Visiting Some Friends In Tena

White Water Rafting Team

It had been quite a while since I last went to the jungly realm of Tena. It had been at least 6 months or so ago, when I travelled out with a big group of American´s, which included Brenna.

Skip forward half a year though, and my German friend, Jens, had been working on an internship in Quito. However, he specialised in forestry and so he was delighted to finally get out and work in the jungle. He was based in Tena and loved it out there. His girlfriend Marie had also applied to do an internship in Ecuador and ended up getting a job in a hospital, also in Tena. Myself and three amigas decided that a weekend trip out to see them was a must.

Tena is hot. I mean its jungle so you have to expect that, but coming from the mountainous climate of Quito, it really hits you when you arrive, especially the humidity. It´s a 6 hour windy bus ride to Tena and we didn´t arrive until late on the Friday night. It was thus not until the following day that we met up with Jens and Marie.

Our first excursion was to the caves. I had actually done this last time I came to Tena but its a pretty cool activity to do out here so it didn´t bother me at all. The cave trip takes about an hour, walking past stalactites and stalagmites, around columns and often over a lot of bat poo!!! They take you to parts were you have to swim in the underground rivers, lie in the (good-for-your-skin) mud and stand under cave waterfalls. It´s completely dark in the caves save for your headlamps, and so the trip mostly involved scaring the more vulnerable in our group - all in good nature of course.

On our second day (minus Ella and Nina who were not keen), the group headed out to do some White Water Rafting. It was only my second opportunity attempting this activity and the first time was only attempted a few months previously. Tena is a renowned spot for this water sport and so it had to be done while we were all here. Six weeks earlier, a tourist in Baños (where I had done it for my first time) died during a White Water Rafting trip, by not following some crucial instructions. We thus first had a detailed briefing on keeping safe.

It was a full day of adventure. We set out early and hit the river for about 2 hours in the morning. The rapids came in stages, interspersed by periods of quiet, where we would all have a chat before hitting the next set of waves. We later pulled over at the side of the bank for a delicious lunch. First we took a walk throug the jungle though, to a huge waterfall. The walk involved wading through a river and rock climbing before we eventually reached our destination. At the falls we all swam in the freezing water and covered ourselves in more therapeutic mud.

In the afternoon we hit the water again for more rapid action. This included our guide tipping the raft on purpose, before we all climbed back on and eventually floating our way back to Tena. The whole day out was a lot of fun, though for about three days after I didn´t want to be wet again.

On the rest of our trip out there, we spent our time eating in the amazing restaurants they have on the river and drinking cocktails. Tena is a great spot for escaping work and the hectic life of Quito - despite the fact I generally filled my time doing very unrelaxing activities. It´s certainly nice to be around nature after weeks of a big city though. I think most people feel that.

We left Jens and Marie in Tena and headed back to the Capital. It was only a week until my birthday and rumours of a party bus had spread like wild-fire...............................