03/01/02 NWC Day 2

Heading for the canoe at dawn

Entering the creek

The end of the paddle

Our group in front of a huge tree

Dragonfly

Illinois Jones?

Tower next to the Kapoc tree and platform

Robbie and Connie and telescope on platform scouting for activity

2 Toucans in the distance - trust me. Click on the image and it will enlarge!

View from the platform

Bird in the platform's tree

Mariano showing some medicinal property of a tree

Poison Dart Frog top side

Poison Dart Frog bottom side

Along the forest trail

Nice filmy leaf canopy

This morning we had some extra sleep time. We got the knock on the door at 5:30 instead of 5:00 yesterday. Another wonderful breakfast and it was into the canoes again @ 6:30. Today we paddled back across the lagoon and down another little creek. This creek got us to within about a 15 minute walk to our destination for the morning. Three years ago the NWC erected a 36 meter high observation tower/platform. The platform, which rests in the top of a Kapoc tree, has been built to the strictest safety standards and with the utmost respect for the surrounding ecology. It provides a unique opportunity to view birds and animals in their natural canopy habitat, including monkeys and sloths. Well, we did see some Howler Monkeys quite a way off in the distance, but no sloths.
We spent about 3 hours up un the forst canopy and saw Macaws, parrots hawks and many other birds in the surrounding treetops. Several of the smaller birds actually flew up into the branches of the Kapoc tree and spent some time looking at us. Robbie had brought a powerful telescope up and whenever anyone found something he zoomed in with the telescope for a better view. You could see all the way back to the lagoon and could hear boats going back and forth on the Napo River. I have some images from up there but once again they don’t do justice to the reality of what we saw. This is pretty relaxing and there are chairs and wooden benches so you can rest or watch with your binoculars from the seats.
After some time we climbed back down and hiked our way back through the forest with Robbie, Mariano and Pato once again spotting stuff that we never would have seen at all. The trail through the forest was in dappled sunlight and how they spotted these creatures is almost mystical. At one point Mariano was walking ahead fo me and leaped down on the ground and successfully captured a poison dart frog. This frog secretes a substance from glands behind their eyes which the Kichwa use for tipping their darts with for hunting. Apparently it is not dangerous to handle the frog, they said you would only suffer if you ate the frog. When you see how small this frog is in the pictures you’ll understand how difficult it is to spot one in the foliage. They have bright colors on their bodies which Mariano explained is to warn others to leave them alone. Most creatures in the forest use camouflage to hide from predators – these guys are just the opposite.
Mariano sopped at several places along the path to show us plants that are used for medicinal purposes. The native Kichwa have a complete understanding of their environment and know what to use for common ailments like stomach aches or fevers. He also showed us a palm tree leaf that is stripped into small “rope” and combined together to make hammocks and strings for their ornamental jewelry.
The expected afternoon rain kicked in but stopped after only 15 minutes or so. The final paddle of the day took us back the the lodge where we had lunch and free time! We were invited to go on a after sunset walk through the forest but no one wanted to put on the long boots and apply insecticide (it’s hot there) so we opted for a long relaxing afternoon siesta straight through till suppertime. Since this was our last dinner at the camp the chef and his helpers came out of the kitchen to receive a well deserved round of applause. We had a 5:00 wake up in the morning so it was off to sleep.

02/28/10 Day one at NWC

Up EARLY and getting into the canoe!

Dawn on the lagoon

Native canoe along the bank of the creek

A Kite in flight

At the first parrot clay lick

Connie in the viewing blind

Blow dart with kit - poison was stored in gourd

"Bwana" with the blow gun and darts

Along the trail in the afternoon

Back at the lagoon just before dusk - a long day!

We were given a wake up knock on the door this morning at 5:00! We met in the dining hut for a breakfast at 5:30 and by 6:00 were loaded back into our paddling canoes with Robbie, Mariano and Pato for a paddle back up the creek. We took a slow paddle and the guides were amazing at pointing out many creatures that we would have NEVER seen by ourselves. We saw monkeys, a boa constrictor, many, many birds and butterflies including many blue morphos. I wish I could load the video I have taken but for ehatever reason it won’t load. Too bad, it really gives you a feel for where we were.

After about and hour we arrived back at the information center. We were transferred back into the motorized canoe for a short trip to the first of 2 parrot clay licks we would visit. Parrots and parakeets visit the locks daily to eat the clay which assists with their digestion. The NWC have constructed comfortable blinds where we were able to observe the colorful spectacle of these beautiful playful birds. Here is where the video would give you a real feel for the activity and noise! I posted a couple of images on an earlier post but it does no justice. Some of the birds stay up in the surrounding trees as watch birds and they take turns watching and eating. We were lucky in that the day we went conditions were perfect and we saw hundreds of birds eating at both licks. The very next day the other group saw no birds on the ground – perhaps a hawk was threatening them.

