The Amazon

I just returned from a one week stay at the Yachana Lodge in the Amazon. We flew from Quito to Coca, a quick 1 hour flight. From Coca we took a boat (motorized canoe for 20) 3 hours up the Napo River to the Lodge. The Lodge was in a beautiful setting on the river. Views of the mountains, rainforest, sunrise, sunset, river rise (a full meter one day). Everyday was a new adventure. We hiked the rainforest discovering rivers, snakes, beautiful flowers, birds, and more plants than I can describe. Our expert guide, Juan, was the highlight of the entire stay. He knew the names and histories of all the plants and animals. We went bird watching one morning and saw several hoatzin, a prehistoric bird. I held a red vine snake and an earth snake.
We visited a local market where the indigenous people buy and sell vegetables, fruits, cacao, corn, tools, etc. This is quite a social event as everyone goes to the market on Saturday. Yachana Lodge is part of the Yachana Technical School. We were able to visit the school, situated in the mountains, talk to the teachers and some of the students. A number of the student work at the lodge as part of their education. We were lucky to be able to attend the graduation of the first class from the school.
For all the gourmet food lovers out there, we attended cooking classes. I helped with making tilapia wrapped in leaves and cooked over a fire. We also were treated to eating live or fried grubs or weevils. They are found in the heart of palm plant and the fried grubs were quite tasty. The grubs are 2-3 inches in size.
On one of our hikes into the jungle, Juan made a basket from palm leaves. Later we made baskets of our own at the lodge. With a little more practice, I might be good at it.

One of my favorite activities was tubing down the Napo River. It was cold and refreshing on a very hot and sunny day in the Amazon. The current was very fast and we just drifted along until we reached the lodge.