Ecuadorean Rainforest

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Buenos dias! Alicja here.

We have spent the past week in the Ecuadorean Amazon Rainforest, which was the most thrilling part of our trip so far!

On the Monday, we took a flight from Quito to Coca, and then took a 3 hour boat to the jungle, and another 1 hour canoe to our hotel, which was a traditional lodge made of bamboo. After we had settled in, we went for a walk in the jungle with Lindsay and Leah (also in our group), our tour guide, Jorge, and our native guide (Pajarito, it means little bird) who could spot a camouflaged frog in the dark ten meters away! Later in the evening after dinner we went on a canoe on the river to spot Caymen. We didn't manage to spot any that night but did two nights later.

We spent the rest of the week walking and canoeing through the jungle, climbing the bird tower, fishing for piranhas and then swimming in the lake with the pirranhas! We saw lots of cool birds, bugs and monkeys and found a stick bug that looked just like a stick and a tarantula that had been killed by a fungus that destroyed its brain and then grew out of its head and limbs - gross! Our guides were fantastic - they knew so much about the jungle and its insects, animals, flowers and trees that it was like being in the best nature class ever. They were also very nice and Jorge in particular was a very good friend to Patrick and showed him how to tie a bandana around his head so the spiders wouldn't get in his hair. We all loved our time in the jungle and mommy's favorite part was fishing for pirranhas which she caught and ate - yummy!



From Patrick: the night walk in the Amazon

When we went on the night walk mum couldn't come because Antonina wanted to sleep so mum stayed with her.The first thing we saw were two owls in someone' s room and they weren't even supposed to be there. When we set on the trail we saw alot of tarantula holes. When we got to the butterfly farm we saw a spider - I can't remember it's name but it looked like a wolf spider. When we walked all around the butterfly farm and were heading back, one of guides spotted a frog. It was really cool we looked at it for some time and then we headed back to the lodge.

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