The Journey

Waking up in Quito the next morning was a shock to the system, up and out, first stop, sunglasses.

Quito is a hard place to describe, the slums are apparent within the centre streets, some men dressed in old worn suits with no intention to have a day in the office.  The atmosphere was dry and stale, local music played in my favourite part of the city, the park. Grabbing the few last needed supplies the few smiles received were complimented only with the change of dollars. One day here is enough; I bought a tomahawk which fits perfectly in my long leg pocket in the Bear Grylls style Craghoppers, it's a dreaded thought returning to volunteer at the orphanage when I return back from the Amazonian tribe. The next morning with all my travel gear I flagged an intelligently selected taxi, the driver had a kind face and wore a shirt and tie, we laughed about true Scotsman and how cold it is under the kilts. The girl at the ticket desk made allot of eye contact through the sunglasses hiding the eyes and cut face. She giggled and played with her hair as I pulled out the passport from down the front of my jeans. $10 to Coca, I’m on my way.

Arriving in Coca with a new found friend, David was 26 and from Canada, a pleasure to be with he has no problems smiling and greets people with a kind presence.  We shared a bus and moved seats when our driver was given a speeding ticket, the police made everyone come off the bus, changing was fine and we arrived in coca safely. A carpenter by trade David was travelling to Peru’s capital Iquitos to meet a friend as business back home was slow.

His Spanish was much better than mine as he negotiated a twin room to share, the next night we drank back a few beers and said goodbye as it was time for him to continue on to Peru, and for me to keep going further into the jungle.

I needed a guide, the next morning I went down to the tourist information hoping to find a bushman to show me the survival tactics of the Amazon and the way to the Huaorani indigenous. No one spoke English when I got there, for such a detailed request it was difficult to understand the specifics. One guide made out what he could of my story and phoned two shady looking lads who agreed to take me as far as X, leave me with a tent somewhere in the rainforest, then someone will come to take me to Y to meet the tribe.