Our 4 day trip out to the Amazon the our big 'splurge' of the trip and by far the most 'different' experience that we had. A huge part of Ecuador is deep Amazonian jungle, and one of the larger national parks is called Yasuni. There are ~5 ecolodges in the park, but most of them are 5-star accommodations that are way outside of our price range. Sani Lodge was a great alternative, run by the local Kichwa community and affordable. Not cheap, but affordable. We picked the cheaper option, which meant sleeping in tents, not cabins. In the jungle. With the tarantulas. And coral snakes. Yeah. We're not much into arranged tours, but that's really the only way possible to do the Amazon and this was very low-key on the scale of tours so, we put up with it.
We flew from Quito to Coca, which is at the start of the jungle, and from there, took a 3hr motorized canoe ride down the river. After that, we had a 20 minute walk, and another 15 minute (non-motorized) canoe ride. Once we got off the main river, the location was absolutely stunning. It was super hot and humid, and we were wearing pants and rubber boots most of the time so that was...fun. There were a few open air main buildings where you could take in the views, eat, drink, play games, etc. Our tents were a short canoe ride away.
The four of us were part of a group of 9 and had 2+ local guides with all the time. We had early morning starts (sunrise canoe ride anyone?) and late evenings (night hike for tarantulas?) and down time during the heat of the day. Our days consisted of hikes (walks) through the jungle, lots of canoe rides, a visit, to the local community, a tree top observation tower, and the exciting stuff - piranha fishing and blow-dart/spear throwing practice.
Here's part 1 of the photo tour: all courtesy of Steven, cuz his are better
and some phone snaps & night walk creatures:
We flew from Quito to Coca, which is at the start of the jungle, and from there, took a 3hr motorized canoe ride down the river. After that, we had a 20 minute walk, and another 15 minute (non-motorized) canoe ride. Once we got off the main river, the location was absolutely stunning. It was super hot and humid, and we were wearing pants and rubber boots most of the time so that was...fun. There were a few open air main buildings where you could take in the views, eat, drink, play games, etc. Our tents were a short canoe ride away.
The four of us were part of a group of 9 and had 2+ local guides with all the time. We had early morning starts (sunrise canoe ride anyone?) and late evenings (night hike for tarantulas?) and down time during the heat of the day. Our days consisted of hikes (walks) through the jungle, lots of canoe rides, a visit, to the local community, a tree top observation tower, and the exciting stuff - piranha fishing and blow-dart/spear throwing practice.
Here's part 1 of the photo tour: all courtesy of Steven, cuz his are better
moto - canoe
treetop
stick-bug
sunset cruise
pirinha fishing lesson:
put hunk of steak on hook. throw line tied to stick.
wait til you feel a pull, yank the line
food will be gone, so will piranha
Mauro got one
Edwin's house
grubs. Pre-cooking
Giant. Blow-gun.
and some phone snaps & night walk creatures:
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