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Latest news: Halfway through their respective projects, the jungle crew met up with the Quito gang at an idyllic hostel for a weekend break. The Team:
From: Rea & Camillia Great excitement last week as the two groups met up in Papa Gayo. The jungle crew considered a spontaneous change of plan as the 3hr bus journey promised by Cally turned into a 5hr sweaty nightmare consisting of bus changes, mud slides and much time spent sitting in traffic jams! The Quitan crew didn´t recognise the appearance of the junglers in our now obligatory wear of stripey trousers (pajamas) and second hand random t-shirts. Papa Gayo is a beautiful hostel situated 1hr from Quito set in beautiful surroundings, ie. horses, beautiful gardens, swings, rivers, waterfalls etc and as far as the jungle crew were concerned beds, hot showers, fireplace, sofas etc etc!! On the first night we had a barbecue and sat round the camp fire as there was lots of catching up to do. Second day some of the team went by local bus to a village up the road to what we thought had been billed as ´bull fighting´ which turned out to be a rodeo style cattle event (?). To add to the excitement Matt and Roxy, feeling rather hungry, picked up a bargain of guinea pig and potatoes, not quite sure what they feed them over here (Matt & Roxy or the guinea pigs?! Ed.) but you definitely get your moneys worth. That night we partied hard, culminating in a dance off consisting of Bella and her robot ballerina moves, Cally and her triathlon moves and Jules with her hippy freestyle. A good night had by all. Roxy, Laura and Rea spent the night debating Israli politics with the manager of the hotel. The next morning everyone was ´tired´ particulary Ed who came down with a mysterious stomach bug, must have been the meal he ate before his vodka shots! Farewells said as the jungle crew hit the road to hitchhike back to Puyo. After two days hard work back at the Park the two boys, Mark and Ed excelled themselves reaching the top of the food leader board with a romantic Valentines day meal, consisting of a three course meal, white table cloth, hand made menu, individual roses in assorted colours for all us chica´s, champane, sweets, candles, music, all the while dressed in frilly white aprons. A Valentine's Day never to be forgotten. Project progressing well, Katie has been promoted to Quality Control for mixing cement, if Lucy´s Uni plans don´t pan out she can always take up plastering as she at one point was brave enough to be plastering herself inside the toilet. Being the best Spanish speaker of the group, Camilla has gained a reputation of quickly cementing strong links with the local community! All really looking forward to the weekend when everyone hooks up and we hit the road!! (Rea and Camilla)
The emotions that stemmed from the farewells of the end of last week as the group split into two were soon replaced by a mixture of apprehension and excitement as the jungle side of the venture kicked into action. Even so, we couldn't help but shed a tear for the comrades we were leaving behind, made all the worse by Chucky D underlining why we all love him so much as our trucks pulled away - "I'll e-mail you the Burnley scores Mark cos you probably won't have internet access!" (For the project phase the group split in two: half undertake a jungle project constructing a traditional Shuar communal building as part of an ongoing project to preserve the Shuar Indians' way of life. The other half remain in Quito where they undertake an urban project. Ed.) Jungle life is treating us well, even if a number of issues have cropped up that have made certain parts of the group uneasy. First and foremost was the shocking revelation that it tends to rain in the rainforest (the clue's in the name...). Another issue is that of the thousands of equatorial diseases that are ripping through the group. The two latest casualties were the only males of the group Mark and Ed, struck down by fever and stomach illnesses. How much complaining can be justified is dubious though as they've been treated to the combined maternal instincts of 6 students, a leader and a Shuar (a tribe) herbal expert called Theresa...Strange tea-like medicine all round... Surprisingly, insects haven't proved a massive obstacle to the groups enjoyment of the wild (despite a certain member of the group screaming like a little girl and running a mile if a spider is sighted...MARK) and Ed has even started photographing for his forthcoming book on insects, titled 'Why bugs are our friends.' If any other members of the group try to complain about insects, their voices are generally drowned out by the sound of Katie screaming her head off as she temporarily loses yet another item...socks and bras seem to be the most commonly misplaced...(and her bag seems to be the usual culprit...) While the boys have taken to traditional indigenous, the girls have run riot in the markets of Puyo, adorning themselves with a wide variety of weird and wonderful t-shirts - most notably Lucy´s "YMCA Healthy Kids Day" little number, and Laura's t-shirt, proudly stating that she "climbed everest for cancer"! All in all though, the jungle has proved an enjoyable and worth while experience so far, and our parents can sleep easy in the knowledge that we are all growing as people. You may as well as we certainly cant get a good night's sleep with Bella's incessant sleep-whining and Camilla's tendency to make up handshakes in her sleep with her neighbours...(before proceeding to wake up and berate them for holding her hand...). ADIOS!
