Can you spell HUMIDITY? I thought I knew of humidity living in East Texas for so many years. I suppose it did give us some good training for the AMAZON. Our jungle trip started on another 8 hour bus from Quito to a town called Largo Agrio, a border town with not much going for it except the oilfield industry and a hopping point for Amazon trips. We were let out in an eerie dirt spot on the side of the road. The building close by was abandoned, chiseled from weathering, and dark. There was an beaten abandoned truck with no windows, even the air seemed to be heavy with dust, no lights except those coming from the bus. The driver opened the luggage compartment and as soon as bags could be handed out taxis started appearing. People where practically running to snatch them up and get away from where we were. Nope, I don't think this a place to wait for a ride, it was definitely "no wheres-ville". We caught on quick and flagged down the next available taxi giving him the name of our hotel, the "Hotel D'Mario". Within minutes there were stop lights, sidewalks with people, stores, restaurants all abuzz. Why they couldn't have a bus stop in a more populated area seemed a quandary to me. I was pleased the hotel did not have the same air of mystery since it was where another bus would come for us the following morning and take us on a 3 hour ride to get to a boat that would take us 2 hours downriver to our lodge. Wow you say, yes, wow. All that to see some monkeys and the Hoatzin bird I knew nothing about except from a picture on the front of a brochure. We might also see an anaconda snake (I hoped not) and possibly catch a piranha (I'd hope so).
Checked in and deciding to dine at the hotel restaurant, our stomachs still a bit twisted, we managed to laugh over dinner about the hair raising bus ride down through the Andes. Starting at an altitude of 10,000 feet ending at an altitude of only 700 feet. We were winding down and around, down and around, dodging rocks, cracks in the road, maybe even riding two wheels to make a turn. (felt like it) We also had to stop and wait for an avalanche of boulders to be cleared. This gave us an additional hour of white knuckled fear to our journey. We were so happy to be soaking up sights and sounds coming from the streets of Lago Agrio talking excitedly about our next days adventure.
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bus station in Quito
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| lunch / pit stop on our way down the mountains to Largo Agrio |
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Eight a.m. standing in the front of the hotel waiting on our ride, a very cute young lady approaches and introduces herself as Angelika, our guide. She was an expat from Switzerland that had a degree in biology. She had come to Ecuador nearly 8 years ago and never left. She was quite passionate as she spoke of the Amazon, the way it was when she arrived and the way it is today.
She quickly informed us that the other people on the tour would be coming by plane and we would have to wait for their arrival. So off to the airport we go. Quite happy that it turned out that way, because while we were waiting Captain Don purchased airline tickets back to Quito. We would not be going back on the bus! Five stars for Captain Don.
The others soon arrived, a family from Australia, Susie, Gary, and Matthew. What a delight they were. We could tell this was going to be a fun trip. Introductions made, bags loaded, tour bus rolling, we begin.
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| lunch stop waiting for boat |
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| warning sign at park entrance where we boarded boat/canoe |
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our canoe loaded and waiting for our party of 6
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Now entering the jungle
Immediately Angelika was pointing things out about where we were, the animals, the 4 indigenous tribes that still live there, much the way they have always lived. It was hard to see every thing she was pointing to and even harder to capture on camera. We have lots of pictures of trees.
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| our first monkey caught on camera |
There are two seasons in Ecuador, rainy and not. We knew we'd booked this trip during rainy season. I, not fully comprehending what "rainy season" meant was soon to be enlightened as ponchos were handed out. We were already wearing life vest and a bit wet from the humidity, now it was raining and so we covered our wet with rubber to keep from getting soaked. I could feel the fungus growing! As we cruised along, we were entertained by the Aussies, while Angelika tried to tell us all there was to know about the Amazon, pointing here and there at the trees. The boat guides also pointed to animals as they saw them. Names so completely foreign to us, except the basic word like, monkey, bird, snake, spider, bat. After a lovely ride downriver, we arrived at the Cuyabeno Lodge a secluded compound with thatched roof huts, a hut for the restaurant, one for supplies, and a hut for general meetings. There was also an observation tower that had three levels with a room on each level. Electricity was supplied by solar panels which was limited because, I'll say it again, "it was rainy season." There was only one other group there, a birdwatcher from Germany with his two guides.
We were given an hour or so to see our rooms and freshen up before the first jungle excursion began. We met in the restaurant where Angelika led us back to the supply room and handed out rubber boots. We're ready now, we take off for a stroll through the woods. Oh no, sorry that's what I do at home, this was a hike through the jungle. Things lurk where you do not see, stuff happens here that you don't want to see, and thank you for these thick knee high rubber boots!
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| What do you see? |
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| look again----- |
We walked in slippery mud and rain, all the while Angelika telling us what we were looking at. Every now and then we'd look at each other to confirm what we thought she said. I can still hear Gary, "I think she said it was some type of bird mate". He was the official photographer of the group. Their trip was his birthday present from Susie, an entire month to visit the highlights of Ecuador and Peru.
