Welcome to the Jungle Part 1

Let the adventure begin! 

After saying my goodbyes in Atlanta, I was finally packed up and ready to go on the first part of my "Big Trip" to Ecuador. Needless to say, I was physically and mentally exhausted after a few very hectic and emotional weeks. I ended up just throwing a bunch of things in my pack in hopes that I had remembered everything I would need.

I didn't make it to my hotel, Sierra Madre, until after midnight after spending the hour long cab ride from the Quito airport with my driver Pablo. Pablo was a conversationalist. I answered "si" to a few questions in Spanish, and instantly became fluent. The man talked non-stop from the moment he picked me up from the arrival hall to the moment he dropped me off at reception. I can understand a bit of Spanish, but speaking it is another story.

Fortunately, Pablo did most of the talking for me and all I had to do was throw in a few words here and there in broken Spanish to keep the conversation going. We talked about his family (his wife works in a paper store = very hard work), his son works in an office (office work = lazy work), and for him he was lucky because the car did most of his work. Subjects ranged from WWII, origins of names, the difference between amorado and novio, or how serious you were with the opposite sex, and finally he gave me some safety tips about Quito that I appreciated. Pablo was a character, but I was glad to get in my hotel room and not have to try and think in Spanish for the rest of the night.

The hotel was lovely, but I had to be up bright and early to catch my flight to Coca, a small town located on the edge of the Amazon. From there, we would take a motorized canoe three hours up the river to our lodge, Yachana.

Yachana is a Kichwa word that means "a place for learning" and the focus of the lodge is educating guests about the native flora and fauna of the region as well as the lifestyle of the Kichwa people. Kichwa is the word used to refer to the indigenous tribes of the region.

The Amazon River from the air and Coca's port

Journey along the river

A young girl canoeing up the river. This is one of my favorites.

After a long morning of travel, we reached Yachana lodge mid-afternoon. We were issued mud boots upon arrival and then shown to our cabins. Simply put, Yachana was gorgeous and the cabin far exceeded my expectations. It was so nice to be able to rest and recuperate in such a beautiful place.

I met my guide and fellow traveling companions for the next several days. My guide's name was Alfonso, a charming young Ecuadorian man who seemed to know everything there was to know about the different plants in the region and the local wildlife (his specialty seemed to be birds and frogs). He was personable, kind, and an overall great guide. My immediate group was a couple from Australia, Susan and Alan. They were on a 10 week tour of South America and had just spent a week in the Galapagos. We also had a family from Quito, Lola and her two sons Emilio and Tomillo. You could tell mama dragged her teenagers to the jungle, but they seemed to warm up after a day or so.

Left: Alfonso and a "hanging lobster claw," Right: Alan and Sue at the Jungle Farm

While we did take some time to relax, the majority of the time was spent doing activities.

Bird Watching

My enthusiasm for the bird watching ranged from:

We had to be up at the crack of dawn to ride around our ranchero (truck) to try and find small birds high up in the tree. No matter how hard I tried, this is all I saw:

Is it a falcon? A sparrow? A macaw?
Beats the hell out of me.

So I focused more on the surrounding scenery and managed to actually spot a bird here and there.

They all have names... but unfortunately I can't really remember them. The second picture at the top is of some macaws, the next is a yellow headed vulture, black bird, white bird, oropendula nests, a type of parrot and a dragonfly.

Jungle Farm

The Jungle Farm visit was one of my favorite activities we did while at Yachana. We went to a farm owned by a man named Neil. There Alfonso showed us all of the different plants that Neil was growing, some were common (coffee and grapefruit) others could only be found in the Amazon. 

At first, it seems like a typical farm: bananas, pineapples, pigs and chickens.

Until you come face to face with Chantacuro, or palm tree grub. They were the largest, squirmiest, most disgusting thing I have ever seen. My guide ate one on the spot (I did not - however, I can't believe I even held that thing).

Next up, we had stinging needle leaves. They are used on "bad people" (or bad children) as a form of behavior modification. A few swipes with this plant and you break out in welts. The enforcers make you stand naked, swat you with a bushel of stinging needles and then throws cold water on you. I wouldn't misbehave in the Amazon! The pictures on the bottom are the cacao plant, which is used to make chocolate. We had some of the seeds... not exactly like the stuff we are used to! It was interesting to see where chocolate was made from nonetheless.

The Dragon's Blood Tree was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Once a cut in the tree has been made, it's sap runs out like blood. The sap has medicinal properties and can be used as a medication (ingested) or as an antiseptic on the skin.

From L to R: Hibiscus flower, seeds to make perfume and beads, tasting sugarcane, Neil and his dog, large gourds the indigenous people use to make bowls.




Leaving the farm and heading onto what's next in Part 2 of
my Jungle Adventure. Thanks for coming along!