The Amazon Jungle

The sleeping giant awoke. For over eighty years things had been quiet and the sleepy village of Baños had continued undisturbed. Baños, meaning baths in Spanish, is nestled is a picturesque location on the descent from the highlands of Ecuador to the jungle in the east of the country. The village gets its name from a number of naturally hot water springs which have been captured to create hot baths in which to relax. But in 1999, on the upper slopes of Volcán Tungurahua, things were far from quiet and sleepy. So much so that 25,000 people were evacuated from the area. It seemed the giant volcano, at 16,479’ (5023m), was living up to its Quichua name – ‘throat of fire’. Amazingly, Volcán Tungurahua has been continually active from that time and continues to be so today, banks of ash and steam clouds being forced up and spewed into the atmosphere.

Baños is like a gateway to the lower and more tropical area of Ecuador that we visited next. It was nice to descend from the air thinned 10000’ to something more sensible, like 3000’. It was certainly a lot warmer – and wetter. The bus journey from Quito was just over five hours with stunning views across the jungle, that would be the Amazon jungle, as we descended past Baños and through a number of very small villages, some no bigger than a few rickety looking houses. Plunging waterfalls cascade down the side of the volcanoes and high ground, landslides occasionally meet the tarmac, as the road snakes its way along the Puyo River. Our final destination was a town called Shell.

You might think this sounds a very non-Ecuadorian name for a town. And you would be right. The town gets its name from the Royal Dutch Shell Company, who in 1937 we carrying out investigative works prospecting for oil. The then village of Shell comprised a number of shacks and a servicing airstrip. However, work in the region did not last that long, not necessarily because of the lack of oil, but because of the concerns for safety. The Indians of the jungle were known to be hostile to any outsiders – this was evidenced by a number of employees being killed. This was clearly a dangerous area to be. So in 1948 Shell, the company, left the area.


Around the next year, an organisation called Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) occupied Shell. MAF are a Christian organisation who seek to care for people both physically and spiritually, in areas of great human need and where being able to fly acts as a lifeline. In the remote jungles of Ecuador, if you are bitten by snake, MAF might just be your only chance of survival.


But being in Shell was quite an emotional experience too. And here is the story why.
In January 1956, one of the pilots for MAF, Nate Saint, who flew a Piper like the one shown in the photograph (located in the centre of Shell), together with four other men were speared to death by the feared Waorani tribe. The men had spent some months trying to initiate contact with these people who lived deep within the jungle, and were keen to share the good news of the Gospel with these tribes people. The news of the deaths of the five men made worldwide headlines – it all seemed to be for nothing. Yet what the men never knew was that through their deaths a door of opportunity opened for a sister of Nate Saint, and the wife of Jim Elliot (one of the other men killed) to return to the Waorani tribe and to share the Gospel. And this in turn, had dramatic results. Increasingly, the Waorani people had become embittered with revenge killings. Anger, immense anger at that it seems, was enough to justify killing someone. Virtually everyone in this tribe knew a member of their close family who had been murdered. In fact you were old aged if you made it to your thirties. The cycle of killing had become worse and worse to such an extent that the tribe was in jeopardy of simply destroying itself. It was around this very time that the five men were speared to death as they sought to share the Gospel – and yet what is most wonderful and amazing is that the very people who acted in this way have been utterly transformed by God’s grace. The killings have ceased and the tribe now wants to ‘walk God’s trail’. The very men who killed have become leaders in the church in the jungle and deep and lasting friendships have been forged between those who once killed and the families of those who were killed. And here we were in Shell, at the very house where these men left, never to return. It is a truly amazing story of God’s rich mercy, forgiveness and grace which overflowed from the families left behind and brought about a wonderful transformation. A quote from Jim Elliot, for me, summarises so much of what these men stood for:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

I was quite excited to have a look at some of the aircraft MAF has. Although we didn’t quite have a chance to fly over the jungle, we were gives a tour around the planes. How the pilots manage to land these things on remote jungle airstrips barely wide enough for the aircraft is beyond me. You must need some amount of craziness!!

Shell is much bigger today, with a whole town built to the one side of the airstrip, but it is still relatively small. Even so, the very real everyday needs of people are very apparent. We were privileged to help at an orphanage for a day, seeing children with physical and mental disabilities being shown care and love. The little girl here is called Grace. The older children have their own little classrooms whilst the younger babies and toddlers are cared for by other volunteers. Some of these children come from families where the parents are still alive but at the current time were unable to cope with the child. So with the possibility that these children may return to their families at a later date, things in the orphanage are kept as simple as possible – which can be a shock. But that is how people live.

