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The guide met us in the morning after our night bus at Lago Agrio and drove us for 3 hours to the entrance of the reserve at El Puente.The rain that fell was nothing like we have seen before!!Overall we were lucky with the weather but every so often for twenty minute bursts it would absolutely lash!! Then we took a canoe trip down the Cuyabeno River to the Samona lodge arriving late afternoon.The Samona Lodge is located within the protected Cuyabeno Reserve in the north-east of Ecuador - an extensive network of inter-connected lakes and lagoons covering over 6000 sq. km of pristine virgin rainforest, home to a wealth of fauna including pink freshwater dolphin, anaconda, capybara, caiman, tapir, manatee, piranha, ocelot, tucan, macaw ... and much more. Along the way we saw loads of different animals.When we arrived at the lodge we got into our room and realised we had only half a roof.We were right in the middle of the jungle so we had to constantly watch out for insects etc.Most importantly we had to tuck our net well under the bed to make sure nothing came in at night!!We went to see the sunset that night on the magnificent Laguna Grande and saw some dolphins in the lagoon aswell.The calmness while we watched the sunset was amazing.That night we took a night walk in search of nocturnal species.We saw so many different species!!When we were going to sleep we thought it would be impossible with all the sounds of the jungle but it was actually really relaxing and we had one of the best nights sleep in a long time!!
Day 2- After breakfast we took ahike into the primary rainforest to learn about medicinal plants, biological flora and fauna. After lunch we took a journey downstream for a relaxing afternoon on our little canoe, enjoying the surrounding nature as we went.That evening we went Piranha fishing and went looking for Anacondas.We took in the sunset again and when it got dark we went looking for Caiman (Alligators).We saw loads of them in all different shapes and sizes.We got right up next to them which was really cool but they would easily have knocked our little boat over!!
Day 3- We got up at 5 in the morning to go early morning bird watching.We went out on our canoe and saw some amazing birds and then headed back for breakfast.After breakfast we went on our traditional dug-out canoe again.We headed down the Caimancocha lake where we enjoyed the uniqueness of this area of rainforest. We hiked into the primary rainforest and got lessons in the use of plants for survival.We then continued downstream and went to visit a traditional witch doctor which was very interestng.We had our lunch here and then went back upstream and stopped at a typical local community, Tarapuy Siona, where our guide explained about the culture and traditions of the native people and we cooked bread from scratch!Before we went back to the lodge we went to Laguna Grande again and enjoyed the wonderful sunset.That night we relaxed in the lodge.There were ten people in our group and the other eight were only doing 4 days so they were all going home in the morning and it would just be the 2 of us for the last day.
Day 4- We decided we wanted to do something we had not done yet so our guide took us on a tiny little canoe to different places including another beautiful lagoon.We had no motor and just rowed for 6 hours.It was amazing!!We had no motor so the animals were not being frightened away.Over the few days we saw hundreds of monkeys but a lot of the time they would run up the trees but now they would be at head level!!We also did a bit of Piranha fishing again.When we got back to the lodge we were wrecked so we just packed and were ready to go for the morning.
Day 5-Woke up at 8 and said goodbye to the 2 tarantulas that had taken up residence in our bedroom for the few days. We left on our canoe at 9 in the morning and got a bus at twelve back to Lago Agrio.We just got a bus straight back to Quito and arrived back at 10.We headed straight for our hostel.The whole five days in the jungle will certainly never be forgotten!!
Amazon Jungle Done!!
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