The highlight of my summer was definitely our incredible two week canoe trip down the Teslin and Yukon Rivers.  Unlike last year’s trip, this time Chelsea and I had some company – both our dads (Doug and Jim) came along for the ride, and Chelsea’s brother Shawn & his friend Sarah joined us for the second half.  As much as we enjoy each other’s company, it was a nice change to have some other people around to mix things up (and allow more options for the evening card games!).  One of the best parts for me was being able to share such an awesome trip with my dad, who’s the main reason I’m into all this outdoorsy nature stuff to begin with.  Thanks everyone for helping pack the trip with so many unforgettable moments!  =)

Since it’s taken me such a long time to put together this post (I’ve been busy, get off my back!), I’ll skip the nitty gritty details and stick to some of the more memorable moments.  If you’re interested in the practical details on the trip, I stuck those at the end.  So, with no further doo-doo, I present to you "Stories from the River".  Enjoy!
~ Mandrew

Who needs bear spray when you’ve got Mandrew Musk™?
One morning before we’d all gotten up, Doug was lying awake in his tent when he heard something moving around beside him.  He peeked out and saw a black bear sniffing about.  Not wanting to alarm anyone (or the bear) he quietly watched as it made its way around our camp and over to our tent.  Just as it reached us I happened to rip out a nice loud fart, startling the bear and causing it to flee for its life.  Yup, I've got skills.

Well, after our amazing and educational 5-day trek to La Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City), we decided it was time to do some intense relaxing.  We didn't know where we were going to go next, but a quick look at my notebook (where I keep all my notes about places to stay from other travelers we meet along the way) gave us some ideas. 

A friend named Shawn who we met in Ecuador in January had recommended a hostel called Rancho Relaxo, located just outside Tayrona National Park, an area that sounded amazing. We couldn't remember why he recommended it, but I had drawn two big stars beside the note so it must have been something good.

After our time in San Gil we were ready to head north to the Caribbean and spend some time lounging on a beach, but not before earning it.  We arrived in Santa Marta early in the morning and settled into a hostel near the main market area.  At first glance the city was pretty terrible: smelled of urine and rotting garbage mixed with thick black car exhaust, noisy vehicles, sketchy people, etc.  I had no interest in walking around so after inquiring into “La Ciudad Perdida” (the Lost City) five-day trek through the jungle, I decided to relax and read a book for the rest of the day.  

Andrew went to the bank machine and for a little walk around our area.  I had expected him to take longer but after 10 or 15 minutes he barged into the room panicking, with something tucked away in his shirt.  At first I thought it was a mouse or a small rat, Andrew just mumbled that he had found it screaming on a sidewalk and could barely explain that no one seemed to care and someone made fun of him for picking it up!  It was a TINY kitten.  Couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 days old, with eyes still closed and one of them swollen to half the size of its head.  Its hair was thick with dirt and smelled like human urine!  Our hearts broke and we didn’t know what to do.  Feeling like this kitten urgently needed some food, we left the hostel in search of a veterinarian.  It took us far too long to find one but we eventually did after wandering through nasty smelly sweaty streets and market stands.  We bought a container of kitten milk powder that you just add water to and a syringe we could use to try and feed him.  We hurried back to the hostel and sterilized the syringe.  Using a damp towel I cleaned the kitten as best I could while Andrew mixed some milk.  It took some time to convince the kitten to eat from the syringe, but with patience we got the job done.  

WOW - about sums it up!  We just spent two weeks in Northern Patagonia (the Arctic of South America) with a rental truck.  It is a weird time of year to do it since it is fall now and too cold for most tourists (but not us Canadianses) but it was great because we had the whole place to ourselves!  

Ideally maybe it would have been nicer to camp with either warmer weather, or proper cold weather camping gear.  We did camp a few nights but were really freezing cold (there was ice involved) so whenever possible we stayed in hostels (which were so expensive, like US$30/night compared to the rest of SA, avg US$10).  The coldniss and rainyniss also made hiking slightly less enjoyable, though for the most part we had pretty good weather, considering.

We started our two week truck rental in Puerto Montt (see travel map, southern Chile) and decided to also return it there since it would cost an extra US$500 to drop it off in another town, jeeeesh.  We got the extra insurance to be able to cross the border into Argentina (about $100 extra) and then headed out!  Our itinerary was a bit screwed up since we didn't have much success researching the best routes to take etc.  So if you are reading this as a travel guide for yourself I have a number of recommendations at the bottom of this so you don't waste time like we did!

