MONKEY ISLAND

The pool we swam in at Monkey Island

It's both a blessing and a curse to have 8:30am meetings on Sundays. For those of you who aren't morning persons like myself, it's almost impossible to be up, showered, dressed, Watchtower studied, walk to the busstop and be to the meeting before the second song. But Joe basically grabs us girls by the ears and we somehow make it before it's all over. By the last song and prayer, I'm ready to peel myself out of the hard plastic chair and enjoy the whole rest of the day in the intense Amazon sunshine.

So last Sunday we decided to take Aedyn and Carlie swimming after the meeting. A sister in our hall  had suggested taking the kids to a resort that has a nice pool that you can use for the day for $2 a person. It's called Isla de los Monos (Monkey Island) and it's about 30 minutes outside of Tena, past a smaller town called Archidona. So our main complication would be to figure out the best and cheapest way to get there.

The busstop for Archidona is way on the other side of Tena, so first we had to take a taxi to the busstop. Then, once we arrived in Archidona by bus, we had to flag down another taxi to drive us right to the door of the resort five minutes further down the road. It took about 25 minutes for a taxi driver to finally pick us up because it was New Year's day and most were still at home drunk/drinking. But finally we got to the resort and it was worth the trouble.

 Aedyn had been there before, so he showed us which trail led to the chlorinated pool and which trail led to the river. A server came up to our table and took our order. In Ecuador, there is no such thing as recreation without food or drinks. We ordered ice-tea and patacones, a type of smashed banana that tastes more like french-fries when fried. We ate and swam, swam and ate. We got in about two or three good hours of swimming when the storm clouds came creeping in. But by then the kids were tired of swimming in the fountain squirters and jumping off the big rock into the sparkling water below. They were ready to explore the other trail by the river.

We made our way through thickets of bamboo and orquids down the trail past the honeymoon cabins,  being careful not to step on the leaf cutter ants. We finally arrived at a clearing in the bamboo where there were two swings, which of course Aedyn and Carlie raced to. Joe and I looked at the churning silver-blue river below which he surmised was a class 3 in rafting terms. We marveled at the gigantic boulders in the middle and imagined how they must have rolled and crashed with a great thunder from the foothills above.

Back at the resort, we asked for a tour of one of the cabins. The owner's son took us out back behind the reception building to some family cabins that slept 10. Monkeys peeped down from the trees above as we walked. Some even threw seeds and sticks at us as we passed. The cabins themselves were basic but I could imagine this would be really fun to rent with friends. It had beds to sleep 10, a private bathroom, fans for the heat and mini-fridge. The cost was expensive for Ecuador: $55 a person per night, but included all 3 meals a day and use of the pools.

The highlight for the kids were the lush surroundings and the animals on the premesis. For example, in the reception area we got to see a boa constrictor in a tank and tortouises in a man-made indoor marsh area. In large cages outside of the family cabins we saw every kind of exotic bird and parrot imagineable. Of course there were also the monkeys roaming free after which the resort is named. One brave male scooted on the sidewalk right past us marking the trail with his underbelly. In the entrance area of the resort was even more animals. Here we saw (in cages or protected areas) a wild boar, a tapir, jungle crocodiles (that have a special name but I forgot) more turtles, more exotic birds and one lone baby monkey in a huge cage. It looked as though his family had died and he was the last of his kind. He sat there clinging to the fence with this forlorn look in his eyes, crying softly to Carlie and Aedyn when they cooed back at him. His eyes looked like Puss' on Shrek when he was trying to get people to feel sorry for him. We gave the baby monkey a piece of  grass to  hold. He grabbed it and shoved it straight in his mouth like real babies do.

As the sun still shone on one side of the sky it began to lightly sprinkle on the other. The owner's son had suggested we could take a Quito bus back to Tena without having to get a taxi to Archidona first, so we waited...and waited...and waited. Finally a Quito bus came flying by. And passed us. Then another. After waiting in the sun-rain an hour, a third bus finally came and took us back to the Tena bus terminal. Then we had to walk 10 minutes or so back to Jessamyn's house.

