Ecuador: Day 11 - Sani Lodge to Quito

Up at 4:30, breakfast at 6.  We said goodbye to the staff at Sani, and were on the canoe at 6:30. After a brisk walk along the river trail, we were on the Napo again in a motorized canoe and heading upriver to Coca. It was a brisk 3 hour ride. Once in Coca we had half an hour at the dock, and then took a cab to the airport. The flight from Coca was uneventful and short, and on arrival in Quito we said goodbye to our guide Pablo. We had a ride in a van to our favorite place in Quito, Hotel Rincón de Puemba, where we settled in and Dad went through some photos while I updated he blog. A nice dinner at the restaurant and a few beers in the bar, and Dad and I were out like lights with the alarm set for 3:45. 

Ecuador Videos #1

Canoeing at Sacha Lodge

Rain in the Amazon at Napo Wildlife Center

Sunset at Sani Lodge

Dad Says Goodbye to his Friend at Sani Lodge

Ecuador: Day 10 - Sani Lodge

We started the morning early. Not because we had to, but simply because we're always waking up around 4:00 now. The good news is the kitchen staff is already starting breakfast, so the coffee is made. 

After breakfast we took the canoe to the river trail and walked the boardwalk to the Napo River. From there we took a small motorized canoe to Isla Sani, which is the main residence of the local Sani people. There are about 600 people who live on the island. The lodge we are staying at is run by the community and staffed by the community, and the proceeds go to the community. 

We stopped at some places to look at a few birds, and then went to the main community area centered on the island shore. This has a school, a soccer field, a few other buildings, and a craft area/store run by the women of the community. The served Dad and I quite a spread of food. We were told by Trompito, our local guide, that we might get to try some maiato (my-toh), but they went overboard.   

First they spread a piece of banana leaf of the floor. Then brought us each a large maiato. Maiato is the name of a kind of large leaf there on the island. They put fish in the leaves, stuff the fish with some ingredients and a bit of salt, and then wrap it all up in the leaves and roast it on the fire. In our case, it was a delicious serving of catfish with heart of palm.

So Dad and I are sitting there on the floor and they hand us these folded leaves the size of large ears of corn right off of the fire. Very hot.  As we're trying to figure out what to do with them, they bring us roasted bananas and plantains with a salsa to dip them in made of fruits and spices. Then they brought us two bows of juice, one made of crushed palm fruits and sugar, the other made of yucca. THEN they brought us two skewers of local delicacies. We'd had them before, but they were poorly explained to us. Now we had them again with a proper translator. The white ones are the insides of a white cacao fruit. It's not used to make any kind of chocolate, but when the seed is roasted it's very tasty indeed. 

The other was roasted caterpillars on a stick. 

Our previous guide Andrew didn't understand what Jorge was telling him before when he said "palm larva", so he told us they must just be the young shoots of palm fruit. And we each ate one. This time our guide Pablo s very clear, even used the word "caterpillar", and they'd brought us six. Also, the heads we're much bigger on these. 

And that's when Dad ate his second caterpillar on the trip. He wouldn't eat any cooked carrots, but he ate two caterpillars. Please feel free to remind him the next time you see him. Oh, and when my niece found out, she asked my mom if "Grandad would turn into a butterfly now." Ha!

Everything else was really delicious though. And the caterpillars weren't bad. I had two. We pawned the rest off on the maiato was really very good. We sat there on the floor and ate with our fingers. It was a great experience. 

After that, it was back to the lodge for lunch (we were stuffed). Then siesta until 3, then back in the canoe for one last paddle around the lake. We only saw one new bird, the cocoi heron, but it took off as soon as we w it and we couldn't get a photo of it. We did get some good ones of a striated neon, an adolescent tiger heron, and an osprey. Although for the last one, I'd been shooting at the shore where it was darker, and the light was going, so even though they were great moments that I caught, my ISO was too hi, and everything turned out very noisy/grainy. Such is photography in the Amazon. Very frustrating. 

Finally, we had our last dinner at Sani, had a few beers at the bar, and went back to the cabin to pack and sort everything out. 

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. 

Ecuador: Some Bird Pics from Yesterday

Ring-necked Kingfisher

Hoatzín (pronounced "hhwatson"

Amazonian Kingfisher

Capped Heron

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. 

JL's Ecuador Pictures (Part 2)