After a fun-filled week in Quito we decided it was time to make our way into the jungle.  After spending a day preparing for the trip, we hopped on a bus to Coca.  The bus left late in the evening and arrived around 5:00am, which is usually too early to find a place to sleep so we chilled/napped at the bus terminal for a couple of hours.  After the sun was up and things started moving outside we grabbed a cab to Hotel Florida ($12) near the river.  It was without a doubt the filthiest place we've stayed yet, but it was at least a place to take a nap, shower and keep our stuff while we wandered around town looking for options to get to Nuevo Rocafuerte (NR).  Coca is quite large and busy, and definitely not a tourist destination.  We eventually found a couple of tourist offices and asked for information about tours and/or boats heading down the river.  Tours into Yasuni National Park are expensive ($300 per person for 3 days) so we quickly ruled that out and decided to see if we could find a more affordable guide ourselves once we arrived in NR.  We found that there was a boat through one of the transportation co-ops by the port due to head to NR the next morning (perfect!) and was only $15 each (though we later saw that some of the locals had paid as little as $4 each... we'd been Gringo’d again… but what can ya do).

Right after talking with the tourist office and buying our boat tickets, we decided to head back to the hotel and rest.  We had just started down the street when a creepy looking guy on a motorcycle, who had been parked on a curb beside the tourist office, started his motor and began following very closely behind us.  When I looked back it was super obvious that he had his sights set on us (though, as usual, we weren't carrying anything valuable along with us - just a small backpack with our Lonely Planet and Mandrew's slimy handkerchiefs).  Before long, we noticed a little shop across the street with two big guys stocking the display, and we quickly crossed to duck inside.  We pretended to look around for a few minutes but when we looked outside he was still there, staring at us maliciously.  I smiled back as if to say “ok, we are on to you, it’s not going to happen so move on!” but he just stared back.  I went back inside and told the store guys what was going on - they agreed we should stay in the store, and found us a place to wait where we couldn’t be seen from the street.  We ended up having to wait over 20 minutes before the guy finally gave up!  It was brutal how obvious he was - what the hell was his game?  The storeowner said he was shocked by it, especially in this part of town, but we had been feeling a bit of an unfriendly vibe since we arrived.  For the rest of the day we left the backpack at the hotel and stuck to busy streets.

The next morning at 7:00am we departed on a CRAZY packed lancha (like a really big canoe) to NR.  We were told the trip would take 10 hours, so we arrived early and scored some seats near the front of the boat, maybe better for sightseeing.  At first there weren’t too many people or things aboard, but as we waited to depart we realized that the massive crowd of people on the street above, as well as the mountain of stuff piled on the dock, was meant for our boat.  To say the very least, it was insanely packed!  And the boat wasn’t all that big.  There were probably 30 or 40 women with newborn babies scattered in the crowd as well, and it seemed that no matter where you looked there was someone breastfeeding openly.  

Yes they are real, and we have seen them!  There is a story for the more manly in here too, don't worry.  It involves criminals and crocodiles... !

During our trip along the Rio Napo from Coca to Iquitos our first stop was in a tiny town called Nuevo Rocafuerte, the place to find a local guide to take you on a trip into Yasuni National Park (without having to pay the crazy prices quoted by travel agencies in Coca).

We met Roni Cox while walking around Nuevo Rocafuerte (NR) after only ten minutes.  He pulled his motorcycle over to us and asked (in Spanish, of course) if we wanted a guide (himself) to Yasuni National Park.  While that is exactly what we were looking for and he seemed super cool, we weren’t too quick to accept.  We had been reading a few too many horror stories about people going into the jungle with fake “guides” who essentially take people down the river to their friend’s place and rob and/or murder them.  I don’t think any of these stories came directly from NR, but after the weirdo motorbike robber encounter in Coca, we've been a bit more on our toes.  We told him that we were actually looking for Frederico (a guide that a Park Ranger recommended to us) but we would consider his offer and come by his house later that day to let him know.  We knew that there was a College in town (down the only street) that trains guides so we went there and asked if they knew Roni.  They sure did and said that he was great. 

Within a few hours we managed to meet a couple of solo travellers, María-José from Chile and Rodrigo from Argentina, who were also looking to go into the park and after some consideration the four of us decided to go for it!

