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Another marathon bus journey was needed to get from Popoyan to Quito in Ecuador. I left the hostel at half 5 in the morning with two girls I had met there and we got a bus to the border town Ipiales and then another from over the border, Tulcan to Quito. I eventually arrived at my hostel the Secret Garden at 10.30pm and went straight to bed.

The next morning I organised my 4 day jungle trip in the travel agency downstairs and spent the day walking around Quito. I liked it much more than I thought I would, visiting the metropolitan cultural centre, some churches, the presidential palace and the modern art museum. But, having been warned so much about the amount of petty crime, I was on guard the whole time.

That night I got a bus to Lago Agrio, 8 hours from Quito, towards the Colombian border. The next morning, I was collected by bus and drove two hours to the entrance of the National Park at Cuyabeno to start the trip.

For the four days, we stayed at the Samona eco lodge, just next to the river. The accomodation was made up of wooden houses with no electricity but hot showers and a communal eating area.

We spent alot of time in the river boat searching for animals, aswell as doing two hikes through the jungle, one in the morning and one at night. We saw parrots and many different types of birds, monkeys, spiders, poisonous frogs, caimans, baby anacondas and sloths. One afternoon we went pirahnna fishing. Although I didnt catch anything, I did taste it later for dinner and it was pretty good!

Jairo our guide also showed us many different plants and trees, including glow in the dark mushrooms and the bark of a tree that can be used as an anti-malaria medication. On the third day we visited an indigenous village, where we were shown how they make bread out of yuka. The plants were grated, then all moisture was squeezed out of them before it was put on a flat plate over the fire to cook. It ended up being like a large flat bread, sort of like a tortilla wrap but crispier. Over all it was a great four days.

Some photos from the trip below:

Friday afternoon I left the boys in Mancora (it was tearful…haha) and got the bus to start my marathon journey to get to Colombia. First was a bus to the border with Ecuador, where we were shuffled along by our attentive bus attendent from one office to the next. Luckily an English girl and three Aussies were also on board. From there Helen and I were given new bus tickets in the border town on the Ecuadorian side which took us to Quito (Ecuador´s capital city).  We arrived in around 8am where I had to change bus terminals to meet the girls.

All went well, and I met them there around 11am (it was tearful..haha!) where we got our next bus to the border town of Tulcan. From there we got a taxi to the border, a hassle free stop at immigration and then another taxi to the bus terminal on the other side in Ipiales. After an hours break for food we got on our FINAL bus to Bogota with Fronteras. Time passed quickly enough and we arrived (50 hours later) in Bogota. Phew! Not a journey to be repeated again soon.