We were off!
The three of us, Randy, Uwe and I took a one hour plane ride from Salinas to
Quito (TAME Airlines does trips to & from Quito every Thursday, Friday
& Sunday evening).
Since our
flight to the Amazon was not until next morning, we stayed at a hotel close to
the airport http://airporthotelquito.com/ .
Next morning
we met Paulina, the rep from the Manatee Amazon Adventure, our booked trip. We
were taking this trip down the Napo River http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napo_River , a tributary of the Amazon , all
the way from a town called Coca or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Francisco_de_Orellana
to the border of Peru. The Amazon basin covers three countries, Ecuador, Peru & Brazil- our trip was in Ecuador.
We were very
surprised at the size of our plane to Coca, unlike the little plane we had
taken from Salinas, this one was full sized- amazing!
Our guide,
Alex, was waiting for us at the Coca Airport, loaded us into a taxi and took us
to the boat dock where we would take a motorized canoe down the Napo River for
the 2 hour trip to meet our boat, the Manatee, our home for the next 5 days. http://www.manateeamazonexplorer.com/en/home
DAY 1 Monday
The
motorized canoe was fairly large and covered (protection from the sun or rain).
We soon took off with 3 other guests, Wayne & Elly from New York State and
Marcus from Uruguay.
Not long
into our 2 hour ride we saw what definitely looked like rain up ahead. Luckily
for us Alex had rain panchos. Even though at first Uwe thought he didn’t need
one, we were all happy that they were available as the sky opened up- this is
not called the rain forest for nothing.
We passed by
one of the Oil fields along the river. Alex pointed out that the 2 large stacks
spewing fire and smoke, were to burn off the natural gas, a by-product of oil.
In this area, they had no way to use or transport the natural gas so it was
just burned off.
The problem was that when it burned at night, insects were
naturally attracted and perished in the flames. The Amazon basin is losing
thousands of it’s pollinators because of this method.
On arrival
at the Manatee, we were greeted with a snack and drink of fresh juice (this was
repeated each time we returned from our many trips) and then were assigned our
rooms. Ours was the ‘Jaguar’ very nice, air-conditioned with a great hot water
shower- only first class for these old gringos!
The rest of
the facilities on board were also first class- a great bar & meeting area,
outside seating for watching the river go by
and an elegant dining room.
We met
in the dining room and were treated to the first of many truly excellent meals-
lunch was served.
Before
dinner, we met our fellow passengers, and had a short briefing about the next
day. We then gathered around the bar (our favorite spot- LOL) for our welcome
drinks and a chance to introduce ourselves. Some of us managed to do this in
both English & Spanish. We were 12 guests in total 6 friends from
Minnesota, a couple from New York State, one person from Uruguay and we three
from Salinas, plus 2 guides Alex & Ruben, Felix our captain, the bar tender
Dario plus 2 chefs, sous cooks, and various people to run, steer, and clean the
boat.
DAY 2 Tuesday
The day
dawned cloudless- gorgeous!
After a
buffet breakfast of eggs, pancakes, cereal, fruit, yogurt, juice and wonderful
strong coffee, we got ready for our first excursion. All excursions took one of
the motorized canoes to all destinations while the Manatee kept trucking
downstream.
This trip
was to a local village and school. We arrived to find a one room school where
kids from 5 to 12 years were taught all together by a local teacher.
The children
introduced themselves- very shy- and we did the same- preferably in Spanish,
our names and where we were from. They sang a cute song for us and then we were
asked to reciprocate. Oh yea, 12 almost strangers coming up with a song we all
knew LOL! We ended up singing the A B C song and followed that with a gusty
rendition of a two chorus Row Row Row your Boat. Who said it couldn’t be done.
Much laughter and many many pictures followed.
After a
small tour around the village,
we headed back to the Manatee for another
awesome lunch.
One of the
options available for the guests, was a night of Glamping ‘ Glamorous Camping’
which included a chef cooked dinner with white table cloths, a full bar, tents
with cots & linens etc. Our fellow guests from Minnesota being the
adventurous types had opted for this on Tuesday night. So on our afternoon
excursion, we would be dropping them off.