Roni turned out to be a great guide, very enthusiastic and funny.  The four of us had a blast riding in the smaller lancha (boat with outboard motor) through the Yasuni River and into a large lagoon called Jatuncocha (Quecha for "large lake").  We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the park, hiking for a few hours each day, learning about the plants and birds, watching the pink river dolphins breaching in the river (SO COOL!!), and fishing for piranhas before dark.  After eating dinner and playing a couple rounds of cards (ninety-nine, or noventa y nueve en Español), we took the lancha out to do some caiman watching!  We really didn’t have too much chill time, always on the go and keeping watch for some rare creatures!  Mandrew had a great time snapping photos of birds as we passed by - he said it was a lot like the video game "Pokemon Snap" or something ... On the last day we did end up seeing the giant river otters, which was a great bonus! 

When we got back to NR we parted ways with María-José and Rodrigo, sadly as they were a lot of fun, and started looking into plans to get further down the river, eventually to Iquitos in Peru which we have been told can take anywhere from 3-11 days on a barca (cargo boat).  We had been hearing rumours that there would be one leaving from Pantoja (the first small town on the Peruvian side of the border) on Saturday or Sunday (it was Wednesday at this point).  It's always a bit hard to tell with this kind of info in these small, isolated towns - we actually thought near the end that we may have somehow started this rumour ourselves - so really weren’t too confident.  At any rate, we'd had enough of NR and decided to make our way across the border and into Pantoja to try our luck.

We spent the last week or so in and around Quito, the highest city in Ecuador (at 2800 metres above sea level).  With a population of about two million it’s a reasonably large city, though the surrounding mountains squeeze it into such a long and narrow shape that it can take hours to travel from one end to another.  Despite our general dislike of large cities, we actually enjoyed a couple afternoons wandering around and taking in the sights: epic churches, interesting museums, huge parks, artisanal markets, and interesting architecture - oh, and there’s also a pub with craft beer which is a much needed change from the usual boring Ecuadorian beer.

One of the main reasons we decided to visit Quito is because a friend of mine, Michael-Anthony (usually just “M.A.”) happened to be here for an IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience... phew!) conference.  M.A. and I have shared some other interesting coincidences in the past – on my first day of work during my IAESTE internship in Vienna in 2007, I walked into the office only to find M.A. (who was also taking Mechanical Engineering at UofT) sitting at the desk beside mine.  For whatever reason, we had to travel halfway around the world to become friends, and had soon drank half the beer in Austria and formed an impromptu band with a couple other interns... some great memories.  It was nice to spend some time catching up and taking in some of the sights.  He also snuck us onto a bus tour and scored us a free lunch, helping us pose as conference attendees.  =)

The center of Quito is located about 25 km south of the actual equator, and one of the more interesting stops on the bus tour was at “la mitad del mundo” – a site marking the location (or close enough) of the actual equator.  Our tour guide eagerly demonstrated some of the phenomena associated with being on the equator, most of which M.A. and I, being rational engineers, tried to debunk.  The one that really irked us was the demonstration of water draining in a sink, with the direction changing due to the Coriolis Effect.  The demonstration showed that the same sink drained differently depending on where it was placed:  directly on the equator (draining straight down), ten feet north of the equator (draining counter-clockwise), and ten feet south of the equator (draining clockwise).  At first we were a bit baffled, but upon looking closer we noticed that the guy leading the show was totally cheating!!  Before draining the sink on the equator, the water was left for a few minutes to make sure it was completely still, but right before the demos off of the equator the water was poured from a bucket in such a way as to already get the water moving in the right direction.  Poppycock, I say!  Once the demo ended, we stepped in and were able to, by pouring from the bucket in the right way, get the water to drain the opposite way it was supposed to.  BAH.  I’m not disputing the Coriolis Effect, I’m just saying there’s no way it can make a difference over such a small scale… anyways, maybe we were taking things too seriously.

The other reason we came to Quito is its proximity to Cotopaxi National Park, about fifty kilometres south of Quito and the home of Cotopaxi, Rumiñahui, and Sincholagua volcanoes, with Cotopaxi being among the highest active volcanoes in the world.  If you’ve been keeping up with our adventures so far, you’d know that we were way overdue for a volcano hike, though the high elevation made this one a much different experience from La Concepción and Telica (Nicaragua) and Arenal (Costa Rica).

