A LA JUNGLA

Again, this is both of us writing. This and the following posts will be re-capping the events of the last week. Because we`ve just been SOOO BUSY!

The overnight bus from Quito to Lago Agrio (our second overnight bus in a row) was, undoubtedly, a mistake. Here are some hightlights:
*Permanently ear-destroying music
*A constantly playing kung-fu movie starring Jet Li and that tool from The Transporter
*A more-nauseating ride than The Teacups
*A locked bathroom with no key
*A fuzzy penis doll hanging from the rear view mirror
*CC (Josh editorial: at the angriest I have seen him this entire trip) trying to pee into a bottle but finding the road too bumpy for even that simple provision

Once in Lago Agrio (Spanish for ¨No Lake, Just Sketch¨), we walked the three blocks to the hotel (missing it three times coming from two directions) that we were getting a ride from at 9 am. WHICH WAS IN 4 AND A HALF HOURS. Because it was 4:30 in the morning. So we were tired and we took a nap in the most expensive room we`ve had yet.

Shortly after, our bitterness, our anger, and our sense of defeat melted away at the sight of our favorite couple who can`t speak American. It was those potty-mouthed, flat-living, tube-riding lymies James & Hannah. To picture Hannah, picture Mary Poppins without the bag. To picture James, picture Mary Poppins with Prince William´s haircut and a bigger bag. They are our friends. Even if they are MEGA-OLD.

The jungle accomodations were nice, though an unexpected treat was our third roomate, Heinwich, a portly Belgian with a keen sense of judgement and a stagnant sense of style (read: he never changed clothes). Our days were filled with Nam-like motor-canoe rides down a winding river, muddy tramps through the dense jungle foilage and late-night swims with pirhanas and the microscopic worms that can swim up your weiner. Also, very un-Nam-like three course lunches. The cutest aspect of this trip, though--cuter than toucans, cuter than Shirley Temple, cuter even than Heinwich--was a wooly monkey that CC named "Mono" and Josh named "William S. Burroughs." As aforementioned, CC slept with this monkey in the kind of human/animal embrace that Disney movies and widespread third world epidemics are born out of.

Also, CC lost his camera in the jungle. We are told that he will get it back in a week, but we are figuring that there is now a young puma building up a portfolio to one day become a respected photo-journalist.