Saturday, August 12, 2017

The Wild Amazon

Boy are we on Ecuadorian time, we were suppose to meet at 9:30 am sharp, and we didn’t take off for the river at least until 11:00 am. The river was gorgeous though. There are numerous bright red and orange flowers. The yellow and black birds sang gently while we paddled by. We heard Macaws squawk and toucans talk. We saw a large fish eat a smaller fish skipping along the top of the water. We saw three snakes, two were fairly small and one was a 6-8 foot anaconda.  The first night we spent camping. The choir of the frogs, cicadas, and other creatures grew louder as the sun went down. Long after dark the rain came. We camped in tents under a tarp and the rain echoed through out camp as it hit the tarps. The rainforest seems to stay a constant temperature no matter the time of day. It is always 80-85 degrees F with 100% humidity. I’ve been getting flashbacks of late summer afternoons in Kentucky. The smell in the jungle is extremely rich; it is full of vegetation and almost sweet. It seems rare to have a sunny day. The mornings typically start gray and by midday there are strong sun rays coming through the clouds. The clouds dissipate by mid afternoon and the blue sky shows itself. After the sunset, the clouds roll back in the cover the land for the night. Throughout our trip we saw spiders the size of your hand, tarantulas crawling back into their holes, giant trees, pink dolphins, tree and water snakes, monkeys jumping from tree to tree, and a collection of birds. The lodge was cute and simple.  There were hammocks hanging everywhere and all rooms were open to the exterior. Although the mosquitos were minimal due to the high pH of the water, each bed was furnished with a mosquito net. The lodge had a 10 ft platform you could jump off into the Cuyabeno river. We also swam in a near by lagoon which was very refreshing. We visited a nearby village and made a local dish out of …. We also visited the village shamen and was blessed by him. Well the adventures are over and now its back to Quito before heading to Banos.

No comments:

Post a Comment