Our second
excursion that day, was a trip up the Yasuni River heading into the Yasuni
National Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuni_National_Park . This small tributary of the Napo
River was very pristine and scenic. We silently coasted along always on the
look out for native animals.
We soon
arrived at a ranger station where we were dropping off the 6 Glampers. This was
also a rest stop for us to stretch our legs etc. A pet capybara met us on the
dock and demanded pats from everyone.
The six of
us plus our guide Alex continued on. We were following this river until we
reached a large lagoon/lake. Along the way, we did see a group of native birds
called ‘stinky turkeys’ so called because they ate leaves that caused a strange
odor that was offensive to predators.
Once at the
lagoon which was incredibly scenic, Alex saw a troupe of Red Howler monkeys.
WOW! We stopped the boat and spent several minutes snapping pictures. Wayne
& Elly got some amazing shots- me not so much even though I had taken the
big SLR camera that Uwe’s brother Burk had been nice enough to give me. I need
a bigger/better camera!
On the way
back down the river, we passed our ship mates out kayaking (found out the next
day that they had seen a caiman!).As well, we came upon a group of gray river
dolphins. Unlike their ocean cousins, these are very shy and we only saw a few
breaches as they were chasing fish.
The ride
back to the Manatee went into the early evening and a full moon accompanied us.
Day 3 Wednesday
We were
woken up at 5:30AM for a 6AM trip up yet another river in the hope that more
animals could be seen at this time of day. I only had time for a quick coffee
(breakfast on our return) and only 4 of us plus Alex & the canoe driver
took off in a much smaller, tippyer motorized canoe.
We arrived at the Tiputini River after about an hours’ ride
up river. Again this tributary was awesome especially so shortly after sunrise.
We coasted silently all on the lookout.
We did see several bird species and
pink river dolphins. These were equally as shy as their gray cousins but Wayne
did get this great photo of one grabbing a fish.
The Napo River is very wide with many islands and sand banks.
We travelled for about an hour (our stomachs had begun to growl) but no
Manatee. Que pasa? ( what’s up?) Alex and the driver were discussing (in
Spanish) un grande problema (even I could understand that). They stopped a
small canoe passing us and asked if they had seen our boat (I was getting much
practice listening to Spanish). Yes, they thought they had – down river from
where we were. OK, around we turned heading back downstream the way we had
come. You are probably thinking (much like us) why not use the radio on board
to contact the Manatee. Nope, radio broken.
Luckily all 4 of us had a great sense of humour and fully
appreciated this great adventure we were having ‘LOST IN THE AMAZON’ LOL!
Another half hour downstream, still no Manatee- we started to
eat the crackers tucked into our back backs- always prepared. Back upstream,
again no Manatee! Finally Alex, with binoculars, saw what looked like our boat
in the distance far down stream. She had been hidden behind an island when we
had been downstream previously. A huge cheer went up.
We arrived back on board
to a late 10:30AM breakfast having spent 4 ½ hours on this 2 hour trip.
Alex told us about their daily lives, pointed out some of
their local plants including a bush used to make the Ayahuasca drink http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca
a haluciogenic plant- Uwe contemplated sneaking some back to Salinas!
Alex also
made native head dresses for all of us.
And Randy volunteered to have her face painted with the
achioto oil.
Our adventures for that day were far from over. We were
meeting again in the dining room for a cooking lesson. We did notice that the
Manatee was parked on a sand bank instead of heading upstream but our attention
was cleverly diverted with the making of empanadas.
The head chef led the class and we each took a turn to make
one and after it was cooked, eating it- deliciosa!
Next Alex showed us how to make chocolate starting with the
roasted cocoa bean. First they were ground into a paste over and over again.
Then some dry milk and sugar was added, your choice on how much, more sugar
more sweeter. Alex then formed the paste into a huge bar giving a piece to each
of his eager audience for tasting- very dark maybe 90%- just like Uwe & I
like it.
