{"id":2670,"date":"2017-09-24T14:01:31","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T14:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2022-04-13T15:42:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T15:42:48","slug":"ive-never-loved-a-smoker-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/ive-never-loved-a-smoker-so-much\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I&#8217;ve never loved a smoker so much!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Day 25<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not a liar, but at Camps, I was renown for my miss-communication skills, which appeared as if I was lying.<\/p>\n<p>And most of the time it was revolved around food.<\/p>\n<p>And this morning, it was about coco pops.<\/p>\n<p>I told Ellie that I thought I\u2019d seen in the recent food order which included loads of bags of coco pops the night before, and being the coco pops fanatic that she is, got very much excited about it. Turns out we were having savoury cheese enchiladas for brekky, which didn\u2019t go down well.<\/p>\n<p>Something didn\u2019t sit right with me after the savoury stuff, so I took the morning off, \u2018cause I wouldn\u2019t be much use to anybody lounging around and complaining. Instead I headed off to the shower and had a sing along to some Phil Collins while feeling a bit sorry for the labourers at work.<\/p>\n<p>After having a morning of chilling with coffee and reading, the gang came back for lunch and had been gardening and doing bits and bobs mainly, so I didn\u2019t feel too bad sitting on my glutes all morning.<\/p>\n<p>We were waiting for the volleyball tournament in the afternoon, were hot and bothered and complaining. It was one of those days. Aye, it\u2019s good to have a wee wining session\u00a0at times. As we were waiting Colin gave us a briefing about the jungle trek we were going on tomorrow. It was essentially basic stuff, don\u2019t touch anything that looks dangerous, keep to the path, don\u2019t do anything stupid, pack warm stuff so we wouldn\u2019t be too cold in our sleeping bags. As Colin finished, it was time to head to the volleyball tournament, where the local men and women would play against us, the volunteers.<\/p>\n<p>We were thrashed, basically. The girls were amazing, so quick and strong. We didn\u2019t stand a chance. The boys on the other hand were great, and only lost by a point to the locals. After the embarrassment of a thrashing we drowned our sorrows in orange flavoured amors, and as we were discussing how awful we were, we saw a coral snake slither from underneath our Camp.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you don\u2019t know, coral snakes are one of the most poisonous and dangerous snakes you can get in South America, and considering the nearest hospital was miles away, a bite from one of them would not be good.<\/p>\n<p>After the slight hoo-ha and panic we just hoped for the best, and prayed that no coral snake would slide into out beds at night. blargh.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, dodgy bellies were a common occurence. But tonight someone crossed the line in grossville. Someone had explosive diarrhea, and hadn\u2019t flushed or even tried to sort it out. As you can probably guess, the topic of the night was nothing other than the toilet that no one was going to use for the rest of the trip, how we were going to deal with it, and most importantly, whoever did it to cough up.<\/p>\n<p>There were a few people who were accused (mainly by me, Nicole, Maddi and Ellie) rightly or wrongly, but we never found out, because whoever did it didn\u2019t cough up. It was a heated debate, and we all went to bed wondering who the culprit was, even after having a laugh attack for a solid ten minutes after Ellie broke her bed and we were beside ourselves as she held one of the wooden steps in one hand, and caressing her already bruised leg in the other.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re reading this blog, you know who you are, shame on you. Shame. On. YOU.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Day 26<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jungle trek was calling, and we were rearing to go.<\/p>\n<p>We farwelled to Camp Don Biki and the staff, filled our water bottles and headed off onto the predicted two-hour trek, three max.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, we were in for a heck of a shock.<\/p>\n<p>We stopped after about ten minutes of walking along the coast as our local guides explained the natural medicinal resources the locals used. They pointed out a tree that seemed on the outside like a pretty ordinary 300 year old tree. But somehow the locals knew, through centuries of tradition and guidance, that particular pieces of bark or certain leaves had belly comforting remedies or were aid to headaches. It was fascinating to see how these people couldn\u2019t depend on ibuprofen or paracetamol but had to depend entirely on nature, which is pretty cool if you ask me.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, when you\u2019re trekking through dense jungles it would be criminal not to sing a long to Phil Collins, again, which is what we did, loudly. After trying not to fall down some un-human touched \u2018stairs\u2019 (that looked more like an avalanche of red mud and stones) we faced our first obstacle; a bamboo bridge which wasn\u2019t safe at all to say the least.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll be glad to know that we all made it out alive.<\/p>\n<p>It was wobbly, so, so wobbly. I cut myself on the rusty metal bars and panicked I\u2019d need a tetanus jab, and then realised I needed to get a grip. A bit of bacteria never hurt nobody.<\/p>\n<p>Our second obstacle, as stupid as it may sound, was basically trying not to fall. I should emphasize that we were the first group of non-local people to attempt to walk this trek. It was pouring down with rain half the time, which made the already muddy terrain even harder to walk along. The amount of times I fell over either stones or branches or roots hidden beneath fallen leaves was ridiculous. I\u2019m clumsy at the best times, I could just imagine myself twisting my ankle.