Blogs from East, Ecuador, South America - page 32

After one failed attempt to get to the Amazon, failed because the local agency we booked through decided they couldn´t take us at the eleventh hour, it took a nightmare 13 hour bus journey to even arrive at the edge of Cuyabeno. Cuyabeno is an area of primary rainforest located along the northeast border of Ecuador and Columbia. An area we later found tourist groups had been advised to stay away from! We should probably have realised this when on arrival we sat down to breakfast with the Ecuadorian Army. From the edge of the national park we ventured 3 hours downstream to our lodge. On the journey we saw kingfishers, electric blue giant butterflies and 3 types of monkey. We had been warned that the lodge was basic, but it really was basic! It consisted ... read more

Rich again. The lack of photos doesnt really effect this entry, cos it was just more jungle, and one mostly green picture looks very much like another (we stuck another of the other day in for good measure though), so here goes! In the morning we went on a canyoning treck which, as the name implies, involved trecking and canyons, but in wellies (us, not the canyons, although i´d like that). Molly was fortunately absent and a good time was had by all. Our guide for the day was a guy called Lewis, and he was nails. He spent the first part of the trek showing us all the medicinal 'plants he could find, but when medicine was really needed, because an elderly Australian man called Brian rammed a great big stick in his eye (idiot), ... read more

We checked on to a three day adventure trip to take in Rainforest and rafting. DAY 1 Panning for Gold!!! we spent the morning doing the old school panning for gold thing. You dig up some mud, fish out any major rocks then spin it round to centrifuge stuff out. Its harder than it looks, but even so we managed to find a few actual bits of gold amongst the grit. About the same as in a bottle of Goldschlager. Its pretty amazing though actually getting hold of real gold! In the afternoon our indigenous guides took us on into Primary Rainforest. It is just like in geography lessons (suprisingly enough). you can see the different layers and when one tree falls, you can see where the others race to the light. One of the first ... read more