All during this time there was much activity outside. Another
motorized canoe tied up along side bringing additional workers. Hmmm, something
is up.
Our boat remained tied up to the sand bank the rest of the
afternoon and we finally found out that there was a problem with the motor. No
problem for us as activities proceeded as planned plus the bar was open. More
revelations were to follow!
That evening after dinner we finally went for our night hike.
I have to say, that was the most memorable time. We saw so many animals. We
took off with our motorized canoe from our crippled boat dressed in long
sleeves & pants ( mosquitos), hats, boots, bug spray, flash lights- we were
ready.
After parking the canoe, we walked in the dark along a very
wide path each of us shining our flashlights trying to find night creatures and
find them we did! Please be aware that I am quite afraid of spiders but all the
ones we saw plus all the other creatures, seemed mesmerized by the flashlights
and didn’t move even when the cameras came within an inch of them- awesome!
A salamander
One of many strange insects we saw
A baby Tarantula
A tree frog no larger than my thumb nail
Day 4 Thursday
We woke up next morning to the sound of motors running-yea -but
the Manatee still parked on the same sand bank- ooops.
All of us plus guides took off again on our last river
excursion, this time the Yuturi River a very narrow extremely scenic tributary.
This was by far the prettiest and most pristine river we had travelled. We
silently motorized along both our guides on the look out for animals along the
way.
Maybe 20 minutes into our river trip, we were suddenly
stopped by a large tree across the river blocking our path. Yea, more
adventures. Did the crew of the Manatee plan all this? And were we actually
stopped? Hell, no. Our guides brandished their machetes and chopped our way
through.
Alex even got into the water for the final push through.
What heroes
we had with us.
On this trip we saw another troupe of monkeys, more stinky
turkeys, many toucans, an osprey hawk with a fish caught in his talons, and
many more bird varieties.
As we came back out unto the Napo River, we saw a welcome
sight- the Manatee motoring along towards us. Hurray, we were on our way back
up river again.
Much later at our farewell get together at the bar, we found
out that the Manatee’s propeller had actually dropped off and our crew had had
to dive to locate it. It is a complement to their professionalism that our trip
went on as though nothing serious was happening and merely giving us yet
another adventure to talk about later.
Our last excursion for that day and our trip was a hike on
Monkey Island so called because monkeys had been introduced there and our
guides thought we might have a good chance to spot some. This was our first
hike where we actually had rain but because of the dense vegetation we barely
got wet.
With our guides brandishing their machetes once again, we spent at
least 2 hours hiking back and forth across that damn island . NO MONKEYS! Only
sweat as we had 100% humidity. We were all pretty sure that the monkeys were
hiding from the rain laughing at these crazy humans trudging around the island.
At last our guides gave up –YEA- and we headed back to where
we had left the boat. As we came out of the dense jungle ontu the beach- no boat!
We had come out at a different part of the island (would our adventures ever
stop!).
Ruben ran back into the jungle to get the boat to come to us-
thank you- and we all waited patiently in the mud to be saved.
Elly went too far into the mud and got stuck. It took both
Alex and her husband Wayne to extract her boots.
And yet another adventure
comes to a successful end.
Our bartender Dario
New friends
Day 5 Friday
Because the Manatee had been stuck for half a day and was
further down river then planned from Coca, a speed boat had been ordered to get
us to our plane on time.
After saying goodbye to our new friends continuing on, our
amazing guides and the rest of the crew, we boarded the speed boat and were on
our way.
Epilogue
We had a truly amazing time with many adventures in a
beautiful part of our world. Please visit here soon because the ‘Rape of the
Amazon’ is well under way. Not only in Ecuador but Peru and Brazil as well, the
oil rigs are slowly taking over. Yes, I understand that we still need oil and there
are rigs all over the world, but this beautiful area is the ‘lungs of the
world’! May our grandchildren & great grandchildren etc forgive us because
we do know what we are do.