<\/p>\n<p>Now, bearing in mind we\u2019d been notified at the beginning of the trek that we weren\u2019t meant to aggravate any wildlife and listen the guide\u2019s advice at all times, when we heard the words \u2018we need to get out of here because the killer bee\u2019s are getting angry behind us,\u2019 or words to that effect, you can imagine how quickly we wanted to leave this certain are in the jungle.<\/p>\n<p>This next story legitimately happened, and if you don\u2019t believe me ask one of the guys on the trip.<\/p>\n<p>Now, there was a big dip ahead of us, and in my frantic state of trying\u00a0to escape the killer bee\u2019s (not the most reassuring of names) I missed the dip and in an almost cartoon-style, I felt as if I hovered mid-air for a while and then just fell. I felt the drop in my stomach, and managed to somehow kick myself against the drop\u2019s wall, and then I started running. And I couldn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n<p>Now, imagine it. Most of the gang are waiting for a few of us few stragglers to get down quietly and swiftly. Then suddenly all I saw in slow motion were more and more terrified faces turning in my direction, and then I knew I was in trouble. I felt myself loosing my balance as I descended ridiculously quick, and that\u2019s when I tripped over a fallen branch. I grabbed onto a thick vine that was dangling not far from me, and like George of the jungle himself I literally swung in the air.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m just thankful that Iain was there to take the blow, and I mean I completely smashed into him and he didn\u2019t even flinch. Imagine if that had been one of the girls?! Everyone was in shock that I didn\u2019t seriously injure myself, and that\u2019s my most exciting story of the trip. Nearly broke most of my bones but didn\u2019t. Result.<\/p>\n<p>We carried on and saw more and more cobwebs, bigger spiders and beetles and ants. Even heard some toucans in the distance which was well cool. We had a pit stop at the beach (I know, who finds a beach in the middle of the jungle?) where us celts had to protect ourselves from the sun with huge leaves and sunglasses.<\/p>\n<p>The funny thing was that we hadn\u2019t even reached the densest part of the jungle yet. While we were walking from the beach we had to walk through a marshland with plants so much higher than ourselves, we had to put our hands above our heads because we were told a lot of insects hid in the plants. We looked right idiots.<\/p>\n<p>We then made headbands out of bamboo shoots and wore them trying to look like tribals, but mind didn\u2019t even fit on my head, but I didn\u2019t have to worry, because when we got to a river merging through the trees, Rosania, one of the guides mixed the clay and water and we had two stripes on each cheek. So I felt a bit more tribal-y.<\/p>\n<p>We found a swing which was trialled and tested by everyone apart from myself and Charlotte. Why you may ask? Because we were hangry.<\/p>\n<p>I forgot to mention; this was our fifth hour of trekking. We\u2019d ran out of water and had only had a piece o fruit to eat. As a foodie, and someone that eats a lot, often, I wasn\u2019t functioning very well.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually after arriving Camp Chilliurku (where we would be camping for the night) we had a quick wet wipe shower and then had fajita for lunch which we all devoured.<\/p>\n<p>Before dinner we had a nostalgic afternoon of writing cute messages to each other. Of course not all of them were cute (by this I mean Iain\u2019s weren\u2019t cute, in fact quite blunt) but nonetheless it was an emotional time. We reminisced about the last month, the ups and downs, the laughs, tears, stories, and it was all suddenly so real; we were leaving tomorrow. We were leaving the three monthers who were off to Peru next week, and we\u2019d be back in the UK. It was so surreal, it was honestly like we were going to leave a part of ourselves in the heart of the Amazon.<\/p>\n<p>We had a traditionally cooked fish on a bed of\u2026 leaf. It was tasty, but not filling. But our good mood and sentimentality wouldn\u2019t be quenched.<\/p>\n<p>We had a welcoming dance from the locals, which was fairly similar to the one we had in Don Biki, but we also had a blessing from a Sherman (A religion that depends and worships nature in a nutshell) and danced all night with the locals, trying to remember the moves, the weaving, the motions, the \u201cwere we meant to be in a circle or not at this point?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To finish the night we had a game of Cards Against Humanity, and the dream team, BR (Iain), Charl (Charlotte) and moi against the world\u2026 but we lost miserably. Iain and Charlotte weren\u2019t on their game that night.<\/p>\n<p>We eventually got into our hammocks, wearing everything and anything we could because it was just so cold. I hardly slept between the snoring, wiggling about and the cockerel roosting at 3am.<\/p>\n<p>It had been a great day, but I was dreading tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>And I had good reason too.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Day 27<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you hate emotion, skip this day entirely.<\/p>\n<p>Goodbye\u2019s are the worst. Period. Anyone that knows me knows I hardly ever cry, only in a sad film, but never in real life. I bet nobody who saw me on this particular day will ever believe me because I ugly cried on off all day.<\/p>\n<p>We got up, and instantly knew it was going to be horrible. Us Cardiff Uni girls had our final dose of pancakes with dolche de leche, double checked our packing and then started our final trek up to where we were being picked up from and taken to the boats.<\/p>\n<p>When we got to the top of the hill, we all procrastinated the hugs and final words awkwardly, until our lifts arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, for me though, what set me off was Iain.