The next morning I got on a bus back to Quito in order to catch yet another 8 hour bus to Lago Agrio to start my five day trip in the Amazon Jungle. My bus out of Quito left at 11 pm. When I woke up at around 2:30 am the bus was stopped on the side of the road and had been sitting there for quite a while. Turns out the bus broke down and they were going to just SIT on the side of the road until eight AM when the next bus drove by. Needless to say, the entire busload of people were not pleased. I started asking around to find other people traveling to the Amazon; a woman behind me from Spain, Ana, told me to stick with her and her friends and we'll all figure out how to get to the camp. After the bus broke down THREE more times, we finally arrived at our destination at 10:30 am.
A van was waiting to pick us up and drove us another two hours to the village of Cuyabeno. There, we got on a motor-canoe for another two hours that brought us down the narrow, windy Cuyabeno River to our campsite. When we got there I found out that I didn't actually have a group (thank you, Happy Gringo, for lying to me); so Ana told me to stay with her and her five other friends from Spain. I ended up staying in a group with them for four days speaking mostly Spanish with them and our Spanish guide. I had the option, at the end of the first day, to switch to an English speaking group, however, being that I have had about
six years of education in the Spanish language, I figured it would be a good learning experience to put my rusty knowledge to good use.
That first night, we went for a night hike into the jungle, looking at plants, animals (mostly frogs and birds) and insects. The next day we went on a three hour hike, fished for piranas, and canoed along the river in search of Alligators (Caiman). Two of Ana's friends and I jumped into the Lagoon and swam around for a while (I am a pretty weak swimmer, but didn't drown or get stung by Sting Rays so I consider it a successful A + experience).
Pirana fishing is interesting--you basically have a long thin tree branch,
like what you'd use to roast marshmallows, that has a string and a hook attached. Instead of waiting patiently and quietly for a bit like the lake fishing I know and love, you actually thrash the end of the pole around in the water like "struggling prey." I had no success that evening, but ended up catching four my last day in the Amazon when I paddled around the river for four hours with my own personal guide.
Afterwards, we watched the sunset and took the boat around the river in the dark in order to search for Caiman and other nocturnal animals. We found a few, however, they were significantly smaller than anticipated.
The next day we left the camp at 6:45 am in order to bird watch before breakfast. Afterwards we took the boat back out to visit the indigenous community a few hours down the river. There, we walked their their "farm" (for lack of a better word) where they grow Yuca, Cocao, and many medicinal plants. We met a 92 year old Shaman, Criollo, and his wife, Victoriano, who taught us about preparing Yuca to eat. Yuca is a white root that is g
round up on what looks like a cheese grater. It is then placed in a giant braid of Palm leaves to ring out all of the excess water. Victoriano then sifted the ground Yuca into a flour and spread it on a round pizza-like pan over a fire to make Yuca bread. On this we placed baked bananas (Platinos), honey, and tuna (all separately, of course). We also drink Chicha, which is beer made from fermented Yuca flour and water. After we ate, Criollo dressed in traditional, native clothing and gave a small demonstration of a healing ceremony which includes dancing and chanting (this usually takes place for an entire night, but the demonstration was only for five minutes). Our final event with the Shaman was to try our hands at the six foot blowgun--this time I hit the target!
The final day, I was all by myself . I went paddling around the river with a personal guide to fish for Piranas and look at wildlife. Afterwards, I joined the English speaking group (because my beautiful Spaniards left the night before) for more fishing and swimming. I also saw a lot of snakes, frogs, more bugs, pink dolphins, lizards, and MONKEYS. I ate my final three course meal of the trip (they fed us like crazy; three, three course meals of homemade food and fresh fruit juice a day) and was on my way back to civilization.
AKWARD MOMENT
The lodge I stayed at has a domesticated six month old monkey named Pancha that hangs out at the camp. She is there because a group of tourists tried to smuggle her out of the jungle in order to see her as a pet. Now, she hangs around clinging to whomever she wishes (loves perching on someone's shoulder with her paws dug their hair and her tail wrapped around their neck--this happened to me often), and she also loves stealing food from the dinner table. One night she decided to try and steal my food; one of the guides went to grab her and instead of fleeing, she wrapped around my arm, clinging for dear life. He tried pulling her off of me and upon doing so, she started screaming loudly like a four year old girl for a solid minute. Everyone at the camp was staring at this ridiculous sight while I just sat there with a man and a monkey playing tug of war with my arm......
#2 While drinking the Chicha, the Shaman told us a little story about a saying they have in his village. Chicha is traditional drink to consume on one's wedding night, "Chicha then chucha, chicha then chucha." Now, I've already told you what chicha means...can you guess what chucha is? Coming from a 92 year old man this is both hilarious and ....
FOOD CORNER
So, this Chicha, to me, is a bit unpleasant. Now, everyone has their personal culinary preferences, but to me, it tasted like a very warm, floury, pulpy beverage with a beer-like aftertaste. Not my cup of tea.
Taste: 2
Aftertaste:1 (no adverse consequences, as of yet)
#2 I don't know the exact name of the insect, but we consumed some ants which crawl on a certain plant that have a sour, lemon flavor. This flavor protects them and the plant from being consumed by predators due to their repulsive acidity.
Taste: 3
Aftertaste: 1
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