"Six days, 228 miles, a close grizzly encounter, way too much sun, an incredible thunderstorm, and a constant feeling of awe - this was a trip we'll both remember for a lifetime."

We spent the last four days hiking and nature watching in Corcovado, the largest of Costa Rica’s National Parks and reportedly one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet.  We saw a ton of cool creatures, took over a thousand photos & over an hour of video footage, ate a ridiculous amount of tuna and peanut butter, worked the hell out of our legs, and returned to civilization the dirtiest and smelliest we’ve ever been.  All in all, a great success in our book.  =)

We spent three nights at Sirena Ranger Station, deep in the heart of the park.  To get there, we took what I’ll now term a “potato bus” (more on this later) from Puerto Jimenez to the end of the road at Carate, then hiked a beautiful 20 km along the Pacific coast, at times working our way up and around large rock outcrops or wading through streams and rivers.  When we had originally gotten our park permits and spoken with the park staff in Jimenez, we were told we’d need to be on the trails by 6am in order to hit the final river crossing (at the Rio Claro) during low tide - crossing at high tide is not recommended, partly due to dangerous currents that could suck you out into the ocean, and partly because the deeper waters allow bull sharks and crocodiles to make their way up the river to feed on fish (or unlucky tourists).  We thought we’d take this fairly seriously, and decided to catch the bus to Carate the night before the hike to allow us to get a nice, early start.

Our original plan was to arrive in Carate and find a nice secluded spot to pitch a tent, probably somewhere along the beach.  As we were boarding the “bus” from Jimenez, however, we bumped into a couple frazzled-looking backpackers first words to us were, “DON’T CAMP ON THE BEACH!” – they had just returned to town after having their bags stolen from them while camping on the beach in Carate the night before.  Yikes – we rode to Carate, and with only a couple hours of daylight to spare and no real idea where we’d end up spending the night, we began our trek down the beach.  We were starting to get a bit worried after about 45 minutes in, until we noticed a quaint little property just off the beach with a perfectly mown lawn, impeccably kept gardens, and a few small huts – where the hell were we??  We wandered in and struck up a conversation with the only guy in sight, an older gentleman named Bob who quickly realized we were in a bit of a pickle and said he had no problem with us pitching our tent on the grass.  It turned out that he and his son Kelly were on vacation from Northern California, spending a week of it on the property which was owned by a friend of a friend of theirs.  In no time, Bob and Kelly were sharing with us their dinner of beans & rice (what else), some great conversation (did you guys know about this Ison comet that’s approaching extremely close to Earth?), and even the last of their special stash (which we smoked from their little seashell pipe).  Chelsea and I felt like we’d stumbled into some fairytale paradise, and were happy to contribute one of our very precious chocolate covered coffee beans and a Snickers bar, which we all shared for dessert.  An unexpected but most excellent evening!

We spent five nights in Leon (including one night camping on an active volcano!) and loved every minute of it!  After spending lots of time in the rainforest and on a beach, we thought it was time to see a little culture.  Leon is pretty small but has a great market and a ton of history.  It isn’t as touristy as other cities either, which made it attractive for us.  We stayed at Sonati, an interesting hostel run by a volunteer organization that gives environmental tours to backpackers and educates the local children in Leon.  

On our first day we split up and explored the city by ourselves.  I was so stinkin' hot I decided to buy a dress that was much much cooler than my yoga pants and t-shirt.  Andrew explored the markets and churches.  It was a nice relaxing day.

The next day we decided to take a tour with the Sonati group.  Johnny, a German dude who just so happened to turn 20 that day, was our tour guide on a daylong kayak trip through the mangrove forest!  Two other volunteers from the hostel joined in the fun for the day, Simon, another Sonati guide, and Emma the awesome receptionist, which made the trip extra fun.  

We left around 7:00am on foot from the hostel and walked a block or so before catching a local... truck-thing…  It was supposed to be a bus but apparently when they are short on busses they use pick-up trucks with canopies on the back and jam a TON of people in.  So we jumped on while it was basically still moving and I nearly fell out when they gunned it, thinking we were all secure (though they do this ALL THE TIME).  From there we switched to a real bus that was a little less crowded (but not by much) and had a bunch of people wandering through the aisle selling food and drinks.  You can buy just about anything from your seat on any bus in Nicaragua, it seems.  At bus stops sometimes people will board the bus from the front with a basket of baked goods or other treats and walk to the back trying to sell, advertising their goods quickly and loudly kind of like an auctioneer.  Then when they get to the back they hang out until the next stop and get off.  It is very interesting!  We’ve seen them sell everything from baked things, ice-cream, corn-on-the-cob, little plastic bags of juice, razors, nail clippers, hammocks, DVD’s, SIM cards, and even pharmaceuticals.