We stayed at the licks for around 3 hours and then went back to the Information center on a trail where we were served a lunch and saw what the old Kichwa villages were like. There was a meeting room where we met a shaman or yachaj in Kichwa who treated Lorraine for her larangitis in the old way. It was pretty cool to watch all the chanting and waving of palm leaves around Lorraine. Later she felt a little better to boot! We all then had a chance to try our hand with shooting a blow gun at a target parrot. The tube was real long and pretty heavy and hard to aim. That’s my excuse as I missed with every shot! Dave Tivoli hit the parrot with his first shot and Lorraine hit the post under the parrot. Pretty cool! The darts themselves were real slender and we were told the Kichwa can hit their prey up to 50 meters! After that we bought some souvenirs at another little hut and were off for our next activity.

We loaded back into the motorized canoe for a 20 minute trip to Mariano’s home. We looked at his compound and then started our walk back thru the jungle on a native trail where we eventually were on the other side of the lagoon. Again, they saw all sorts of stuff we never would have seen! About an hour out from the finish it started to rain and eventually we were pretty soaked. We all said it would have been have been unfortunate not to be rained on in a rain forest so we got our wish. It really wasn’t cold so we weren’t troubled at all by the rain. At the end of the trail a canoe was there with Pato waiting for us and we got back to the lodge at about 4:30. So, up at 5 in the morning and back at 4:30 in the afternoon. A pretty long day but we weren’t done yet. We went for an hour paddle in the dark, back up the same creek to observe night time activity. Robbie had a bright spotlight he used to see creatures in the trees and along the creek. We spotted a female tarantula on a log over our heads. She lives in a hole in that log and is almost always out at night. Later Mariano spotted a juvenile boa constrictor and we watched it get into a threatening strike position. We left him alone and went back to the lodge for our first dinner. Amazing food when you consider that everything we ate had to come from Coca by canoe. Around 8:30 we were really ready for sleep to prepare for the next day. I can say I slept like a baby in a mosquito netted bed.

More about day 2 later..

02/27/10 Into The Amazon at Napo Wildlife Center

Boarding our plane in Quito for our half hour flight to Coca

Two mountain peaks above the clouds on flight to Coca

Our motorized boat on the River Napo

Ready to transfer to paddling canoes

Capachuan Monkey

Parrots at the first clay lick

Parakeets at the second clay lick

Shooting a blow dart gun

Boa Constrictor on night paddle

Female tarantula on overhead log on night paddle

We've been back in the "modern" world for a couple of days and it's time to talk about our three days in the Amazon. I'd have to say that I approached this portion of our trip with the most anxiety. I don't know if it's because the idea if the Amazon is so exotic or we had to have lots of shots to prepeare for this segment or it was just pretty much into the unkown. Once we are able to reflect on our time there it was all much easier and much more organized than I could have imagined. From the time we checked in at a private entrance to the Quito airport with VIP Airlines EVERYTHING was handled for us. A representative from Napo Wildlife Center was waiting for us at the airport. We checked in with her and she took our checked bagage and made sure it was checked on to the plane for us. We had a 30 minute flight downhill from Quito to an oil town named Coca on the Napo River. Since Quito is in a plateau of the Andes we never had to cross the Andes at all. It truly was downhill from the time we started. When we landed in Coca we were greeted by 3 more representatives from NWC who collected our bags and escorted us to a open air bus for our transfer to the Napo. We just had to make sure we saw our bags as they were loaded onto a motorized canoe. This canoe had leather seats on it that seemed to be like desk chairs mounted in the canoe. Very comfortable. This vessel was around 35 feet long (more or less). We took a criss cross route down the Napo for about 2 1/2 hours. The pilot of the boat had to avoid low water and logs that were submerged in the river. Once we arrived at our destination we left our boat at the Information Center. There we were divided our group of 14 was divided into 2 groups - one of 8 (ours) and one of 6. Each group had a naturalist guide a member of the local Kichwa tribe who knew all about the area and a paddler. Robbie was our naturalist guide and spoke really good English. Mariano was our Kichwa guide and Pato was our paddler. We then got into smaller canoes and were paddled 2 more hours up a much smaller river (actually more like a creek) thru the jungle to the lodge which was located on a lagoon.

