Heading directly south we begin to drive into a small
town with paved roads, Ah Tena at last. Tena is a
small Jungle town with a lot of amenities such as a
choice in gas stations and a few hotels, it even has a
small choice of restaurants. Tena is the hub for people
entering and exiting the jungle, they have a fairly
reliable bus station with weekly trips to Quito and a
lot of supply houses with expedition equipment
available. We head through the town to a hotel that
James is fond of along the river and found it to be
booked up for the night, as James haggled with the
owner in Spanish, I walked around the hotel enjoying
the scenery. I noticed in the trees that there were
parrots of all colors and as the sun was behind them
beginning to set, I wasn't able to get any pictures of
them. James suggested we go on to the Jungle town
that we had planned our excursion from and said that
it would only take a little more than an hour and if we
hurried we should be there before dark.
This was
probably the most exciting and picturesque drive I
have ever been on. Imagine driving on a windy dirt
road with huge towering trees along the side actually
connecting at the top, kind of like a tunnel. The jungle
would break into a clearing and there would be a
small bamboo hut with a grass roof. People would be
out tending their small gardens and children would run
towards our car excited to see new people. We
sped through the windy road trying to make it before
dark, it looked as if I had gone back in time many
hundreds of years. These people still lived in huts and
still raised their food and fortunately haven't been
corrupted with greed for fancy cars and TV sets.
Needless to say, I was very impressed and I thank the
lord for the opportunity to of had this experience. The
narrow cave of the jungle road broke into a large
clearing and we arrived at our destination, the town of
Puerto Misahualli.
Misahualli is a jungle port town
along the Rio Napo, which is a tributary to the
Amazon River. All trading in this area of the jungle
takes place in Misahualli and tribal people from all
around canoe the river to this town to trade goods at
the weekend market. Misahualli is built around a small
town square, which is full of roaming livestock such as
chickens, goats and many young children playing
games in the dusty streets. The square is surrounded
by small shops selling goods such as food, jaguar
skins, toucan beaks, and an array of tribal jewelry.
There are nice little restaurants and motels available as
well. Behind the row of stores are some homes built
of wood with grass roofs high on stilts due to constant
flooding. The end of town (maybe one hundred yards)
is the Rio Napo River with its banks lined with large
dugout canoes and old tattered boats. The trees lining
the river are full of small wooly monkeys and a variety
of birds. The weekend nights are full of action in
Misahualli, there is a small disco on the square that's
music consisted of two cassettes, and on Saturday
nights the village places a huge white sheet in the trees
in the square and play movies against it in the dark
jungle nights. The whole town shows up and enjoys
the outdoor theater.
We rented a small room in a
picturesque hotel called Hotel El Paisano. The small
hotel was built around a tiny outdoor square with a
restaurant and bar in the middle. Hammocks were
strung from poles for people who didn't need a room
to themselves. There were many plants and trees and
I found it a very comfortable place especially for the
price, seven thousand sucres, roughly three dollars.
Our room was built with four-foot high concrete walls
then it was open to the ceiling being supported by
concrete pillars. There was hardly any privacy
because anywhere that you stood in the room you
could see out the large three foot opening between the
four foot walls and the ceiling. James informed me that
on the hot and humid jungle nights the opening let the
night breeze through the rooms, along with all the
mosquitoes of course. The roof was made of tin and
lying in my bed I could see through many small holes
and cracks out at the night sky. Since we paid the
expensive room price we had a bathroom with a cold
gravity fed shower which was very refreshing after a
hard jungle trek. Outside our room was the bathroom
for the other rooms and it was also open to the
outside without a door, there was a huge fifty-gallon
drum that was kept filled with fresh water for cleaning
and washing clothes. The hotel lobby was interesting,
along the counter there were jars filled with dead
coral snakes that were found around the hotel and
caught.
After showering and resting for a while I
wanted to run around the small town and take
pictures and check out some of the local trader's
shops. I went to one that caught my eye due to a clear
glass case displaying skulls of all kinds. He also had a
large supply of jaguar and Ocelot skins. James talked
to the owner and he said that he had just got word
that a local native chief had just killed a very large
jaguar. Contrary to popular belief, there are many
jaguars in this area and the natives are very glad when
they are killed, many children are carried away from
these cats every day in South America.
We then
proceeded to walk down to the mighty river, I noticed
that there were some people bathing in it. They didn't
seem to mind the eyes of a stranger. People in this
area are very simple and innocent nudity is not a big
deal to them and sexual crime is never heard of. Most
people here have strong morals and don't budge from
their values and even though there is prostitution it is
kept behind closed doors for the sake of the children.
The river's banks were covered in thick trees
towering many feet high, the jungle was so thick along
the banks I could definitely imagine the hostel tribes
hiding along the banks ambushing explorers and
missionaries as they innocently passed by. I went to a
small outdoor restaurant on the corner of the square
to grab a bite to eat and for James to visit with a
friend who worked there. His name was Pepe and he
was the man we were hoping to hire as our guide for
our jungle excursion. From my chair I could see the
river and the Town Square and I loved watching the
local people walking around and the children playing
in the dusty streets.