Amazon Jungling

We´ve just got back from 5 days in the Oriente (Ecuadorian Amazon Jungle) which was yet another amazing experience. We had to take a small plane to a place called Lago Agrio, take a bus drive for 3 hours, and then ride on a motorized wooden canoe for 2.5 hours along a jungle river, to get to our "eco-lodge" - a collection of thatched huts in the middle of the jungle called ¨Cuyabeno Lodge¨ in the Cuyabeno reserve. We had a guide for the 5 days, who took us on canoe rides, jungle walks and into an indigenous village.

The Amazon is a unforgettable place - so much "nature" everywhere - monkeys, frogs, snakes and of course lots of large insects and spiders (none particularly dangerous apparently). We were also lucky enough to a see an anaconda, caiman (small alligators) and some river dolphins. Just being in the jungle (especially during the night) was experience enough, without all the animals that we encountered.

It´s a shame that it had to rain so much (3.5 days out of the 5 days), but I suppose that´s what you get if you go the rainforest in wet season!! We eventually got used to everything being slightly damp (including clothes, shoes beds and towels), the lack of electricity, lack of hot water and the racket that the frogs and insects made when night-time came (it seems much quieter here in busy Quito!!).

Of course, the jungle was nothing like the Galapagos (although they are both ¨wildlife spotting¨ activities). It was many times more difficult to spot the wildlife, as they were very shy and had lots of jungle to hide in and had much better camouflage than a sea-lion on a beach! However, our guide and companion travellers we´re very good ¨spotters¨, which helped a lot when trying to take our photographs.
(click on a photo for a bigger version)