Feb 22nd 2009 - Welcome to the Cloud Rainforest

We had an early start before our trip to Puerto Quito in the cloud rainforest, with just enough time to pick up our (still wet) laundry and a bagel before getting the bus. With this minimal breakfast I soon started to feel a bit hungry and when we hit a traffic jam I took advantage by buying some chicken on a stick from a random guy selling on the side of the road. It was either a brilliant business plan as there were always issues or he went around creating issues so he could sell his chicken everyday.

The hostel was right in the middle of the cloud rainforest and you could tell that this was a very different hostel to what we had experienced before as there was a lizard and a caiman in little pen. The canopy was amazing – lots of strong greens with colourful flowers infiltrating though. The canopy was so dense that even rain doesn’t seem to get through. It was a beautiful setting with the wonderful wooden buildings.

We had a bit of lunch before spending a few hours by the pool next to a massive spider. We played volleyball and piggy-in-the-middle and it was so hot and humid that the pool was the perfect place to be. We had a magical evening with candlelight, great food and bats flying above our heads. We had a mini Oscar Night (I won ‘Best Ginger English Speaker') and then we played a game called ‘Werewolf’, which I didn’t really understand, with the noise of the rain making for a great atmosphere.

Then later I wrote in my journal….

‘Okay, I was so wrong about the rain. It has been absolutely pouring down with thunder ad lightning. It has been like this for ages, it sounds nice but all of my clothes which were drying are now wet again. The thatch in the roof is leaking, I really hope our rooms are holding up better!’