<\/p>\n<p>As you\u2019ve probably guessed, Iain came across to begin with as a hard-hearted guy, but I was so, so wrong. As all of the Cardiff girls looked at him, he just shrugged his shoulders and said \u201cAm gonna miss yus guys\u201d (that was my impression of him speaking with his thick Scottish accent) and his voice cracked and eyes welled up. Now for me, this broke me and then we were all a mess.<\/p>\n<p>We went around in turns hugging everyone, and by my final hug I apologise to that person because I was an ugly mess and was hyperventilating unable to speak and probably slobbered all over their t shirt.<\/p>\n<p>After a quiet journey in our jeeps to the river we headed onto the boats, said thank you to our guides and journeyed along the Amazon for, realistically, the last time ever. We collapsed onto the bus, emotionally exhausted and sat in quietness. This is when we all decided to open the messages that people had written about us, which was probably the worst decision we could\u2019ve made considering we were already extremely unstable. Everyone was so kind to each other, and we were so overwhelmed.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I listened to depressing songs that coincided with my feelings the whole way to our hotel, ate our snacks in silence and just hoped we\u2019d feel better when we arrived at our destination.<\/p>\n<p>After having a warm shower in the hotel (which was again very much appreciated and needed) we headed into Quito to the Old Markets to try to spend our remaining dollars to fill the void in our hearts (sad thing is I\u2019m not even joking.)<\/p>\n<p>The hagglers must\u2019ve seen either my coffee addiction of my frailty because I was persuaded to spend $8 on coffee. It was nice, I can tell you that, having tasted it after coming home, but the girls were mortified that I could justify that.<\/p>\n<p>I was still unstable, ok?<\/p>\n<p>We bought some magnets, harem pants, and bits and bobs before heading out to an Italian in Quito, where me and Nicole shared a calzone which was so tasty.<\/p>\n<p>On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a bakery and bought some pastries, comfort food at it\u2019s finest. The girls fell asleep fairly quickly, we wanted a good final day in the Capital. I took advantage of the wi-fi and downloaded loads of recent hits in the last two-week that I\u2019d missed, and listened to some of them as I fell asleep. Whenever I listen to Tom Misch\u2019s single \u2018Suth of the River\u2019 it always reminds me of that night; our first night without the whole TIE family.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Day 28<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Over breakfast we decided we\u2019d go to the Teferique Cable Cars, which were based in the centre of Quito, where we had a great view of both the city and the greenery from a height. In our taxi there we had another nostalgic (less teary) reminiscing session as we hobbled over Quito\u2019s rickety roads, passing the random men selling fruit in the middle of the road.<\/p>\n<p>I was going to miss these little random things.<\/p>\n<p>After paying our fee we went into our cable car, and the views were like nothing that I\u2019ve ever seen. It was the perfect combination of busy city life morphed with hills, valleys and glorious mountain ranges. At this point Sarah decided to tell us she\u2019s scared of heights. Maybe not the best time to tell us.<\/p>\n<p>After a mini\u00a0photo shoot, we started climbing up to the higher parts of the mountains. Quito\u2019s located higher than the\u00a0UK, so you can imagine how much we were struggling when we got almost 5,000 metres above sea level. It was tough, every step felt like an enormous struggle, but we did it and had to have rest bite when we got to the point where we couldn\u2019t physically go any higher. We started our way back down again, trying our best not to fall or trip the rocky mountains.<\/p>\n<p>Gemma and Charlotte were already eating cake and drinking coffee in the caf\u00e9 located next to the cable cars. We decided to head back to lower ground for a cheeky subway. Before leaving, I spotted something that looked like a lama from afar, so I persuaded everyone to climb up a very steep hill to see this \u2018wild lama.\u2019 To both me and the girls\u2019 dismay, it wasn\u2019t a wild lama at all, in fact there were two tied to a pole with a local woman charging 50d for a photo with them. After the struggle to reach the lama\u2019s, wild or not, we ended up taking many photos with the not-so amused furry creatures.<\/p>\n<p>On the way back in the taxi the driver stopped to buy an apple from a random man in the middle of the road and started eating it as he was driving. Did people actually do this?! Clearly they did.<\/p>\n<p>We arrived back at the hostel, and prepared for our final night out in Quito. We packed in preparation for our flight tomorrow, and made sure everything was in place so we could literally change tomorrow morning and head off at 7am.<\/p>\n<p>We had diner at an American diner, and as a meat lover, it was the first time I\u2019d had BBQ ribs in a month, they went down a treat. After this we tried a few pubs and bars, and eventually settled in a beach-style bar called Azuca, where we reminisced over cocktails about the month, sitting next to a blazing fire in our jackets (Quito was very cold at night) gazing out to the bustling city beneath us.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I could go on and talk about the next day of travelling and the funny things that happened but I feel I should stop here, it feels right. It was our final night in Ecuador, and were excited to go home, but dreading to face our version of \u2018reality\u2019 again.<\/p>\n<p>I remember thinking that night that I was beyond blessed to have spent a month with the most genuine of people, who were carefree, loving, hilarious and just so sassy. I also remember crying that night because I didn\u2019t want this journey to end, but I knew this couldn\u2019t go on forever, we had to face reality. I know I want to travel around the world, I\u2019m excited to see where I\u2019ll be wandering in the future. But in that moment I couldn\u2019t imagine doing anything like this with anyone apart from these peeps.