One of the days we went into the jungle in an area called Hola Vida (literally being translated Hello Life). We walked in to see a waterfall and plunge pool where you can go swimming. On the way in we spotted leaf cutter ants (some up to an inch or so in length), tarantulas (look for the spot in the photo!) and even walking trees. The waterfall itself was very refreshing after the muggy walk in, the only downside being I felt I needed to look over my shoulder the whole time just in case some other animal decided to join me swimming around the plunge pool. Thankfully, I didn’t look that interesting to eat, except maybe to a few bugs. The force of the water falling from 80’ or so onto your back as you swim underneath the falls was pretty impressive, a little too strong for that massaging feel – unless of course you can hold your breathe for a few minutes and enjoy the experience 3’ underwater.
One of the best views we had of the jungle was from a balcony near Pomona where you can see the confluence of the Pastaza and Puyo Rivers. When we looked across these rivers there were many sand and gravel banks, clearly the river was in low flow. But every 10 years or so there are massive storms dumping rain on the hills, causing these rivers to swell to destructive proportions. You wouldn’t want to be around the river then!
From here the rivers flow on in a generally eastward direction, joining the Amazon on its major trek across this amazing continent.


We really enjoyed the variety and the beauty of Ecuador. It is an amazing country. To all those who made our time there so special we’d like to say ‘muchas gracias!’

The Highlands of Ecuador

It starts with shortness of breath. Even when lying down to sleep you can wake suddenly gasping for air. Always breathing but never seemingly getting enough air in the lungs. Then you can´t sleep, you may get headaches, you may feel or even be sick, feel lightheaded and generally very lethargic. Thirsts don´t seem to be quenched. Welcome to life above 10000´for the likes of low altitude folks. In reality, it only became as bad as all that on two occasions when Beth and I were considerably higher than 10000´.

A good part of our time in Ecuador was spend in Quito, the capital, nestled between the twin ranges that form a part of the Andes; Volcán Pichincha the most dominant. The flight in is spectacular as you cruise in over snow capped volcanoes then bank very sharply over the capital as the aircraft makes its final steep approach skimming over one of the city´s residential areas to make a touchdown just as you think you´re about to land in someones back yard. The runway here is half as much again as a standard runway, giving the planes a chance to take off at this altitude!


We were visiting Ecuador to see something of the work undertaken by HCJB, a Christian organisation that has been in Ecuador since 1931, providing radio coverage worldwide, healthcare and furthering community development. We were with a family from the UK who are working within the community development sector, particularly concentrating on providing clean drinking water to rural communitites. El Corazon and Carabuela are two villages where HCJB are involved in water projects and we were able to see firsthand some of the conditions these guys have to work in. I started the blog talking about altitude sickness. That´s just the start! The weather in these mountainous regions can be very fickle, as you can imagine. Sunny mornings can give way to massive thunderstorms very quickly. Getting equipment and personnel to some of these remote areas has its own challenges and often there are no real roads. The teams working on these projects have a very simple existence, sleeping perhaps on a concrete floor if things are good, and cooking very simply. Yet despite the harsh conditions, we met many warm hearted village people, so glad to be able to help.

At El Corazon, about an hours drive south of Quito, we drove as far as we could up Volcán Corazon, getting stuck in deep mud for a couple of hours, before walking the final 1000´ ascent to springs, high up in the mountain. The village had not had consistent clean water for over two months. There were some rudimentary plastic pipes laid to direct spring water to the village which the villagers had previously installed. But these had become heavily silted and were ineffective. You begin to realise the enormity of the task in getting clean water to just this one village. And there are many more villages like this one where clean water is something not taken for granted.

We did, of course, have some time to explore something of these highlands. Ecuador in Spanish means ´Equator´ and about twenty minutes to the north there is a big red line that marks the northern and southern hemispheres. Beth being a Yorkshire lass thought she was duty bound to represent the northern hemisphere whilst being a Cornish lad thought I´d represent the south in our touristy photo! (Due to technical difficulties this photo will be appearing once I get this painfully slow computer to start working properly and stop eating my Colones!)

One of the local dishes here is roasted Guinea Pig. No it doesn´t taste quite like chicken, a bit more fatty, but we still finished off the little rodent. And people have these little things as pets?














We also had the opportunity to climb Volcán Antisana, the fourth highest volcano in Ecuador at 18871´. Given the equitorial bulge of approximately 14000´, you´re actually closer to the sun on top of one of these mighty peaks here in Ecuador than you are on Everest! We made base camp at 15800´ within sight of the first glacier. It was a beautiful clear afternoon as we prepared for a midnight ascent on the mountain. But altitude took its toll. By the time midnight came round visibility was poor and getting worse and we weren´t feeling great. Some others went on but we tried to get some sleep, a difficult thing when you feel you are running out of air.


Below are some photographs of a visit to Laguna Cuicocha, a high altitude lake that has formed in a crater on Volcán Cotacatchi and also the magnificent Laguna Quilotoa, a similar natural phenomenom adjacent to the village of Quilotoa, the latter photographed at dusk with only enough light. As it started to get dark it also became very cold and we all sat around this nice warming stove.