ECUADOR - My June/July 2003 Trip Journal -- by Donna R. Carter
Page Twenty-Three
~^~ Shell and the Foot Bridge ~^~ Saturday ~^~ July 19, 2003
I got up in the morning, at 5:45. There was going to be a pancake breakfast at 8:30 for all the missionaries who were in the area (it's a mission hospital there). Another group of people were in the guest house on their way back to Quito from Sucúa (another much more remote jungle area.) They were packing up to leave that morning. I read for a bit, but then decided to go wander around outside and see what I could find.
I went outside with my camera and camcorder, checked my watch, and meandered down the ramp, scanning the camcorder around to see the flowers blooming profusely everywhere, and moss covering any areas that weren't heavily trafficked. A whole stairway up to the upstairs of the guest house was covered with moss and flowers. It was kind of pretty. There were a couple of split-bamboo gazebos. The sun was coming up over the horizon. It was clear overhead, but the horizon was cloudy, so I could not see Sangay or El Altar which are visible from there without the cloud cover.
I wandered further out, past some houses, and down a path, across a small metal bridge, and then I found the foot bridge. Hmm.
~*~*~*~*~ The Foot Bridge ~*~*~*~*~
I've truly seen many much more precarious swinging foot bridges in my day, really. This was by far the safest one I've ever seen. However.... with the many changes in altitude I'd gone through over the month, my fear of heights and vertigo - not to mention the fact that I was holding onto the camcorder and an umbrella - I wasn't terribly sure I wanted to risk going across.
But... I'm not one to wimp out. I took the camcorder in one hand, set down the umbrella at the edge of the bridge, and took a step onto the metal floor, to look further around. It was a suspension type foot bridge. There were 1/2" metal rods firmly attached to beams under the floor every 4 feet or so, suspended from thick metal braids that were attached on either side at each end. The length of the bridge was about ... 200' long (or so it seemed to me, but I don't know exactly) across a very deep ravine with a rushing river at the bottom which you couldn't see from the edge, due to the prolific jungle vegetation climbing up the steep sides of the ravine (but you could certainly hear it!)
The sides of the bridge, attached to the rods, was some chain link fencing. However, the fencing was NOT attached to the floor of the bridge, so there were great gaps between the bottom of the fencing and the floor of the bridge. And there was no rail on top of the fencing to grab onto to keep your balance. Hmm.
I contemplated a bit further before taking another step. "What a wimp!" I chided myself. I knew that when I was a kid I went across a whole lot less stable and safe foot bridges suspended in mid-air... wooden ones that were half-rotted with only old ropes to save me if I lost my balance... and then only if I grabbed on in time. This was extraordinarily sturdy by comparison!
I felt the sway and tip of the bridge with each step, and I kept the camcorder on, looking over the side and holding onto those thin 1/2" rods, trying to record the appropriate depth perspective on the video. I walked a bit further and stopped until the swinging slowed down. Each step leaned the bridge to one side or the other, and every step also made the bridge bounce up and down.
Slowly, I edged my way across, looking through the camcorder lens at what I was seeing, to try to capture the whole essence, depth of perspective, etc.
About mid way, the river was visible (a long way down) through the leaves and branches. I zoomed in with my lens and saw whitewater rapids running over the rocks. No wonder it was so loud! I turned and leaned over the other side and felt the bridge lean with me as I looked down again with the camera to follow the river along the middle of the ravine. The leaning sensation wasn't the most comforting feeling, that's for sure! And hanging on to a 1/2" rod doesn't feel very secure either!!
I got centered again and stepped toward the other end of the bridge, when I felt myself bouncing more and more strongly. I thought, "How odd that I would be bouncing so strongly when I am closer to the end!" and then I turned around and saw two people walking over the bridge toward me, side by side (I don't know how they fit side by side, or how they managed to keep their balance!) I filmed them bouncing along the bridge at a quick clip and I decided as they past that if they could walk that fast without a care across the bridge, then by golly, so could I! So I took a breath and made myself walk at a fairly quick pace, back across ... but at about 3/4 of the way, the bridge was bouncing and wobbling and leaning back and forth ... and I had to stop, regain my balance, and let things settle down a bit before I completed the crossing.
By the time I returned, the pancake breakfast was being set up in the dining room and I saw Mark & Laurie Nelson ... That was the strangest thing, btw... when I was in the guest house in Quito, I went out to breakfast with Phil & Debby Douce, and upon returning there was Mark & Laurie Nelson and their 3 kids. I had known them in Texas about 8 years ago (when their firstborn was still very small)! They were working as doctors in Shell until the end of July. We made plans to spend time together this weekend while I was down here.
We sat together for breakfast and planned to get together that night. They were busy all day with other friends from Ambato, but would get together with me after they returned.
Chuck and Anita and I drove into Puyo to do some window shopping, stopping en route to pick up a bag of pancitos (little bread buns, very fresh and soft and warm from the oven).
I wanted to see if I could find a shigra (a net bag) and some picchac's (woven baskets with lids) but I didn't find the picchacs. I found another shigra, a T-shirt and a bag of loose Sangay tea. I also found a gorgeous 15" high vase, painted with parrots and toucans and a background of mountains and valleys and rivers... very different from most of the vases I'd seen. I asked the price. $15. I figured well worth it even if it would be another carry-on. I put the vase in the shigra.
On the way back to Shell we stopped in a balsa shop and I picked up a balsa hummingbird on a stick (which you stand in a plant pot and it appears to be hovering next to the plant), and I found a great tagua carving of a parrot on a branch, and a couple of balsa letter openers as well as some parrot keychains. I put all my purchases into the van, filled a film canister with Puyo dirt and we drove back into Shell.
I spent the afternoon wandering around the area, reading, and talking with Anita. I think I dozed off a bit in the Umble's livingroom while everyone else was napping. The humidity and the heat and the heavy quiet were very lulling.
Chuck & Anita and I went into town to go out to supper at a little restaurant that was a couple of blocks from the Umble's house. We had chicken soup for the first course, and then chicken and rice with vegetables for the main course. The drink was mora juice (mora's are a cross between blackberrys and raspberries. They look more like a blackberry, but the taste is very much a cross). When we got the bill, each meal only cost us $1.00 !! Tell me where in the U.S. you can get a full plate meal (large serving!) and a bowl of soup and a glass of juice for just a buck?!
We crossed the street to go to the store and pick up 400 ASA film and a battery for my camera (that battery had died too - but I guess that's not surprising after shooting 18 rolls of film over the previous 4 weeks!) I picked up some Amor Glace chocolate-covered wafer cookies and some Nestlé Bombones Surtidos flavored chocolates. My favorites from when I was a kid (although when I was a kid, they were "Universal" and not "Nestlé" yet)
We got back to the house and the Umble's went to a bonfire. Anita stayed with the kids at the house, and I stayed with her and chatted until Laurie came by and I went over to their house across the street and we talked for about an hour. It was getting late, and although we didn't want to stop being together and talking, we were all very very tired and weren't saying much, so Mark walked me back home.
It was very dark. The sky was brilliant with stars - more stars than I'd seen in ages. I hoped that the snowcaps would be out in the morning.
Then.... we came up on the foot bridge. In the dark. Hmm.
There were two lights to light the way. In some ways it wasn't quite so difficult, because you didn't SEE how far down the river was.... although everything was black and you could HEAR it way down there, rushing loudly.
I got across, Mark went back home, and I just went to bed. I was the only one in the whole ex-hospital-guest-house that night. The whole rambling house was empty but for me. I smelled the musty linens, and listened to the cars and buses going down the road until I drifted off to sleep.
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