Getting Started in Ecuador: 7 hour bus ride out into the jungle

First Impressions of Quito
Where do I even start with my first impressions of Quito?? Like I wrote in my last email, flying through the Andes was pretty cool. We flew from one mountain over another and another, each time we dipped into a new valley I thought that it would be time to land. We flew like that for about 10 minutes though - which gave me ample time to realize what a big, spread out city Quito is. With a population of about 1.4 million, it's pretty big, and from the air, and from the ground, it looks like the definition of urban sprawl.

On the ground the story isn't much different. Ecuador is the first developing country that I have visited, and arriving here from the US tri-state area kind of sent me into shock. I don't think any description or picture would really do it justice. The only way that I can explain it is that it looks like this place was once thriving and is now sort of just in decay. There are lots of cars, no traffic guidelines, it feels kind of dirty, and unfortunately kind of unsafe, especially at night. Luckily when I first got here I met a nice German girl traveling by herself and I was able to spend my first few days with her to get used to the city. Still, when it finally came time to leave I was very, very ready to head to the jungle. Between the general feeling of the city, and the effect that the high altitude had on me (shortness of breath and shaky hands), the departure was a welcome one.

Bussing it Out to the Jungle
About a month before I left for Ecuador I read an article in the NY Times about the bus system in Ecuador - about how effective and extensive it is, and about how many different types of food you can eat on a single bus ride through the 'avenue of the volcanoes.' In my Lonely Planet guide book I also read about how overwhelming the bus station can feel and how the buses are notorious for thieves and bumpy rides. I can now say from personal experience that all of the above is true. The ride was bumpy, for sure, especially once we got out of the city and started the descent into the jungle. The bumps were accompanied mostly by two things of note: vistas of what seemed like never ending forests as far as the eye could see, and loud music. Musical highlights were Spanish salsa and, my favorite, Broadway or 80s tunes (think Footloose music, and 'I need a hero'). We stopped occasionally along the way to pick up people standing on the side of the road, who hopped on the bus to sell various foods (all of which I was too afraid to eat), or to drop people off in villages that were mostly composed of unfinished houses with laundry hanging off of the porches to dry.

After leaving Quito, the bus went directly to Tena, which is supposedly a tourist center, but to me, looked more like another decaying city - dirt roads, half built buildings and houses, and people all over the place. From Tena, I boarded an extremely hot, extremely crowded bus out to the Jatun Sacha reserve. It took about 40 minutes, I sat next to a woman who spoke Quichua (the language of indigenous people in Ecuador) and we exchanged brief friendly words and smiles until I arrived at the station. A long journey, but I made it out to the jungle!

Above: One of the volcanoes along the "Avenue of Volcanoes" that the bus takes on the way to the Jatun Sacha reserve. Usually it is covered in clouds, so this was a lucky shot!