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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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THE AMAZON (CONT.), ECUADORDay 1 My trip started with a flight on AEROGAL from Quito ($50 each way). The plane sure looked bigger than it felt! We hit some pretty bad turbulence which left most of us queasy for a couple of minutes. We arrived in Coca and took motorized canoe 5 hours down the Rio Napo to the lodge. It was VERY HOT. At the lodge, we unpacked in our cabins (2 or 3 per cabin) and met in dining room for meeting.
Day 2 Today we woke up at 5:45 am and went on an early morning canoe ride for birdwatching. Saw lots of birds....but can't remember what they were. We heard the loud growl/roar of the Red Howler Monkeys and also saw the cutest sloth - just sittin' there close to the dining room.
During lunch, on the hike, we heard rain but we weren't getting wet. I thought, "This is nothing!" Of course, I didn't know that in the Amazon you hear the rain about 10 minutes before it hits. Sure enough, 10 minutes later we were soaked. It didn't matter that we had ponchos, rubber boots, and were huddled under large leaves. We, along with our sandwiches, were soaked. Needless to say our hike back to the canoe was quite a mud bath! There were thunder storms for the rest of the evening so we didn't go on a night hike. We just sat around, drank a lot of beer, and played cards. Day 3
Right before dinner we went piranha fishing. We went out in the large canoe and parked near some trees. We put raw pieces of beef on our hooks and dropped our lines in the water. They were biting hard and were fed well by our group. It takes some skill to pull line at the right time in order to catch them - but a few people did it after an hour or so. The piranha in the picture was about 8 inches long and was caught by our guide. We dropped off our catch to the cook and went on a quick night canoe ride.
Day 4 After a picnic lunch, we visited a local family who gave us a tour of their home and nearby coffee and banana plants. Tragically, the 12-year-old daughter fell off the roof weeks earlier and died during the five hour canoe trip to the hospital. We, then went back to the lodge and hiked to the observation tower. We were huffing and puffing climbing the rickety 10 stories. A bit scary if you are afraid of heights, as it wasn't the sturdiest of structures. But the view was well worth it! More beer after dinner...
We woke up at 5:00 am to catch the motorized canoe back to Coca. We didn't get to airport until noon where we ran into bird watchers who tried to get us kicked off the flight. Apparently, they had so much equipment that they could only get it on board if they kicked half of the passengers off the flight. Luckily, we got on plane and they had to send their equipment on the next flight. |
Remember to pack plastic bags! You really are damp the whole trip - so if you want to, at least, eat breakfast in dry clothes you should keep them in plastic. Also, if you have long thick hair - remember to bring scrunchies. My hair didn't dry until I returned to Quito. Try to pack light for your trip to the Amazon, the airline charges extra for bags weighing over 40 pounds. Remember to bring a pack of cards for those nights it's raining too hard to go on a night hike. Make sure you get the proper vaccinations - Malaria and yellow fever are the precautions that are currently recommended. Bring long sleeve shirts and long pants to help with mosquitos. Only travel with certified guides Alot of people and agencies offer Amazon tours but not everybody is qualified to lead expeditions.
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After dinner, we went on night hike and found HUGE insects - leeches were everywhere. It's a trip how LOUD the rainforest is. I mean it's as loud as walking around SF Financial District during rush hour - just with obviously different sounds. The millions of insects talking all at once definitely are the loudest. But early in the morning, the howler monkey growls are pretty loud as well. Our guide showed us how loud wasp nests are...he threw a stick close to it (not hitting it) and this frightening sound, like a 10 really mad buffaloes breathing very hard and fast, occured. It was fascinating! I would never have guessed the sound was a bunch of wasps. 
Back to the lodge for breakfast, then took canoe to hiking trail. On the hike we saw Red Howler Monkeys, and countless birds and insects. 
Took a quick canoe trip before breakfast and saw the sloth again - he hadn't moved. During the hike after breakfast we saw leaf-cutting ants, ate lemon ants (they tasted exactly like lemon), and our guide made a backpack out of leaves.After lunch we relaxed in the nice sun and practiced using blow darts. 
Night canoe rides are unforgettable experiences. You glide through small waterways without making a sound and hear the loud sounds of the jungle around you. We took our flashlights and searched for glowing eyes in the water and the brush - seeing caiman, fishing bats, and monkeys. We past the sloth again and returned for dinner. The cook baked our piranha for dinner. MMMM they were which were pretty good - tasted like fishy chicken. Of course, we drank more beer after dinner........and there were lots of bats flying around. 
Today, we took the canoe to Isla de los Monos (Monkey Island) and passed the sloth again. Our guides told us that the island was filled with monkeys until the Ecuadorian Army chose the site as training grounds and made monkey stew at night. How sad! After about two hours of searching for monkeys, our guides finally found about 12 Woolly Monkeys. They were so adorable! Of course, don't try to take pictures of them unless you have a great telephoto lens.My family still can't FIND the monkeys in my pictures! 
Day 5
