Welcome to the Jungle

..............................................................we got fun 'n' games,

We got everything you want, honey we know the names

We are the people that can find whatever you may need

If you got the money honey, we got your disease.............

And so the song goes.

Indeed there is fun and games but unlike the jungle in G´n´R´s version, it´s a bit hot and sticky, and there´s only one decent restaurant in Tena but its run by mad people with a flipping sloth hanging off the ceiling.

We came to Tena to arrange a trip to the jungle and after much searching, ended up getting something arranged at the Hostal Limoncocha who do tours from Coca, a town about 4hours north. We did try looking at tours from Tena but to be frank, they all sounded rubbish. The one from Coca sounds a bit more like it and will last 3 days.

But before all that, it turns out this is Carnival weekend where this lot go a bit bonkers. We ended up going to two beach partys in places by rivers. One was in Shandia, about 1/2 hr away by bus and was pretty much just the locals, a canadian volunteer bloke and us. I ended up getting roped in to a inner tube race down the river, what a blast and I somehoew even managed to come 3rd.

3rd place ain´t so bad

Kids pelting the bus

The other party the following day was held in Misahuali, again about 1/2 hr away on the bus. This was different though as it was packed and there were a few gringos about too. It was basically the biggest water fight I´ve ever seen, we were totaly drenched but at least we´d thought to wear our swimmers to the party. It was a brilliant laugh though and there a few bands who we could salsa away to and then came the Pilsener ´Lovely Girl´competition (just like in Father Ted) which basically involved some rather under-dressed young ladies getting beer poured over them. It was really all so sexist and I´m sure very degrading for the ladies in question so it was just as well yours truly was there to report.

I´m not really sure this is what the

missioneries intended when they came here

Beach party

Ha ha!