In the Mighty Jungle...Day 1 - Arrival

Trip Start Sep 11, 2008
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Trip End Dec 06, 2008


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Flag of Ecuador  ,
Wednesday, October 8, 2008

After a 25 minute plane journey (hardly seems worth the hassle of take-off and landing but we didn't fancy another bus journey...there will be plenty more of those to come) we landed in a small town called Coca in the east of Ecuador at the edge of the jungle where our journey began. We took a motorised canoe down the River Napo on a beautiful journey into the heart of the jungle. We landed at a river bank where we walked through the jungle to a smaller paddle canoe which miraculously took the weight of 6 of us and all of our luggage. That rainforest wood is hardcore! As we approached the lodges, a loud, growling sound emerged from the edge of the trees. We were told it was a group of howler monkeys. They sounded fierce! I definitely won't mess with them.
 
We were welcomed at the lodge with a delicious passion fruit cocktail and some very tasty nibbles. Needless to say we splashed out a little for this trip - but it was worth every penny. Our naturalist guide, Rodrigo, gave us a briefing about the activities and the piranhas in the lake. We were told they don't like the taste of tourists...hmm...dubious...
We were fitted with our jungle wellies and headed out for our first short walk with a native guide, Sixto, who accompanies Rodrigo on all outings. These guys are amazing. They have eagle eyes. They spot the tiniest, camouflaged frogs and birds far, far in the distance. Unbelievable. The first jungle friend we came across was a massive tarantula, sleeping in some leaves by a tree. He was pretty grumpy at being woken up for the gringos but posed for a few photos before crawling back to bed.  
 
That evening, we went on our first night excursion in the paddle canoe. It's pretty hard to spot creatures at night but Rodrigo found some caiman eyes poking up through the water. Eeerrie!

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