Blogs from El Coca, East, Ecuador, South America - page 2

Disclaimer: This is a lengthy and, could be deemed, slightly dull account of our time in the Jungle including in depth descriptions of the tribe we visited, their history, geographic info on the Amazon region and my insights on Western life in comparison to the Indigenous groups of this area. As such, don´t subject yourself to this if you are not interested in it. I will do a quick overview later on when we have time which will be a shorter and easier on the brain cells. Leaving Quito After 3 weeks, we felt we were ready to leave Quito for the Jungle especially when the Ecuadorian´s fascination with urinating in public was again demonstrated to us, on the way to the bus stop. A man in a suit was peeing on the bonnet of somebody´s ... read more

I guess I´m going soft... I decided to take the early morning flight to Coca, the edge of the Amazon. Can you blame me though when the alternative was a 10 hour bus ride and the flight only cost $45? I think not... I arrived bleary-eyed into Coca and was promptly dropped off at a hotel to await the other souls heading into the jungle with myself. A couple hours passed and I was beginning to get a little grumpy when my companions finally arrived. Travelling into the jungle with me would be Ryan and Kate (an early 30´s couple from Scotland) and Thom (a brit with a lovely accent). Also accompanying us on the journey but (thankfully) not the rest of the trip was quite possibly the most demanding, stereotypical german woman I have ever ... read more

Theres a reason these places are called Rainforests More an experience than a photographic subject, the rain and the animals having little respect for us tourists. Leaf-cutter ants chew off pieces of the leaves of trees and carry them, single file, to their underground nest, where the leaves stored in warm humid conditions will develop a fungus growth. This fungus is food for the ants. Stepping over a procession of leaf-cutter ants while walking through the Amazon rainforest in the pouring rain is one of those priceless experiences that so typifies this part of the world. The Amazon is a wet place and for the last 5 days we, and everything we own, has been wet too. A little uncomfortable, yes, but its quickly forgotten when drifting down the river in our canoe we are accompanied ... read more

Teleportation I sit perched on the edge of the boat's bow with my bare feet dangling in the water. This isn't one of the long, wooden river canoes, but the fiberglass outboard motor boat we had when I was a kid. Rusty orange. Thirty-five horsepower. This isn't even the Napo River. It's a lake somewhere in Oklahoma. I am sitting at the very front of the bow - just on the port side where the two halves of the hull come together at a point. I look out at the expanse of the lake and try to identify it. Definitely not Tenkiller. Not rocky enough. Bar-Dew? Could be. Grand, Hulah, Skiatook? Maybe. Beside me on the coarse synthetic excuse for a carpet of the deck is a Zebco rod and reel. Actually, the Zebco is sitting ... read more

Opprørerne i Bolivia hindret oss tidligere å komme inn i Amazonasjungelen, men nå var det en ny sjanse. I Coca ble vi plukket opp med motorisert kano, så bar det nedover Rio Napa. Elven var flomstor denne dagen, og luktet jord og halvråtne planter... Det var nærmest en luksustilværelse vi ble innlosjerte i da vi ankom Yarina Lodge. Egen bambushytte med bad, rennende vann (tidvis varmt), samt strøm fra kl 1800 til 2200. Det var et ”hovedbygg” med rader av hengekøyer, noen bord hvor måltidene ble inntatt, og en bar. Bygget var i utgangspunktet en stor platting med tak over. Lodgen hadde også flere bur med dyr, dvs apekatter og fugler. Dette var både skadde dyr og tidligere ulovlige kjeledyr som skulle vende tilbake til naturen. Vi ble etterhvert svært gode venner med to av apekattene. ... read more