Feb 21st/22nd
At about 11pm, We hopped on a bus to go to Lago Agrio where we would then meet the jungle at the other side. At 5am the bus stops and I'm a bit confused. Connie said this is normal as the drivers need a break for long trips. Ok, makes sense.... Until an hour passed and we are not moving yet. Then another hour, and another. A little over 3 hours we didn't move, nor did we know what was going on except traffic looked horrible. Everything was just stopped. The bus was hot & stuffy and now we are starting to worry we will miss the driver that is to take us to the jungle. We then borrowed phone from the nice lady next to us to call the travel agent so she could make sure we were not forgotten.
We finally made to Lago Agrio around noon, where someone was waiting for us. We picked up one more person, jumped in a pick up truck driven by a cute, old man who didn't speak a lick of English. Between Connie & the young Dutch man also riding with us, they were able to communicate enough. We then started on the 2 hour drive to get to where we would meet a canoe to make our final leg of the journey to the jungle. Here we were greeted by our river guide, Winston. He provided us with our bagged lunch which was a bologna sandwhich, an apple and apple juice.
Once we checked in and finished lunch, we jumped in the canoe for a 2 hour canoe ride to Samona lodge where we would spend the next 3 nights. On our canoe ride to the lodge, we saw monkeys, turkey, eagle, blue butterfly, an iguana, and several other birds.
We then arrived at Samona lodge where we were greeted by our guide for the next 3 days, Juan. He told to sit & relax with coffee/cocoa (so excited they had cocoa) as he gave us a quick talk on what the days ahead would consist of, how to use the hot water, where to light our candles at night (there was no electricity) and warned about the creatures we would likely find in our bungalow.
I'm pretty sure I took about 2 sips of my cocoa, and he said it was time to go. So much for resting, muchless taking a shower & getting settled in. So, We quickly dropped off our luggage, met the group we would spend the next couple days with and were on the canoe again to go pirahna fishing. Connie caught the first one. Me, I didn't catch any. Very interesting though. You simply use a stick that the put fishing line & a hook on. We then put a piece of meat on the hook, beef I think it was. Toss it in the water, shake it around a bit and next thing you know, they are nibbling! We also saw a river dolphin. Pretty awesome.
After the fishing, we went on night walk through the jungle. We saw a bunch of insects such as Spiders, grasshoppers, 2 types scorpions (including the poisonous kind), ants, crickets (male & female), a walking stick. A little weird being out there in the pitch black. At one point he told us to shut our lights off. We did and just stood there and listened to the jungle in the pitch black. Was crazy to think we were standing in the middle of the jungle. We also learned that 70% of all jungle creatures are nocturnal.
After seeing all the jungle critters...Then it was back for dinner where we had Fish, plantain, salad and a peach for dessert. The food was excellent. Beats the box lunch with the bologna sandwich for lunch!
By this time, Connie & I are exhausted after a night sleeping on a bus, and a long trip. But, the group decided it would be fun to go out for night canoe trip looking for anaconda. We weren't about to pass up any opportunity so we fought through the exhaustion, grabbed a padddle and went on a 2 hour compel trip in the pitch dark.
My goodness, LONG day(s)! Connie and I were both wondering a little bit at this point what we got ourselves into... But nothing a good nights sleep (in our netted bed), wouldn't cure!
Buenos noches, mi amigos...
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