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m already debating where I\u2019m going next summer. I can assure you it won\u2019t be anything like you\u2019ve ever done before, you\u2019ll appreciate the little things in life, will love most of the journey, (NGL some bits were tough) will make memories worth sharing with your kids and grandkids, and will make friendships that will be lifelong and so, so precious.<\/p>\n<p>I just want to say a huge thanks to Camps International, Global Opportunities, everyone that has supported me right from the beginning and everyone that made this trip possible. These blogs have hopefully given you an insight as to what we did as a family for a month in Ecuador.<\/p>\n<p>But, after all, these are merely words on your screen.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll never truly justify the experience<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve got years to sit and catch up on Corrie or go to Pryzm on a Friday.<\/p>\n<p>So, go do it, you won\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Day 25 &nbsp; I\u2019m not a liar, but at Camps, I was renown for my miss-communication skills, which appeared as if I was lying. And most of the time it [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1383,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[270],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-programmes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4QQbz-H4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":764,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/damn-sirindhorn-dam\/","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":0},"title":"Damn, Sirindhorn Dam","author":"Samantha Edgson","date":"July 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Saturday morning we woke up at 6.30am, not because we were going crazy after two weeks in Thailand, but because we were going rafting at 10 at Sirindhorn Dam. I had packed for rafting the night before and managed to put a few clothes aside for Chiang Mai. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;International Summer Programmes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"International Summer Programmes","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/summer-programmes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/07\/DSC_2806-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/07\/DSC_2806-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/07\/DSC_2806-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/07\/DSC_2806-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/07\/DSC_2806-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/07\/DSC_2806-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1416,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/seattle\/","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":1},"title":"Seattle","author":"Lorna Hayne","date":"November 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve only got 2 and a half weeks of school left before finals start- where has the time gone?! In Canada, you get a day off for Remembrance Weekend, so we bussed to Seattle for the weekend- we stayed in City Hostel- which was in an amazing location. We went\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;International Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"International Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/international-exchange\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Seattle at dusk ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/11\/15064017_1456117984415603_826402847_o-254x450.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3244,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/lingomap-food-drink\/","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":2},"title":"Lingomap: Food &amp; Drink","author":"Katy Stone","date":"April 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Bonjour \u00e0 tous et \u00e0 toutes ! Today\u2019s blog will cover the topic of Food & Drink. 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I am terrible in the mornings. I mean, not so much the grumpy factor, but I just can\u2019t form a sentence together for an hour or so after waking up (ask Nicole, she had to converse with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;International Summer Programmes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"International Summer Programmes","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/summer-programmes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1228,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/m-i-a\/","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":4},"title":"M.I.A.","author":"Izzie","date":"October 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Mes excuses, mes amis, for being away yet again and potentially another long post on what I\u2019ve been up to over the last couple of weeks, BUT as I like to say, It\u2019s a great sign there is rarely a dull moment here in Paris. Time is flying by and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;European Placements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"European Placements","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/category\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Processed with VSCO with c1 preset","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/281\/2016\/10\/IMG_0179-337x450.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1054,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/globetrotters\/first-impressions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":5},"title":"First Impressions","author":"Llewelyn","date":"September 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So I finally got to Barcelona Friday evening, after a long, long train ride all the way from home, but now I'm all settled in, I thought I'd update you on how my first proper day went and how my flat is. 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