Anyways, I digress, so we get to the kayak place around nine, get in our kayaks and off we go!  It was so gorgeous!  But after an hour or so we started thinking it might be fun to check out some of the little channels that branch off of the main river, something Johnny had never done before, and it turned out to be super awesome!  We dragged ourselves through the narrow mangrove channels by pulling on the roots ahead of ourselves and came out into some neat ponds with birds, bugs, crabs and even a raccoon in one spot.  At lunchtime we made it back to the main channel and stopped off at a beach spot to chillax, eat a bunch, and swim in the ocean.  It was an awesome day!  And to top it off, when we got back to the hostel, everyone that was staying there, and more (probably 20 people or more!) decided to throw Johnny a surprise birthday party!  Emma and I made up a delicious chickpea salad thing, and Andrew did a couple of beer runs to contribute (20 cordobas, about $0.80 for a LITRE of beer!).  The dinner was great, and the company was even greater!  After dinner and a bunch of drinks I decided to call it a night but Andrew stayed out and played Flinky-Ball, a German drinking game that sounds a lot like dodgeball.

The next morning we got up and packed our bags for a two-day trek up Telica, an active volcano in the area.  People were a bit hung over so we got a later start than we had planned, but we picked up a few more hikers, which was great!  We had Johnny and Simon again, our friend Devon who we had hiked La Conception with on Isla de Ometepe a few weeks earlier, and a girl named Anna who arrived at the hostel the night before and after some consideration we had convinced to come along.  

It was a 15min walk to the bus station, then an hour-long bus ride to the starting trail.  The hike was incredible!  We started out at some boiling mud pots that smelled like sulfur then headed up a dried riverbed/ cattle trail and up over some farmland.  It wasn’t until after lunch that we started the climb.  I made a bad decision to eat two peanut butter sandwiches even though I don’t like peanut butter, because I was so hungry by the time we stopped for lunch.  Unfortunately the steep hill with a nasty peanut butter filled stomach was not so pleasant.  I managed to keep it all down but couldn’t stand the sight of peanut butter for the rest of the trip, and that’s almost the only thing we brought… (I traded for other things).  Once we made it to the cone, the view was surreal!  A massive smoking cone sprouting out of the hillside and a frozen lava river spilled over the top.  We quickly set up our tents as we had less than an hour before sundown, and then headed up to check out the cone!  It was loud, like a jet engine but muted.  The cone was about 1km across and maybe that deep.  We stood and crouched on the edge, literally where the ground cuts deep into the engine below.  Yes we did acknowledge how dangerous it was there, but how could you resist!  Deep in the center of the pit was a fiery glowing red hole with smoke spewing out.  After staring at the lava hole for some time, mesmerized, we got up and walked to the other side of the cone to watch the sunset before heading back for dinner (a delicious homemade Dutch veggie mush dish made by Simon and Johnny) and topped it off with some roasted marshmallows at the campfire.  

The next morning was equally awesome, we woke up early to see the sun rise (4:30) then hiked back up to the cone for another look before cruising around to a bat cave that Simon found one time when he was guiding another group up there.  It was neat-o!  And then we headed back down the volcano.  The hike back was fun and quick, but everyone’s legs were happy for the break by the time we got on the bus to go home.

So while our cultural visit to Leon itself was a little short, we got to see some super neat things, meet some new friends, as well as an “old” friend, Devon.

After Leon we hoped back on the Chicken Bus and headed to Jinotega to stay on a finca/ nature retreat called La Biosfera, about two and a half hours north of Leon.  We found La Biosfera on helpx.org while looking for another place to do some volunteering, and chose it partly because there is a bat cave there, and partly because it sounds very unique!  

Hope everyone is well at home!  I would like to congratulate my Dad and Carolyn on a successful hunting and fishing year!  They finally got two moose and 27 Coho salmon!  Of course it isn't all for them as there were others in the group to split with, but the freezer is full this winter which is awesome!  We are also getting excited to spend two weeks with Donna and Jim (Mandrew's parents) who will be heading to Costa Rica on Nov 11th!  Can't wait to see you!!

Love,
Chelsea

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