JL's Ecuador Pictures (Part 2)

JL's Ecuador Pictures (Part 1)

Ecuador: Day 4 - Sacha Lodge to NWC

Another 4am morning. All of our things were packed and ready to go before breakfast. 

We started the morning by taking our last canoe trip with Wilmer and Andrew across the lake in the dark on the way to the river trail. We then hiked that at a brisk pace and got to the river as the sun came up. There we met our motor boat, and headed down stream. Dad was in rare form. 

We arrived at a parrot clay lick on the bank of the Napo iver, which is where a bunch of parrots basically get together and eat dirt. I guess the reason for this is that the parrots eat a lot of palm fruits, which have some toxins in them. By eating the minerals in the dirt, the toxins are neutralized. Mother Nature is weird. 

We also spotted a large guinea pig-ish creature. And no, Ginger, I didn't have time to cook and eat it. I'll keep you posted on further developments though. 

Supposedly good eats

The we landed on one of the river islands. It's completely composed of sand, and the grasses and trees that grow there create a unique ecosystem for certain birds. Also, quicksand! Reall, honest to God, Pitfall Harry quicksand! I really wanted to find some deep stuff and get in - for both the experience and the great photo opportunity.  Wilmer insisted that I should not, partly with the idea that I should not risk life and limb for a dumb photo, but mostly because I'd be filthy and would certainly dirty up his boat if I did actually make it out alive. 

From there we went to another island, although it was connected to the mainland with a dry stream bed. It seems the rivers are all down quite a bit at the moment. We were looking for a woodpecker, but it was not readily available. 

Back on the boat, we hurried to the Napo Wildlife Center docks to get shelter from a quick rainstorm. We waited there for about 45 minutes. No birds to speak of, but I did see this. 

I don't know what it is yet, but it was growing out of the side of a tree right where the mossy and dry sides met. Looked good, anyway.  

After the rain let up, we went upstream again to the Napo Wildlife Center Community Center. There is a small village there with a school, restaurant, and some lodging. We had lunch there, said goodbye to Wilmer, and waited for our next local guide.

The NWC boat finally came and took us, along with many other people, back to the NWC docks. Since the NWC is within the national park, no motorized boat are allowed. It's a 7km canopied (we didn't get to paddle) to the lodge. 

Sacha Lodge was nice. This place is bordering on fancy. It was clear right away that this lake was much MUCH more alive than the one at Sacha. By nightfall the lake was full of splashes, large splashes, and huge splashes as different things tried to eat different things. Had a beer after tha canoe ride, and another with dinner, and retired early. 

The beer of Ecuador

Ecuador: Day 3 (afternoon) - Sacha Lodge

After lunch and a bit of a siesta, we and Andrew and Wilmer (proud new father) took the canoe across the lake to the trail that leads to the Napo. 

I like Wilmer. He looks hardly a day over twelve (I'm old now - I can say that) but he's actually 33, married, and has 2 kids. He's a native local, and English is his 3rd language, which he picked up entirely by working at Sacha Lodge the last twelve years. He was taught Spanish in school since the age of seven. He taught me the word for butterfly in his native language, which is "peempleetoo" (no idea on spelling) unless it's a female, in which cas it's "peemplah". So there you go. I'm sure that will serve me just as well as sinaasappelsap has. 

Anyway, the trail. It's a little over a mile long, and boardwalk the whole way. The birding wasn't great. We saw some jacamars, and a few other things, but it really wasn't the best. Fortunately, I passed the time taking pictures of other things. 

On returning to the lodge, we had some dinner and called it a night. Fortunately we finished dinner early, because the power to the entire lodge went out (including the Internet - sorry for the abrupt stop to the iMessages, Mom). Fortunately, all those still in the dining hall didn't have to eat in darkness for long, as things were up and running again in 5 minutes. Until 5 minutes later, when it all went dark again. But, 10 minutes after that, it was all good again, and apparently ran well all through the night.

Sacha Lodge

For whatever reason - I'm blaming the heat - neither Dad nor I slept very well. I caught him getting ready to head out around 1:45. To be fair, I'd be doing the same thing two hours later. It wasn't great. 

Fortunately, we somehow managed to actually be ready and as rested as possible for our next day's journey. 

Ecuador: Day 3 (morning) - Sacha Lodge

Another 4am wake-up call.  After too large a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, bread, eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, baked plantains, juice, and coffee, we headed out into the jungle in the dark. 