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Returning at dusk to freshen up for dinner
I forgot to mention the instructions for
sleeping. The rooms have no windows and only a half door for an entrance.
There is a mosquito net draped over the bed. There are some bamboo
blinds to lower over the windows. There is only one very dim light bulb.
At dinner the first night, Angelika's instructions were to close the
toilet seat because frogs like to get in at night, lower the blinds because the
bats will fly in and there are vampire bats, tuck the net in under the mattress
because ....... I didn't get the rest. I was stuck on the word vampire.
Then my mind went to frog in the toilet! Ugg! Did I forget to
mention I don't like camping? We did have a flashlight so if I needed to
get up in the middle of the night. I had lost my glasses on the trip somewhere
so all I had was my contacts. I didn't take them out because I wanted to
be able to see the predators of the night and the frogs because I knew the
toilet seat was not going to be down. I did stop myself from sleeping
with my shoes on. The jungle is very loud at night. That first night was tough.
At the entrance to the lodge there was a tree that had a nest for the Hoatzin bird. The brochure I'd seen this on called it the "ancient bird". It was a species all of its own. The locals called it the "stinky turkey" because it ate primarily poisonous plants giving it a fowl odor. All things in the jungle are fair game for food but this bird was left alone. Both male and female share responsibility of the nest. The young are born with a claw at the bend of the wing and can stay under water for approximately 2 minutes. When the nest is threatened they can drop to the water and then use the claw to help them climb back up. The claw drops off when they're ready to fly.
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I was quite taken by these birds and looked forward to seeing them every time we left and entered our lodge. Susie had wanted very much to see a Toucan in the wild so we were on the lookout. We had time one afternoon for a nap so while everyone was indulging, I went on top of the observation tower to take a peek. And guess what I saw? That's right, a Toucan. This did not set too well and the rest of the trip Susie did not want to hear the name Hoatzin.
Lunch and nap over, we headed out to fish for piranha. This was a bit scary with an adrenaline thrill. I was imagining those little water swirling cannilbalistic monsters portrayed on TV devouring their victims as they thrashed about with no escape. Angelika had packed some bloody beef to use as bait. We coasted silently close to the shore line, cane poles baited and hooks in the water. Minutes, not even minutes, mere moments and the first one caught
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| Proud as could be, but a bit shocked at the size. |
"A bit like catching a perch", says Gary, excited to cross that off his "bucket list". These fish are quite small but do have teeth. They also make a clicking sound when they're out of the water and they will bite you or whatever you put in their mouths. We stayed a bit to allow everyone a fair chance at catching the ill famed piranha.
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| red bulging eyes, pointy teeth make up for the size |
Next on the list was to swim in the very same water we were just fishing in! A great deal of doubt was running through my head like ticker tape, piranha, white crocodiles, anacondas, pink dolphins, and what else did she say? I wasn't convinced that swimming would be fun or even a good idea. We did move from the shore line and go more into the lake where Angelika assured us it was safe and something we all needed to do. (OK, sometimes I'm such a follower)
sunset in the Amazon
Monkeys of the Amazon
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| ground monkeys |
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| flying monkeys (look closely) |
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| sleeping monkeys |
Trees / plants of the Amazon
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| Angelika showing the inside of a coco fruit, the seeds are dried to be coco. we ate some sucking the jelly like pulp off from around the seed |
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| check out the "Tarzan" vine |
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| one of dozens of orchids |
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| just a cool picture of a palm |
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| this is a "telephone" tree. when you knock on it you can hear the sound for a long distance (ha) |
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| get the scope of how large the trees are with 6'6" Captain Don next to it |
snakes and spiders
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| some type of boa sleeping |
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| too creeped to focus, but this was a wicked looking spider carcass |
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| This was a VERY LONG bright yellow and quite awake snake. |
Making Yucca Bread
One day we took a ride for another 2 hours down river to a village of one of the 4 indigenous tribes to see how they make bread from the yucca root.
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| this is yucca tree |
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| ground so moist, Matthew just pulled the roots up with his bare hands |
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| cut off roots you want and put rest back in the ground, there it will grow to maturity again in 8 months |
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| she used this machete like a paring knife to slit the outer skin of the root |
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| peel off skin |
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| grate like cheese into a large hand carved wooden dish |
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| she then took grated yucca and put inside tightly weaved palm leaf sleeve |
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| she hung the weaved sleeve, inserted stick at end and turned it to empty the juice from the yucca into a pan they would use for something later. |
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| she then spread the squeezed dried yucca onto a flat pan over log fire |
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| wa la! it melted together to make a large flat yucca tortilla. Angelika had brought mayo and tuna to put on top. Not an item to put on the everyday menu. |
This excursion was filled with experiences that took me from tranquil moments in the early morning hours to the wonders of color the jungle offers all the way to the other end of the scale: wet, dirty and apprehensive over thoughts that there were snakes, bats, and spiders everywhere!
One More Thing
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| We crossed the equator again during one of our hikes. (L to R : Don, Rita, Susie, Matthew, and Gary) |