All in all, it was a great Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of trouble getting to Monkey Island and back, so we probably won't be going there very often, but it was lots of fun. If you come visit us, we promise to take you there so you can meet the baby monkey yourself.

THE HOLIDAYS

Super Tia always has good "Ofertas" or sales

The holidays have come and passed in all their pagan glory yet again here in Ecuador. We can tell commercialism has made its mark even here in the Amazon. On every corner you could find carts and stands selling tinsel, fake mini table-top Christmas trees, tiny ceramic baby Jesus’, light kits, Santa hats, and whatever else the commercials said you need. Jessamyn said just a couple years ago the locals barely knew what Christmas was. Now all of a sudden there’s parades down the main drag with child angles surrounding adult Jesus with a crooked felt beard.

The thing we really got a kick out of was the Christmas box sets for sale at our local grocery store, Super Tia. For $45 you could buy a large Tupperware filled to the brim with non-perishables. I was wondering why people didn’t buy their own plastic box and fill it with whatever they wanted so they could make it cheaper. Lack of imagination I guess. Joe received one of these gift sets from his boss. He had bought one for every teacher in the school for an end of year bonus. Rummaging through our own Tupperware was like hitting the jackpot in Vegas. Here’s what was inside: a bottle of wine, a bag of flour, a bag of rice, a bag of sugar, a bag of cookies, a bag of toffee, a box of chocolates, a can of peaches, a bottle of cooking oil, and bag of orange flavored gelatin powder. As a bonus bonus, his boss also gave us a frozen chicken and a T-shirt that has a picture of a parrot and says “Tena” across the front.

The bottle of wine got opened first. It tasted like flat coke that had expired in someone’s garage. After two sips- the last to confirm its grossness- we poured it down the drain. I think I heard a faint scream as it oozed down the pipes into the river outside. The next item to be opened and meet the same fate was the gelatin. Carlie and Aedyn couldn’t wait to make some fake Jello, so without adult supervision, they poured the powder into a bowl, poured cold water on top, and without stirring stuck it in the freezer. All in all, it was a very practical and much needed gift. We even used the tub it came in to give Maisy and Jones a bath. Christmas day was business as usual. All the stores and restaurants were open and taxi’s still giving rides around town. We took a taxi to Brutus’ Burger joint by the bridge and had burgers the size of a Frisbee. The next day, I cooked the gift-chicken and rice. It was great.

New Year’s festivities are quite unusual here and take days of preparation. First, a newspaper scarecrow must be made and outfitted with a mask of someone you don’t like so much. Maybe a neighbor or relative you can’t stand. Stores around town sell mask faces of international governmental officials or other faces that are better suited for Halloween costumes. When we lived in Ecuador before, it was common to see George Bush masks everywhere. On New Year’s eve, these scare-crows are burned to signify…something that makes sense to the locals.

Second, the food must be prepared for the upcoming feasting. Two nights before New Year’s, we couldn’t sleep due to all the hogs in our neighborhood being slaughtered. I’ll never get those pig screams out of my head. Also the beer shelves in Super Tia are emptied by all the alcoholics in town, which there are many. The drinking continues for the next three days straight.

New Year’s Eve: all of Tena is out in the streets eating and drinking after they’ve had their naps. They know it’s going to be long night. As the sun sets, the music gets louder and continues on full blast until 10am the following day. Drag queens, called viudas, parade around in short skirts on street corners collecting money from “voters” who determine the best-dressed. We all stayed home that night and cooked something from our gift Tupperware and went to bed with earplugs. At midnight I was awakened by fireworks and gunshots, but easily fell back asleep. The next morning, as we walked to the Kingdom Hall, we saw viudas laying in the middle of the street with hang-overs and mascara smeared down their cheeks. Music was still thumping out of the bar across the street.