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Cuyabeno
Us with our naturalist guide Gilbert. To get to the jungle we first had to take a bus from Quito to Lago Agrio (8 hours). There we met up with our guide/interpreter, Miguel and the rest of our group and had to travel a further 3 hours by van, and then two hours by motorised canoe to reach our camp site within the Cuyabeno Reserve. Quite a journey indeed.
Our naturalist guide, Gilbert was amazing at spotting different animals in the jungle just with his naked eye. We don't know how he did it, but he managed to find all kinds of different animals including an Anaconda, lots of Toucans, Kingfishers, Caymans, Spiders, 7 species of snakes, an Electric Eal, frogs, Pink Dolphins, different species of monkeys, Macaws, Stinky Turkeys, Marching Wasps, a Sloth (pronounced slut by our interpreter Miguel) etc etc...
It was an amazing experience to actually spend several days and nights in the Amazon Rain Forest, an experience we will never forget.
The camp where we stayed was in the middle of the jungle right on the river. It was pretty basic and we had to check our beds very carefully for insects etc before going to bed at night, which
Cuyabeno
Wasp nests in the tree. was not always easy in the dark and we had to use our torches a lot. We heard some girls had found Tarantulas in their room but luckily we didn't come across any.
It was the rainy season, so the water level was high and we mostly had to use rubber boots and wade in the water. Unfortunately our boots had holes in them so we ended up getting soaked anyway. Kiki was the first to complain that her right boot had a huge hole in it. The next day she got a new pair which she was very happy with. Monia's left boot also had a hole, so Kiki suggested that she use the left boot from her old pair. Initially Monia laughed as it was not her size, but as there were no more boots in her size 37, she ended up settling for Kiki's left boot size 39. It worked.
The most exciting thing was probably when we went out at night, in the dark searching for Caymans and other night creatures. We went in the canoe with our torches, shining the light in different directions searching for the eyes glowing in the dark. The
Caymans' eyes were red. Initially all we found were birds and snakes hanging in the trees, but eventually we spotted some Caymans too. We got really close to a big one (about 3 meters long according to Gilbert) and it was actually really scary when he suddenly moved in the water.
We were just wearing flip flops in the canoe at this time as we were told we would not be going for any walks. However, Gilbert told us all to get out of the boat at one point so that we could get a better view of some Caymans from land. We got out, scared as our bare feet were exposed to god knows what animals that we couldn't see in the dark. Suddenly we all started to jump and scream as we realised we had stepped into the path of millions of red ants which were crawling all over our legs. There was a tied up rope in our way and Kiki being taller decided it would be quicker to jump over it, not knowing that Monia had other plans. As Kiki lifted her leg over the rope, Monia lifted it up to get under it. Kiki
began to lose her balance, slipping in the mud, but luckily Gilbert, laughing, saw the whole thing and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. It was all pretty scary but at the same time hilarious.
During another night walk we all switched our lights of for a minute to properly listen to the sounds of the jungle. When we switched them back on, Kiki spotted an extremely poisonous snake right by our feet!! She was quite pleased to have been the one to spot it!! She thought it would shut Monia up as she had laughed earlier when Kiki was sure she had seen a green snake in the water.
We also visited a native community called Tarapuy Siona where we were introduced to an old indigenous man and his wife who were sitting in the middle of the jungle picking Yucca and expecting us to find it very interesting when in fact it was no more interesting than watching people pick potatoes in Europe. We politely watched and helped peel the yuccas, but it all got a little bit too much when the old couple invited us to their house and as the woman
was preparing bread made of yucca her husband was telling us about the great experiences he has had smoking different plants found in the jungle.
Both of us found it quite sad and disappointing that the one person we met from the community was clearly not quite with it and mainly spoke about drugs and getting drunk rather than giving us some insight into the real indigenous culture and heritage.
The other people in our group seemed to find the old man's stories more interesting as they were hoping that he might have a hallucinogenic beverage that they had heard of, prepared by the shaman, which involved tripping for hours and hours preceded by 30 minutes of vomiting (apparently cleansing the body). Unfortunately for them, the shaman was too busy on that day as he had to go to the city to do some shopping and the old man did not have any in stock. Therefore those who wanted to see him and hallucinate had to stay another day in the jungle.
Although Gilbert kept on telling us that it was safe to swim in the middle of the lagoon as the dangerous animals are mainly found
by the shores, and that even Monia could swim wearing her life vest, neither of us were tempted as we were too scared of the Piranhas, Anacondas, Caymans and other creatures found below the surface of the water. Our instinct was telling us that we shouldn't make them feel threatened by our presence, triggering them to attack!
Gilbert must have felt a little bit pressured as Monia and Kiki kept on telling him they wanted to see an Anaconda. He tried to explain on many occasions that the water level was too high and it was highly unlikely that we would be able to spot one but it didn't help! Monia and Kiki wanted to see an Anaconda in the wild. Our dream came true and pretty unlikely turned out to be a reality when we heard Gilbert telling us with his voice full of excitement that he had spotted an Anaconda lying on the branch of a tree and sunbathing. As exciting as it was to have seen an Anaconda, Kiki and Monia now craved for more and wished quietly that they would be able to spot another one, swimming in the water this time, and that of
course it'd have to be them alone who would spot it FIRST! At one point they were sure they could see one, and started pointing and telling Gilbert to look. Gilbert laughed and shook his head as it was just a log floating in the water... Damn!! Mission failed...this time, but who knows what we'll find in other jungles...
We also did some Piranha fishing. This was probably the least interesting bit as we never actually managed to catch any. We think it's because the people in our group were too loud and because the hooks we used were crap. Apart from failing to catch any fish we had a great time in the jungle and we left feeling satisfied with the experience and ready to return to civilization...
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Yemih
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love your pictures love your new names!
and your stories. you both look fab great to follow you... miss you. love yem