats why I spend most of the time there.
Later on I met a girl from Barcalona, which seemed to be a interesting person. She was studying the local indigenous villages at the Rio Napo for a project in school. We hung out together for two days - going to museums and movies. She constantly quoted romantic catalan authors, which probably wouldn`t even have impressed me in german. But the more time I spend with her, the more awkward she seemed. Towards the end I was glad that my departure day came closer.
The Amazon journey was about to start.

Baños

I took a 7 hours bus from Cuenca to Ambote. Next to me sat a fat old dude who was to greedy to pay for a seat for his daughter. So I had about half a seat. When things were already bad the kid started to vomit every 15 minutes. In Ambote I switched to a bus to Baños. Just after we got going a guy from the company placed my small backback on the shelf above. Even though I never put my backpack there I thought - what the hell, this bus seems to be much better than the one before. Arriving in Baños I wanted to take my backpack, but it was not there anymore. After cursing for a minute and checking out the whole bus I had to accept things looked bad. I messed with the police afterwards, but they werent able to do anything. The next morning I made a complaint at the police station. They didn't seem to be interested at all and just wrote down everything. So I lost my small backback, my 2.5 weeks old camera, the jacket I bought in Caracas, the LP and some other things I liked.
After that I was depressed and whatched a lot of TV and ate even more pizzas. Now I'm strolling through Baños, which is famous for the hot water pools and hiking. Tomorrow I'll go the pools and leave for Quito in the hope to be more lucky further on. And I have to buy another camera. Damn it

Cuenca

Quenca is famous for it's colonial beauty, that maybe is only matched by Quito. It's pretty cold here and rain is the norm. Streetvendors add some character to the game. They sell a lot of candy, flowers and in the evening they grill meat of all sorts - without side effects. The colonial beauty is not bad, but nothing breathtaking. We ate the best food in town, when we didn't eat at the market. I also met the first swiss guy since 2 months. The nearby river still serves some locals as a "lavandaria". So it was definitly not turisty. The ruins are not worth mentioning but the history museum was ok. The gay hairdresser who cut my hair did it really bad - so now I look like I'm part of the hitler-youth.