Blogs from East, Ecuador, South America - page 5

We have just arrived back at our accomodation Banana Lodge in the small village of Misahualli in the Ecuador Oriente region, after spending three days in the jungle. We arrived in Misahualli from Baños five days ago, and spent the first two days mainly laying in hammocks enjoying the sun and the relaxing surroundings. Even though, we did not only lay in hammocks, but also spent quite a bit of time also observing the wild monkeys inhabiting the village central square: it was extremely entertaining to watch one of them steal the hat of an unfortunate French lady, then play with it, and then angrily attack a man who tried to take the trophy away from it. We were instructed to take care of our cameras, as apparently those sneaky things can snatch them too - ... read more

I made it back alive from the jungle!! Ecuador has really been amazing so far. After we left Quito we took a public bus up to Papallacta Hot Springs which was incredible- probably my favorite thing so far. We stayed in a beautiful hotel where we could literally take 5 steps out of our rooms into the hot spring pools. The grounds were green and gorgeous with beautiful flora. It was a picture-taking haven! There was also excellent hiking nearby and I couldn't get enough. The trails were right alongside a waterfall and I spent quite a bit of time exploring the area. On Friday we headed down to the Amazon area to stay in a family Homestay. The accommodations were very basic- a bamboo /wooden hut with no electricity! We slept in mosquito netting although ... read more

We got up and had breakfast at 7.30am ready for our 8.30am departure down the Shiripuno River...in a tandem kayak! It was looking a little gloomy and overcast when we first got up however once we got our bags all packed (cos we were moving down river today and staying at a camp site tonight), the drizzle had stopped and the sun started to pop its head out. So it was Rach and I in 1 kayak, and our guides Gabrielle and Hamir in the other. We got in first and started floated with the current down the river. We first had to try and navigate a fallen tree trunk sticking up out of the river. Whilst we were still trying to co-ordinate our left and right paddling, we floated straight onto the tree trunk, anchoring ... read more

Olly woke us up so thoughtfully at 5.40am! Rar! Price you have to pay for going into the amazon I guess! We got up, tried to continue to pack the limited amount of items we were allowed and pack up up our big packs with a sign on then for David from tropico to pick up and drop to our hotel we are staying at after the tour. We were still raving around where the doorbell went and the banging started, no doubt waking up everyone else in the hostel! Meh they kept us awake most of the night! We headed downstairs and met our driver for the day and ... read more

The morning after the break down saw us leaving Coca on a motorized canoe finally heading towards the amazon jungle along the Rio Napo. The Rio Napo flows into the Amazon and according to the guide books contains some of Ecuador’s best jungle lodges. Sani Lodge didn’t disappoint. After a 2hr canoe ride we hiked through the rain forest to a jetty on the edge of a lagoon deep within the Amazon Jungle. From the jetty we boarded small dug outs and were paddled down the tributaries to our home for the next 3 days. Sani Lodge is run by the Sani Community, a combination of the income from the lodge, other projects and government grants means that they’ve brought and maintain a large part of the rainforest. As well as preserving their heritage it also ... read more