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¡Hola!
We have just returned from our jungle excursion. The mosquitos were well fed but we are both otherwise alive and well. Our journey actually started in Baños. We travelled north from Cuenca 7 hours to Ambato then changed for a further hour out to Baños. We had heard it was a good place to organise trips into the jungle and try some adventurous activities. Our first night in Baños we booked rafting for the very next morning. Straight into the adventure type stuff. The journey out to the river was pretty hair raising, winding around the mountains at great speed. The rafting was great fun and we had much more time on the water being out on the Pastaza river for about 2 hours. Fantastic stuff. We didn´t want it to end. Next time grade 5.
We made it our mission when we got back from the rafting to try and book a jungle tour. We hadn´t been having much luck as just the two of us didn´t seem to be enough to get a tour started. Luckily we were given a tip by a crazy danish woman who runs a cafe in the town. We went along to Rainbow Expeditions and had a chat about a trip designed especially to give you the best chance of seeing wildlife - camping for 4 nights out in primary jungle. After stalling for a while giving ourselves time to panic about the reality of camping in the jungle in the wet season we plucked up the courage to go and sign ourselves up. It still seemed like a pretty scary prospect especially as the weather in Baños had been pretty wet up to then; four days in a tent in the rain with the mosquitos didn´t exactly sound like much of a holiday. Still, we aren´t supposed to be on holiday (well not exactly), its the experience we came here for. It took a good few drinks that night to steady our nerves and we spent most of the next day recovering from the nerve steadying process.
Sunday evening saw us setting off on the first leg of the journey. Strangely, after coming all the way out to Baños to find a tour the area we were actually going to was much further north than we had originally intended to go, beyond Quito to Lago Agrio only 20km from the Columbian border. We took a bus first back to Ambato and then an overnight bus (not an experience our guide book had recommended) up to Lago Agrio. After waiting for a few hours there we picked up our next bus 3 hours further out to the jungle to Aguas Negras. This bus journey is following the oil pipelines out into the deep jungle and its quite a bizarre thought that we only have access to this pristine forest on account of Texaco and the like ploughing their way into it in search of the black stuff. The steaming pipes (oil is apparently hot when extracted) guide the way through some beautiful scenery and right into the Ecuadorian slice of the Amazon basin. When we reached Aguas Negras we took a pickup for 30 minutes further to reach the place where we were to pick up our canoe. All pretty exciting but by now we were wishing we had taken up the offer of paying for a shower in the hotel in Lago Agrio. Ah well, if you are in the jungle smell like the jungle (if not worse).
It was a little surprising to discover nothing had been arranged in advance to hire a canoe and some equipment etc and we just turned up with our guide Sebastian, an indigineous Ecuadorian Shuar/Quechuan (don´t know how to spell that) and his cousin also from the jungle, Camilo, Sebastian´s Dutch girlfriend Claudi and ourselves. The people are pretty easygoing and didn´t seem in the least surprised and a canoe and some cooking equipment was quickly sorted. The canoe itself was a very basic wooden one with planks for seats. Over the next couple of days my plank would become very attached to me and leave lasting reminders of the experience. We had discussed all this in the office but again it did seem a little strange and disorientating (especially after 16 hours of travelling) to be climbing into a small canoe and paddling off with just a tent and a box of food.
It was now about 11.30 am. The plan was to head some way into the jungle to camp the first night then another day travel further in for two nights and then a further night to break up the journey back. We were heading about 25km down the Rio Negras (so called because of the black water) into the heart of the jungle. Crazy.
The Rio Negras is quite small and a tributory of another river leading to the Amazon. We had hoped to make it to the Amazon itself but some connection is nice. The river isn´t particularly wide and the canopy often covers the entire scene in lush greenery, where we hoped to find our wildlife hiding (but not that well). We weren´t going to be dissapointed and almost immediately we saw a sloth in a tree right by the water. Sloths are great especially as they move pretty slowly so you get a good look. Neither of us had remembered to get our camera out of the rucksack now under plastic for waterproofing, (16 hours....) so we have to just remember that one.
Two hours down the river being carried along by the current we reached our first camp with Big Man (El Hombre Grande) so called because he is bigger than Sebastian and Camilo who must be all of 5´4. He is actually quite large I guess and a bit round as they explained because he is lazy and doesn´t like to work. As is to prove their point as soon as we arrived they had to tell him off for not preparing for our arrival and cutting down some grass for us to camp on, which he then immediately set upon with his machete. Everyone has a machete (I wanted one but Betty wouldn´t let me ).
Big Man lives on the border of the reserve on his own (apart from his chickens) and has done for 15 years. He doesn´t like to work so doesn´t do very much, eating a lot of eggs and growing as much as he needs. Seems fair enough to me. His house is a bit of a mess and quite fittingly given what we were told about him, doesn´t have any walls. He is a hospitable chap and we felt very welcome.
We went for a hike around Big Man´s house in the local jungle and then took a swim in the river. This was kind of surprising given that we had been told we were to fish for pirahna and should look out for alligators and even anaconda. In this kind of situation you have to trust your laughing guide and your own sense of smell and take the opportunity for a wash when it arises as apparently later it would be too dangerous to swim. We are still here so it was a pretty successful if short swim.
To both our surprise we slept really well (I guess 16 hours on a bus helps) and when we were woken at 6am by Big Man´s cockerels right by our tent they both survived the encounter. Incidentally, we didn´t know chickens could climb trees so it was quite bizarre to see Big Man shepherding his flock up long sticks into a tree to keep them safe at night from the local predators (where was our tree????!!!).
