Surviving the jungle!

So, I took the bus back from Mindo on Sun. night. I got in at 7:30pm and then had a few hours to pack and get everything in order for the jungle. I had to get on another bus at 10pm that would take me on an 8 hour overnight ride to the dusty oil town of Lago Agrio.

Getting to the Rainforest:
8 hour windy overnight bus ride arriving in the sketchy Colombian border town of Lago Agrio in the pitch dark at 5:30am....
4 hour wait to meet up with the tour guide at 10am...
Another 3 hour ride in a pick-up truck eating dust the whole way on a rocky, unpaved oil road...
3 hours more in motorized canoe down the Cuyabeno River to get to the lodge...
Living deep in the untouched Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador for 5 days...PRICELESS.

Day 1:

The long trip to the reserve (SEE ABOVE).

Naturally, we got a flat tire half way down the road to the river.

By the way, I would like to annouce right off the bat that the pests of the Amazon are not the mosquitos, but rather the butterflies that are swarming everywhere! Always underfoot, always landing all over you, and always all over the clothes you are hanging out to dry! See below:...and then the three hour canoe ride to the lodge.The Lodge! No electricity or hot water...candles light the way at night.

Dear little old German ladies who are my roommates,

I think you are really adorable. And I love the fact that you have spent your lives traveling together. But please, for the love of GOD, stop walking around the room naked all the time.

Love,

Sarah

My bed. Complete with mosquito net...Dinner and then off for our first trip to the Lagoon to watch the sunset and swim!Swimming with the pink river dolphins, caimen, pirhanas, and anacondas!!
First lagoon sunset!

Day 2:

8:00 am breakfast with the group. There were 13 of us. Two awesome german brothers. One couple on their honeymoon. My roommates, the two little naked german ladies. A guy from Slovakia. A guy from NY. 3 more German friends. And this hippy couple from Canada who were always burning incense in their room and talking about saving the earth and doing yoga.Then, early morning hiking with Juan, one of the guides, to look for monkeys and learn some of the medicinal uses of plants.Upgraded the Tevas for some serious jungle boots.Milk Tree.You can drink the white liquid that comes out when you cut the bark. It´s used for cleansing the digestive tract. And it actually tasted really good, too!The jungle queen.Guava beans. You can suck on them. The monkeys chew them because they are really sweet.Thick, white sap on the side of certain trees that can be used for treating pain and helping to start fires. It smelled like Menthol!Digging up leaf cutter ants...The bigggest ants I have ever seen in my life! I passed on eating them, so Juan ate them instead. YUCK!Can you spot the Pygmy Marmoset, one of the smallest monkeys of the jungle!Tired and sweaty after a long morning of hiking!I have my stick and my hook. Time for some afternoon piranha fishing! The bait? Huge chunks of red meat!My first catch. A little Silver Piranha.Next catch: a big Red Piranha! Some evening relaxation in the hammock...Day 3:

Heading out for some 6:00 am bird watching...

Bird nests along the river...Huge Kingfisher...Biggest tree of the jungle. I forget the name though!Stinky Turkeys. Named so because they feed off the leaves which are filled with alcohol.Tucan!Black VultureIn the afternoon, we go for a 3 hour hike with Diego to learn about survival tricks of the jungle. And to hike to an indiginous community.Big, big trees of the jungle!A fruit that is used as body paint by the indians. It washes off...How do you find pure drinking water in the jungle? You look for these huge vines covered in bark and then cut them open...And water comes pouring out!Diego showing us how to build a trap.Mmmmm...looks like we are having jungle boot for lunch!Poison dart frogDiego showing us how the indiginous people use vines around their feet to climb high into the trees...And then, Jack-of-all trades, Diego shows us how to make a basket out of Palm leaves. This was really impressive...he did it in like 3 minutes!This is a nut that contains a really hard ivory-like substance inside. I later carved a ring out of it!After a long hike, we make it to the indiginous village. A woman in the village shows us how they make a traditional bread of Yucca. First, she gets the Yucca from the ground...Then, chops it up...And cleans it and starts the fire...Next, all the Yucca must be grated.But it is very wet. So, next you have to wrap it up in some natural leaves of the jungle and wring all the water out. They save the Yucca water and use it to flavor soups.Next, the dried Yucca has to be sifted very finely.Finally, you spread it into the pan and cook it!Parrot at the village!My new buddy...Fermenting the cocoa beans...Later that evening, heading out to the Lagoon for some sunset tubing!Day 4:

A morning of canoeing...

It´s hard to tell, but that furry ball in the tree is a sloth!Can you spot the monkey?During the dry season, the lagoon completely dries up like a desert. When the rainy season starts it will usually downpour for 4 or 5 days. The result is a lagoon where we are paddling among the tops of the trees!WARNING:if you are not sitting down, please do so. You are about to have a cuteness overload! We paddled to where some indiginous people had set up a temporary camp for fishing. There they had...

Little baby chicks...

And a little baby monkey!And as if baby chicks and baby monkeys aren´t enough to make you keel over...they then proceeded to share a banana together!!!

Actually, the story is really sad. They had killed the monkey´s mom for food and then took him as a pet. He looked really sad and scared.Relaxing at the lodge after a long day of hiking...

That´s Pascal, my German buddy from the trip.Pascal winning the bottle-walking competition. Ask me about this...I will be bringing this game back to the states. It will probably happen right after shot-time.Heading out to the lagoon for our FINAL sunset. Sad! That´s Diego and Dario, the absolute best guide and motorist a girl could ask for!There´s my little German roommates behind me. Thankfully, clothed at this time!And now it´s time for the scary, "Blair Witch" night walk!

That´s right...rocking the head lamp.Python!Leech, uck.Even the moths in the jungle are cooler.Tarantula!!They show us the very long, hard process of starting fire with sticks...
Later, temporary tattoos using the seeds of a fruit from the forest. The indiginous people would use this to color their hair and paint their skin.
Thanks, Diego!


Goodbye, beautiful jungle...


We lucked out and it didn´t rain until the last night there. But, when it rains it POURS in the Amazon! This made for a really rough ride back down the river and back to the road. Chainsaws were involved...