We saw a few tarantulas along the way, but nothing any more sinister than that. Around dawn, we arrived at a canopy walkway - basically a suspension bridge between three metal towers, standing about 34 meters (or ~20 JLs) tall. 

From there we saw several birds, including tanagers, nunbirds, and woodpeckers. It stayed overcast all morning, and that kept it from getting too hot. 

On the way back we visited the owls we saw last night and got a few more photos. 

All in all, a good morning. 

Mandatory artsy-fartsy nunbird

Mariposa de oja seca

Ecuador: Day 2 (afternoon) - Sacha Lodge

After a really big lunch, we had a little break. Dad took a nap while I braved the slow internet to put up the previous posts. 

At 3:30 we met with Andrew and Wilmer and took a walk through the jungle. The bugs weren't as persistent as they were on the tower, but they were certainly around. And even though we had a little rain and it was overcast, it was very hot and humid. 

So we saw some owls, various birds, bugs, etc. I'll leave most of the bird pics to Dad (will post later) but here are a couple things I shot this afternoon. 

Smooth-billed Anis

Some kind of butterfly

Wire tailed manikin

Ecuador: Day 2 (morning) - Sacha Lodge

Dad woke up at 3, and went back to bed.  I woke up at 4 and just got ready. We had a 4:30 wake-up call (Wilmer came by at 4:15), breakfast at 5, and on the canoe by 5:30. We crossed the lake and went upstream into some thick jungle. It was plenty dark, and not much to see.  About 30 minutes in, we went ashore and walked up a trail to a tall wooden tower built around a Kapok tree. The tower was above the main canopy, and we were able to watch the birds wake up around us. It wasn't super busy with birds, and those that were around kept their distance fairly well, but we did see a playful group of Araçari and a cotinga or two. 

As you can see, the bugs became a bit of a nuisance towards the end. 

I did get some great video of hiking and canoeing, but there's no way this bandwidth can handle it.  Perhaps later. 

On the way out though, we had a great surprise - River otters!  Very cool! Highlight of the day, for sure so far. 

I got a video of the pair of these too. Keep an eye out for it! 

Ecuador: Day 1 - Quito to Sacha Lodge

DWoke up at 6:15. Didn't close the black-out curtains to the hallway, so every time I rolled over I thought was morning and I was already late.  

The name of the hotel is Rincón de Puembo. According to the card in the room, they have a pool, a sauna, a gym - too bad we won't be staying. 

Dad spotted a Magnificient Hummingbird in the garden on the way to breakfast.

Fun and excitement was the order of the day after breakfast. After a ride to the airport from our same driver as the night before (and in similar silence), we found out that our flight was not at the expected 10:20 am, but at 11:25. Also, they had no record of us being on the flight. #Awesome. At this point, Dad started a very well-contained freak-out. Thanks to modern technology, I got wifi at the TGI Fridays in the airport with the purchase of a coffee and tried to contact our guide company. No luck. Dad found a pay phone and tried calling some numbers we found on the website. No luck. So I called Mom using FaceTime and sent her the numbers, knowing she could continue calling when we couldn't. Her persistence paid off (thanks Mom!) and we soon got a FaceTime call from one of the representatives. Turns out, both we and the hotel had been misinformed, and we were not supposed to schedule another ride to the airport after all, but instead wait for our guide to come get us.  Since we left early (thinking 10am flight), we totally missed the guide.  Once we got the call, though, it was only a matter of minutes until Andrew, our guide, showed up. Flights were confirmed, canoe plans made, and we were off to Coca. 

All sorted, we met with the Sacha Lodge group and were loaded on a bus and brought to a house by the river. After a light lunch we got on a boat and sped the 40+ miles downstream. Not much to see there but other boats. 

Upon docking, we walked a trail and were loaded into canoes and cruised across the lake to the lodge. 

After an orientation meeting with Mike, the manager, we took a little time to settle in, then met up with Andrew, our guide, and Wilmer, our local guide. We took a canoe out near sunset and paddled along the lake and down the stream. We saw some birds there, including a hoatzin, and had to backtrack because it was getting dark. 

After a shower, we met Andrew again for dinner and a beer.  All told, we were back in the room, and ready for bed by 9:30, alarm set for 4:15AM. 

I'm going to try to add some photos here, but no guarantees, as the Internet here is quite slow.