The journey continued down river and we started to see more of the locals with Toucans, wild turkeys, Humming birds and monkeys all putting in an appearance. The animals we couldn´t see also made their presence felt through constant noise. This really is I think the essence of the jungle. You can´t always see that much and all you do see is fleeting glances sometimes but the noise lets you know where you are.
All was going pretty well but we arrived at our camp after 6 hours (on a plank) under darkening skies. Luckily the rain held off until the tarpaulin was up, but when it came it stayed. It then rained really heavily from 3pm that afternoon until the following morning. This was the jungle experience we were both dreading. Unsurprisingly there isn´t really a whole lot to do in the jungle when it rains and you have only a piece of plastic (with holes) to keep it from you. Sebastian and Camilo did admirably digging trenches to try and drain the torrential rain away from our camp and cooking up some food, but it was pretty, well..wet. Things took a turn for the worse when we put up our tent as our zip that had been difficult on the first night now refused to operate at all. We now faced a night in the jungle, in the rain, with only our outer cover tucked loosely under our tent to protect us from the advancing water and more worryingly to us, the locals.
Bizarrely and rather fortunately the heavy rain which continued all night must have kept the mosquitos at bay for we survived another night relatively unsacthed. Nothing bigger had decided to pay us a visit either so all good. The rain had even stopped! After breakfast we set off down stream further for another jungle excursion and to try our hand at trying to catch some pirahna. Sebastian was great fun throughtout the whole trip and has an amazing wealth of knowledge about the jungle. We had the chance to sample ants that tasted like lemon, saw jungle crafts in operation and were informed constantly about the plants and animals with the odd story thrown in for good measure. A great day out rounded off in the afternoon by some fishing. Pirahna are strange fish to go for as apparently if they are hungry you just throw in the line and they bite immediately and if you are lucky you have a fish for dinner. We didn´t get lucky unfortunately. As the water was high the pirahna had plenty of places to hide and available food, which strangely didn´t stop them eating the bait, just not swallowing the hook. Clever fish. So, no big fish to add to these tall tales but a whole troop of Capuchin monkeys jumping across the river, Howler monkeys, Tamarind monkeys and Spider monkeys are nice.
The weather held and we had a much more relaxing evening and more good food. Camilo was an excellent cook and the dishes he was putting together with a fire, two pots and river water were fantastic. After dinner Sebastian and Camilo continued their entertainment program with Sebastian exorcising the bad city spirits from us in his best Shamanic way, consisting of a leaf headdress, a dance, chanting and a lot of smoke blown at your head. We couldn´t understand a word he said but he found it very amusing and so did we. Bad spirits safely kept at bay.
Not so the spiders who had happily by now started to make an appearance. We had seen spiders all along and even had them running across the water to jump in the boat but they had all been pretty small. The big ones started appearing that evening by the water and the following morning in the ponchos Claudi found what can only be described as a whopper. Camilo didn´t seem to think it was that dangerous and provided some great photo opportunities with his new friend. We kept a safer distance.
It was now time to start heading back and the good weather continued allowing us to paddle in hot sunshine back toward civilisation. Luckily the wildlife was still abundant and we saw our first snake. A fantastic yellow and black one, which again wasn´t considered dangerous but we still didn´t go too close. We had time to stop for another jungle hike, a man in the moon story and some lunch but most of the day was spent in the canoe. It really is a fantastic way to travel silently through the jungle. The bugs are at bay and you get to see amazing stuff. Murder on your bum though.
The last night in the jungle came upon us and we had special reminders in local tatoos applied by the laughing cousins. Betty says she didn´t realise it would last a week before signing up for the facial version, but I went for one on my arm. It´s applied from a local fruit which is heated in the fire. Strangely, it doesn´t show immediately (which is odd when the guys can´t see what they are drawing, especially on my eagle catching snake ). After about 10 hours it becomes very visble as the ink turns black on your skin. Betty had a bit of a shock. All good fun.
The last night was actually our worst in the jungle. We had both been secretly thinking that were pushing our luck sleeping in the jungle in a tent with no door and we were a little put out that no one had offered to swap with us - further evidence of the danger we were actually in? The large spider that morning didn´t help. As it turned out it was only the mosquitos who found their way in. By the dozen. This spot was particularly bad for aggressive, repellant restistant mosquitos and they feasted on us both. It made it very hard to get to sleep and if you woke up you were very aware of their presence. In the morning we found a lot resting up after a hard nights dining. We were now both ready to go. The jungle is great but not the best place to spend the night.
Packing up we got to see a tarantula that had climbed into Sebastian´s jeans (in a bag outside). It was a young one but no one wanted to get too close. Another reminder of our luck we packed up pretty quick. We were both now kind of stinky as we didn´t have enough clothes with us to cover a 5 day jungle trip so had to just tough it out in one pair of trousers and the odd t-shirt change. It was definitely time for a shower.
We paddled back quicker than expected to our canoe rental family and then had a 2 hour wait for the pick up to Aguas Negras. The bus turned up just as we arrived and by 5 we were back in civilisation. Hungry, tired and dirty but with fresh juices, food on offer and warm water. We met up for a couple of drinks that night but made it to bed early to enjoy a great nights sleep.
I don´t know about Betty but I am not cut out for life in the jungle. Nice place to visit but I wouldn´t want to stay. Days better than nights. Locals friendly in the main and the range of inhabitants from night light bugs with green headlights and red tail lights to fantastic birds and monkeys not to mention the vocal but invisible make it an unforgettable experience and one we are both very happy to have done. Next time you get the chance to go camping in the jungle, go for it!
Hope all who have made it to the end are still awake and well.
Looking foward to seeing everyone again very soon.
Off to the beach so signing off for a while.
Love,
Paul and Betty.
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