Ecuador: Day 8 - NWC to Sani Lodge

No good deed goes unpunished. 

Since we had half a day off yesterday, we paid for it by getting up at 3:40 this morning. No coffee. No breakfast. Just packed, luggage out of the room, and in the canoe (ow butt) at 4:30. There was a waning gibbous moon though, so once you were away from the lights, you could see pretty well. 

Apart from the lack of coffee, it was really cool to be canoeing down a stream in the Amazon rain forest in the dark. There aren't many lightning bugs flying around, but on the hyacinth beds along the stream edges there were glow bugs glowing. Just a bright tiny point light on a field of black. 

We called some birds along the way, trying to get them in, with no luck. If you get a chance though, listen to the call of the Common Potoo and imagine hearing it at night on a stream in the jungle. Something about it is just great. 

After we got to the bodega, we got in a motorized canoe and headed to an island in the Napo River. There we got to see a small flock of umbrella birds. I'm sure Dad's pics will be better than mine, but here's a quick one to give the basic idea. They just stayed way too far away for my 300mm lenses to reach them. 

The sun came up over the river. Despite the clear skies, a thick mist rose up. 

Well, it was thicker before the photo. We headed back to the bodega.  

On the way, we passed a boat from Sani Lodge, and Jorge yelled a lot of Spanish at it. Apparently he was letting them know that he had two passengers aboard that needed a ride to Sani.  It seemed the tour company we signed up with had a bit of a snafu, with our guide Andrew leaving for Coca at 8, and our new guide not picking us up until at least noon, and maybe two o'clock. But Jorge, the boss that he is, set us up with an instant ride to Sani. We arrived much earlier than expected (obviously) but the folks here were super friendly and accommodating. I really had to show of my Spanish skills though, responding tactfully to each statement or question with either "Donde es el baño" or "Para español, oprime dos." I must have been very convincing because they all kept talking to me in Spanish. Especially Luis. He paddled our canoe in from the river. Then he took us on an impromptu walk of the grounds looking for birds.  I kept explaining that that was just too hot for many birds to be out, and finally I found the right combination of hand gestures and "oprime dos" that got the point across. 

An hour later though he came and found me and showed me a pair of tropical screech owls. I snapped a few pics, then got Dad. It made for some good photos. 

For some reason they were giving me the stink eye

Not long after, Pablo arrived, just in time for lunch. We talked about what is coming up of the next few days, and then took a break. The cabin was very hot, and the little oscillating fan helped, but not by much.  Or so I thought. At 3:00 they turn the power off to give the generator a rest. That's when the fan turned off, and that's when I got right up out of that cabin. Hot. 

At 4, we met Pablo, Luis (our paddler and owl finder) and Jason (our local guide) and the canoe (ow! My butt). We paddled around the lake for two hours and got some good shots and a new bird or two. 

We also saw many turtles. 

At dinner, the po went out. That makes us three for three on power outages at the lodges. Of course, it is the Amazon, and I've got Internet. The world has indeed moved on. So now I'm finishing this up in the bar, enjoying a mostly cool Pilsener beer, and about to call it a night. 

More photos to come soon.