Hola folks! The losses to our group have been rather substantial. Cecily was snapped up even before she got on the plane and is now somewhere in Amsterdam with one Hector of Banyos(please send wedding presents to banyos, banyos town, s.america), that is if she ever gets there!!! Justin has been signed by a Quitan football team after being sighted in a local park displaying his tremendous talent, (his university place at Southhampton is now open). Following a weekend in Otovalo featuring brutal cockfights, Juliet has decided to take up cockerel-rearing as a future career. We are presently on our way home to the hearty bosom and open arms of papa Fernando and Mama Clarindo, our new parents. Due to our language difficulties we have accidentally agreed to be adopted by the above, sorry parents!!! Enjoying our cold beers and seeig as it´s Ed´s birthday we´re going to get him a little merry. Ria is finally on the mend and is a living example of how to defeat bird flu, good effort. We had an encounter today meeting another travelling group who go by the name of DeathQuest: there´s a football match of Ventureco vs Quest starting on Thursday at midday …let the battle commence. After much training by Cecily (via email) the women´s poker team is striving and almost ready to take on the lads!!!! Last night the ladies were luckily treated to Maximillions new purchase, a pair of (if some what short) stripey trousers, hot stuff!!!!!!! Oh yes and by the way Camilla has been held hostage in Otovalo market after spending all her spending money and the guides ceasing to remember her name, MARK!!!! Following a spider bite Katie is still with us, although unconscious due to our lack of funds and huge language barrier we are selling her to the highest bidder and despite being damaged goods (the spider bite), the red hair should fetch a good price! Following Mark´s display of architectural prowess using playing cards, he has now been commissioned to start work in the shanty town. Congratulations to Bella who has gained a place at Oxford Brookes (we hope they will appreciate her comments as much as we do): "A cockfight! But what about bird flu?!" Matt has finally decided to join the group after arriving very late from Lima, wé´re sure he'll be happy, if Cecily ever manages to get his name right: "matt, mark, max, ah!". Lucy´s recovering from head injuries received after taking the lucky position of the bed underneath Juliette, who not only sleep-talks but has developed a fetish for throwing guide books down off her bunk: "South America on a shoestring´, not appreciated by poor Lucy!! Laura M, is still underneath a bar in Quito hiding from the Quest crew, where she crawled into on the eve of her birthday: we´re hoping to find her soon!!! Chucky D has managed to offend the girls on a number of occassions, his response to some makeup was "What´s that round your eyes, you look very scary". It didn´t go down too well, unsurprisingly, what a legend!! Roxanne is settling in excellently as fortunately for her she is not a fan of the irritating cowboy from texas!!!! Spanish is going fabulously with Laura D occassionally nodding off due to extreme tiredness, her teacher thinking she´s crazy, Ed just ceasing to understand anything (only joking) and being desperately jealous of Cecily and Laura D´s amazing lessons with their oh so cool teachers!! We have a HUGE Spanish test tomorrow, but I´m sure we´ll be alright, We´re attending the local pub quiz tonight to get our brains going!!!! We´ve just arrived back from Mindo where we spent a lovely peaceful weekend, tubing (bascically going down rapids in a tyre, yes it´s lethal but oh so fun), and jumping off some stunning waterfalls. We´re finally beginning to go out a little more, after being declared by Mark and Cally as the lamest group ever. We´re moving onwards and upwards and we WILL be as cool as Quest.
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