The Anangu Kichwa community live in their ancestral terriory between the banks of the rivers Napo and Tiputini. Since the 70's they have been working to preserve 21,400 hectares of land that is within what is now Yasuni National Park. in 2001 the government of Ecuador recognized this land as the Anangu Kichwa's rightful home.

In 1998 the community members of Kichwa Anangu identified tourism as a way to generate income for their community while conserving their rainforest home. They are now 100% owners of the NWC. They have successfully implemented environmentally friendly practices recognized as the best example of community tourism in Ecuador and have also won important international awards for service and quality for visitors.

More as I can find the time and have access.

03/02/10 Amazon to the Andes

Pato is bringing our canoe to the dock this morning at dawn

Paddling up the creek back to the Napo River

Tamarind monkeys

Napo Wildlife Center

"Our" canoe group with Pato (Paddler), Robbie (naturalist guide) & Mariano our Kichwa guide

At the Equator


Hacienda Zuleta study

Hello all. We've gone from the jungle to the mountains - all in one day. Woke up this morning in a thatch roofed cabana in the Amazon and am about to turn in in a spectacular hacienda way up in the Andes Mountains. What a world we live in! So, breakfast at 5:30 and in a canoe at 6:00. An hour and a half up the small river and then transfer to a motarized boat for a 2.5 hour trip back up the Napo River to the town of Coca. Finally a 1/2 hour flight back to Quito. Met up with our bus driver who had collected all our bags we left behing at the Hilton and headed North. We went to La Mitad del Mundo (The Center of the Earth) where you can stand with one foot in the Southern Hemisphere and one foot in the Northern Hemisphere. We've heard that the French (who said this was the absolute Equator) actually messed it up. When they did GPS readings the place described as the Equator was actually slightly off. It was too late to change the place where the had set up the fancy monument so we went where it was and took the obligatory pictures.
Anyway, the Hacienda Zuleta is a 16th century mansion that has so many antiques and old wood carved furniture that you almost can't believe it. We just had a fantastic dinner and after dinner coffee/tea in front of a crackling fire place. We'll have 3 nights here and then 2 more nights before we head back home.
We heard about the earthquake in Chile and it's a tragedy but absolutely no effect on us.
The Napo Wildlife Center had internet but wanted $50 for the 3 days we were there so I waited and it's free here at the Hacienda. So, I'm sending this off and I'll try to upload some images. I've updated some of what we did today. Over the next few days I'll try to update with exactly we were doing at Napo. Off to bed so adios, amigos y amigas!

02/26/2010 Quito in the afternoon

On the road to Quito

Carol and Connie in the park

We got to Quito around 2:00 and checked into the Hilton. Some of us went into old Quito for a little shopping while other (myself included) decided to hang around the hotel. A little later in the afternoon Connie and I went for a walk in the big park across the street with Dave & Carol Tivoli. Then back to the room to wait for our dinner. We went to The Red Crab Restaurant - we also ate at the same restaurant (in Guayaquil) last year for a spectacular seafood meal. I can;t explain how good this seafood is! This is Luis and Chio's favorite restaurant and we had some of their delicious sangria to wash it down. Back to the Hilton to write this up and prepare for tomorrow's trip to the Amazon for 3 days. This wil be the highlight of the trip in my mind. I seriously doubt I will have internet access until we return so I'll report on the Amazon trip when I can.

Adios, amigao y amigas!

02/26 Tinlandia Eco Lodge

The group meets with Sergio for our nature walk

High up on the Tinlandia Eco Lodge

Papayrus plants and some nice lily pads on the grounds

Here is a trio of toucans that came to eat papaya set out for them just ouside where we ate our breakfast. Tinlandia Lodge has been in existance since 1935 - started by the current owner's father. Purported to be the first eco lodge in South America, the relatively small privately owned preserve has more species of birds than are in the United States.

We arrived in the dark last night and took a single bag from our bus and had it transported .7 of a mile up to where our cabins were. We then walked up the steep slippery road with our lights to get to where we slept. Sergio, the owner had a nice dinner for us before we headed up to sleep. He arranged to meet us at 6:30 to go on a nature hike - to see birds. The birds were in pretty short supply but we saw quite a few interesting trees and types of plants. The cabanas we stayed in were pretty rustic - not up to the standards we had established previous to this stop. We decided to pack it in early and they prepared a box lunch of chicken sandwiches and vegetables for our bus trip to Quito. We hit the road for a 3 hour trip up up and up and then doen into Quito in the early afternoon.