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Published: December 24th 2007
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Here comes Christmas greetings from Montañita, at the beach in Ecuador 😊))
The trip to the rainforest last week Monday started with delays at the airport (flights had been cancelled the night before due to the weather in Quito). Mine (and 2 others in the group) TAME flight was only 3 hours delayed in the end (for a 30 minute flight) but the others were worse off: the VIP flight should have left 7 in the morning, but only got in at Lago Agrio at 5 in the afternoon. And two persons had taken the night bus, arriving at 4.30 in the morning - and they had to wait for all of us to arrive !!!
We were nine in total heading with the minibus for 2.5 hours to the meeting point for the motorised canoe that takes you out to the lodge. It is a very small world: in the group was Anne, from France, whom I had talked to at the airport in Galapagos and as well Andy, from Australia, whom I met at the Bambu hostel in Quito when I went for a BBQ there with Mel. Andy was travelling with Susanne, from the US, and
Anne was with a guide/translator from Quito. Additionally there was the 2 German sisters and Ernst & Mathilde from Zwolle (Netherlands), so we could gossip in Dutch 😊
As we had arrived so late it meant that we had to do the 2 hour narrow river canoe ride in the moonlight ! Occasionally the guide were checking the waters for tree trunks to avoid or the low hanging trees for snakes (luckally didn´t see any) with a flashlight. An experience richer, it was really beautiful at night to do the trip so I didn´t mind at all.
The next days we spent out on the water or hiking around in the rainforest. We saw 5 different species of monkies, lots of birds, the pink river dolphins, insects and an anaconda. The animals are really wild here of course and it wasn´t easy to get close enough for good photos (compared to the Galapagos). The Cuyabeno lodge were we staid is located at a lake and has no electricity (gas lamps in the cabin where we met for dinner or candles in your room) so you need a flashlight to walk around (it gets dark shortly after 6 o´clock).
I had booked a shared cabin but since the rest were travelling in couples and had the cabins with own bathrooms I was alone anyway with the 4 bunkbeds. (In the shared bathroom area there was two frogs around every night.) In the day or after dinner you could relax in the hammocks.
Ernst, Mathilde and I staid for 5 days while the others had only 4 booked. Three others had arrived on their last night: Patrik, also from the Netherlands, and the two bird-spotting, chain-smoking, naturalists women from Germany. When the other group headed back for the airport Thursday the rest of us went in two canoes which we had to paddle. Mathilde and I did our best to stear around the river bends, but one of the times we heading into a tree there were two big spiders just a few centimeters away.... Luckally we had done the night hike earlier in the week and I knew that they (hopefully) wouldn´t just jump on us ! After the long paddle it was time for a swim. The two German women did the naturalist thing and jumped in naked. When we were paddling back to the lodge they
were apparently planning to dry up on the way... There we were, Patrick and I in our swimwear and two naked women in the front when I heard a motorised canoe coming up behind. I was afraid it would be some Ecuadorians who would get a scare, or some tourists who would think there was a nudist camp somewhere... But luckally it was the driver from our lodge, so we tagged our canoe to his and got a ride back (while they got dressed). An amusing story 😊
Now, leaving the place unfortunately turned out worse than getting there. The flight in the afternoon was cancelled and the next plane was only next morning. As I had taken a chance and booked the flight to Guayaquil from Quito already next morning I had no option but to take the nightbus from Lago Agrio. This would be a 7 hour ride instead of 30 minutes on the plane (it takes a while due to the fact that you have to stop twice, get out of the bus and show your ID/passport to the drug/arms controls along the way in the middle of the night). And due to the Christmas holiday
coming up the next bus available was only at 9 in the evening. Had dinner at a restaurant close to the station and waited around for 3 hours. I got into Quito at 4 in the morning and luckally there were taxis waiting at the station (not a place to wonder around in the middle of the night). I didn´t have many hours of sleep until it was time to get to the airport again, this time to fly down south and then catch a bus for 3 hours to Montañita on the coast.
Mel and Catherine were already here when I arrived, they were out surfing when I got in. It is a really funky little place with lots of partying, it feels like I am in Thailand !!! A bit more tourists around but also Ecuadorians. Tonight we have a Christmas dinner at the hostel. Will have had 3 full days here before I fly down to Lima on the 26th (my tour starts on the 28th).
I hope you are having a really great Christmas and a Happy New Year. I´m sure I will have the possibility to get to an internet cafe while travelling
with the group around Peru and Bolivia, but I´m not sure when. Beginning of January (think it is the 2nd to the 5th) we are hiking the Inka trail to Machu Picchu.
Speak to you in 2008 !
Hugs
Marie
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Jay
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Happy New Year!
Hey Marie, have an awesome New Year celebration. I will be sure to send off a firework in your name on the night of the 31st. Can you bring back a wooley monkey for me. You could put it in your backpack and no one would notice. You could also use it for a pillow. cheers to an even bigger and better 2008, :j