Welcome to the Jungle…Part 1 (Slowly, but surely. I WILL catch you up on my jungle adventures. I plan to post one day at a time! (I was without a computer for 4 days, hence the drawn-out posts)
I’ve been in the Amazon, traveling for the founding of Quito holiday. (Lots of short little breaks are wonderful for recharging my batteries!)
I traveled to Sani Lodge, deep down the Napo River. a tributary of the Amazon. Just some background on Sani Lodge. This community of Kichwa indigenous people is called Sani Isla, hence the name Sani Lodge. It’s one of the only lodges in the province completely run by the community. EVERYONE, from the bar tender, to the house keeper to the chef to the excellent guides are indigenous. Sani Lodge was built about 12 years ago with lots and lots of funds from the oil company, in return for drilling there, or using their territory so the pipeline can pass through. Oil companies have so much money, that building a luxurious jungle lodge is just pennies for them. The community agreed and the lodge was built. However, it took much longer for them to get the lodge up and running, there are so many logistics. Many outside consultants from Quito and the US came to help them get their feet off the ground. Now they have a very smooth operation. I was impressed every step of the way. They have an impressive website, if you’d like to check it out-www.sanilodge.com
Saturday, my friend Heidi who teaches 4th grade at Academia Cotopaxi and I boarded the plane in Quito for our 30 minute flight to Coca the provincial capital of the Amazon province, Orellana. I noticed on our flight that really the only people on there were tourists and men. Lots of folks work in the oil industry or as tour guides….two competing interests. We got to Coca, were met by a man from Sani and we then boarded a long canoe with a double motor on the back, sunshade and comfy seats for our 3 hour motorized canoe ride down the Napo River to the lodge. The Napo is so very wide at most points, kind of like a highway. On both sides of the river, the gigantic jungle just towers over. Although it was steamy and hot, going about 35 miles an hour created a nice (coolish) breeze. Our driver was amazing, he would go really fast and then slow down for some reason that none of us could see (probably a sand bar) and then navigate around it. I enjoyed seeing the trees, thatched roofs of different communities along the way.
After three hours on our big canoe, we disembarked at the entrance to Sani Community, walked about a mile through the jungle, then boarded a smaller canoe and were paddled down a very small river/lagoon/lake to the lodge. Along the way we saw turtles, scarlet macaws, parrots, squirrel monkeys and caimans. After such a long journey, we were finally to the land, and greeted by the bartender with passion fruit martinis. It was a bit bizarre but a nice effort to make us feel welcome! Heidi and I stayed in the camping area across the lagoon, but camping luxurious style with mattresses, running water and platform tents.
Saturday, day 1 they went a bit suave on us and only took us for a few miles hike through the jungle to the tall tall jungle tower built on the Ceiba tree. The ceiba tree itself is spectacular, kind of like the giant redwoods in California…the indigenous people believe that the ceiba tree is sacred-it connects the ground world to the spirit world and only shamans and other really strong people can come near it because it has so much power. Absolutely massive. We climbed up and up and up and up until finally reaching the tippy top of the platform, where we could view the entire rainforest. As you’re climbing you notice all the different layers of the forest. Once at the top, our guides set up a long viewing scope and we were able to see a troop of red howler monkeys. Babies on their mom’s backs, the big males, all just hanging in the trees. These monkeys get their names because they mark their territory by making a deafening howl. It can be heard several miles away, which we did from the camping area. It almost sounds like thunder.
Climbing down the tower, the light was noticeably changing, just because the layers of plants was so thick in each layers. By the time we got down it was almost dark at 5:00pm, not because of the sun but because of the thick tree canopy.
After a delicious dinner, we went on a night hike. I felt as if I were in one of those nature shows of the wonders of the Amazon at night. Armed with rubber boots and head lamps our guides showed us so many cool creepy crawlies at night. We saw the camouflaged walking sticks, and leaf bugs. Also the orb spider with its 4 foot web-I saw a fly get trapped in the web and then the orb spider went to work wrapping it up, probably for a snack later on. The bright green chameleon was also fascinating to see, just as still as could be with lots of knobs on its body. And then there were the teeny, tiny tree frogs, less than in inch long.
The sounds in the jungle at night are just an orchestra of nature, the tree frogs, toads, all the bugs even interrupted by the screaming red howler monkey. These sounds sung me to sleep my first day.
(Day 2 coming soon!)
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