Ecuador: Day 9 - Sani Lodge

Sorry for the delayed posts. Partly it was due to internet issues, partly I'm getting lazy. 

4am wake up, half an hour before the alarm. That seems to be the natural time to get up anymore. On the upside, we're always in bed by 9:30. If not earlier. 

Anyway, we got up and met our new guide Pablo and our local guide Jason aka Trompito (little spinning top) and our paddler Luis. After breakfast it was a quick canoe ride (no more ow! my butt.  I guess I'm mostly used to it now) and we went to Sani's version of the canopy tower. 

It's about as tall as the others, and again built around a huge tree. There were a few good birds there, including a Great Potoo. 

Angry bird

 After the tower we went on a bit of a hike along the trails in the area. While it was really pretty, it was quite dark and there wasn't much action as far as birds or wildlife. 

We returned to the lodge for lunch and a siesta. After lunch I went down to the canoe docks to see an epic battle between a 14' caiman and a 30' anaconda in an ultimate battle royal fight to the death, as the lake water roiled around them, when suddenly a harpy eagle joins the fray and starts pecking eyes and tearing flesh. 

But none of that happened. 

Instead I saw turtles. 

After the turtle, there was a guy doing maintenance on the railing of the dock area.  It's a good thing my uncle Ken was not here to witness this. Here's how it would have gone:

*Ken in a huff marching back to the cabin, throws open the door, grabs his suitcase and starts throwing things in it*

Ken: "Pack your bags and get in the canoe Jimene. We're leaving."

Jimene: "Why? What happened?"

Ken: "These people are crazy.  We can't stay here and we're leaving now, and we're never coming back." *throws suitcase out onto the porch, grabs other bag and starts filling it*

Jimene: "What's wrong?"

Ken: "I was just down at the dock, and the guy down there was fixing the railing, and he was pounding in nails with a pipe wrench, Jimene. A PIPE WRENCH!!!  Let's go. You steer, I'll paddle."

It's a good thing I never saw anyone here opening a paint can with a chisel, otherwise Ken would have likely burned the place to the ground before leaving. 

After the siesta, we went again on a hike around the lodge area. We saw some manakins, and a few other ant birds. Again, the photography conditions were very tough, and there wasn't a lot of action in the forest. 

We returned, had some dinner, and then, mid-evening, the wifi password changed.  No internet for us. The reason the manager changed it is because he felt the staff were having way too much fun texting and such, so he shut the Internet down in hopes they'd go to bed. Ha! I would not get the new password until noon th next day.