The Deepest Darkest Amazon

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March 3rd 2008

Published: March 8th 2008

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Tiare and Nick

The Jungle

Picture on the walk through the Jungle

Well OK maybe not the deepest darkest Amazon, we were only an hour away from a major city (Tena) and there were local houses across the river, but the road in was pretty rough, and we get to pretend right....

SUNDAY 2 MARCH 08

Today we travel to our jungle lodge (lianna lodge) near Tena. Most of the day is spent on the road in the bus, but we did have a brief stop at some hot springs a couple of hours north of Quito. Tiare was feeling too sick to swim and slept on the bus and Nick still has his phobia about spas.... it was really just like a bunch of heated pools though there was a pretty creek running through the middle of the complex. The rest of the day was pretty much just driving, the roads were pretty rough, there has been a lot of rain here lately and Carmel you think Beechmont had landslides!!! We arrived at the end of our bus trip just after dusk and had a 10 minute canoe ride to reach our accomodation. It was a bit of a worry when the motor wouldn't start and we were drifting off

The Mud

The muddy jungle track

the rapidly flowing river in the dark, but everything worked in the end. We arrived at the lodge which is in the middle of 1500ha of rainforest preserve and it was really lovely. There was no power, but candles and torches were more than enough, and we were bedded down in little bamboo and palm roofed cabins (with private ensuite - and get this... you could flush the toilet paper - though Tiare couldn't bring herself to do it... scarred for life she is). Nick took a little bit of note of the roofing work for your bali hut Rex.

Foretunately it was confirmed that this was not a malarial area (whew) so Nick is not going to die though he is still suffering from the pills. Tiare is feeling worse with her Flu.

MONDAY 3 MARCH 08

Tiare was feeling to sick for the activities today so lounged around the lodge (which wasn't that bad an alternative) and Nick was under instructions to take extra photos.

The day startedwith a 3hr hike through the rainforest, lots of vines and haliconias, trees and creeks and mud (fortuneatley hey provided gum boots so Nick didn't have

Monkeys

Two Woolly Monkey having a sun bake

to test out his goretex shoes). It was quite a nice walk and we have attached a couple of photos. The walk ended at an animal refuge which is part of the Preserve area. Now we could tell you that all the photos of animals were taken on our walk through the jungele but then some smart ass would ask about the wire cages. No we didn{t get to see any animals in the forest (because they hide) but it was till pretty cool to see all these in the refuge, the monkey were all walking around free and we were followed most of the way by a trumpet bird which seemed to think it was a dog.

After the refuge Nick and Sabastian and Rodrego (the Guide) floated back down the river on inner tubes to the lodge for lunch. Very nice after a lot of hot and sweaty walking.

After lunch and a siesta (we are loving the siestas!!) We went accross the river to view some of the local houses and crops. A lot of the plants were th same as what we have back home (pawpaw, avocado, banana, sugar cane) but Nick did get

Squirrel Monkey

to eat the fruit from the Cocoa (chocolate) tree. Nick proved that he could shoot a blow gun as good as the locals (or so he says). and that was the end of the day.

Additional photos below

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