The Amazon…finally here!

I have always wanted to experience what some refer to as one of Mother Nature’s “masterpieces”… the rainforest. Since Connie and I had been given a free cruise in Galapagos ….due to me being food poisoned last year on our boat… I felt like this was the perfect opportunity to extend our trip and visit the Amazon.

When we arrived in Coca…of course it was raining…it’s the “rainforest”. They receive 9-12 feet of rain each year…raining about 250 days out of the year. Then about 14 of us traveled by motorized canoe down the Napo River for about 2 hours – 8 of us going to the Napa Cultural Center Lodge and 6 going further down river to the Napa Wildlife Lodge. Our group represented Switzerland, England, California, and, of course, Texas.

We passed under the Majestic Bridge… the highest bridge in Ecuador at about 266 ft. The Napo River was for the most part like glass & very wide… and YES you get wet- but I assure you , you don’t melt. And, you quickly learn to enjoy the rain…because when it’s not raining, the heat feels like you’re baking in an oven.

Oil exploration started in the early 1970s in this area and now it’s 60% of Ecuador’s export income. Almost all major countries have refineries here… Russia, China, Argentina, etc. Oil is shipped via pipeline from this area of the Amazon all the way to the Pacific coast ….and then shipped primarily to China.

Arriving at the Napo Cultural Center Lodge, you have the outstanding chance to step into the aboriginal territory of the Kichwa Anangu community.

The lodge is located inside Yasuni National Park (no hunting or fishing allowed) which consist of 2,500,000 acres… and this small community owns 55,000 of those acres. There are a total of 20 families (200 people) living here. There are many other communities in the park… but this is the only one allowing tourists and it is considered the MOST BIOLOGICALLY, DIVERSE PLACE ON EARTH. The lodge was built in 2010.

After settling in our jungle villas, we went for a walk to explore. Our guide for the trip is Delfin. He’s VERY knowledgeable and from another local community similar to this. The first thing we saw was a Sloth … he had 2 front toes and 3 on the back. These strange animals spend 80% of their life resting hanging upside down from a tree…something they can only do because their main organs are attached to their rib cage, so they don’t compress their lungs. They are excellent swimmers. They only come down once a week to do their bathroom business. Their natural enemy is the Harper eagle…..And on the ground, wild cats like jaguars. Yelp, they are common in the rainforest.

Next we saw the other species of sloth… The 3 toed slouth…grey & white. This species has 8-9 vertebra in their neck as opposed to 7 in most mammals, so they can actually turn their head almost all the way around!

Trying to walk thru the jungle was a bit challenging…but one of the guides used a machete to get thru fallen trees limbs. Since it’s a rainforest, it was very slippery and muddy.

We saw many varieties of trees…

Katop tree ….biggest & tallest tree in rainforest fast growing

Lots of palms…. moretta is the dominant one…there are also royal palms…Most useful palm is called the iron palm and is used as the base of house, to make swords and other tools. It’s very strong! It looks like spider legs at bottom …stilt roots.

Tagua is the fruit from the Shading palm, roofs, produces fruit rich in oil …water then jelly and then hard
They make Necklaces and carve animals on it.

Chambera palm …very spiky when young and roots not exposed… fiber from leaves is used to make fishing line and hammocks…it produces fruit natives call “wild coconut”.

Coral mushrooms grown on the trees and make them appear white

Insects…

Millipedes don’t string …centipedes do

Fungus guarding ant… fungus is only grown inside their nest so they have to go gather the leaves that’s creates the fungus… there’s armies of these ants EVERYWHERE!

Bullet ant …most painful ant in the world… called the giant hunting ant

20,000 spiders make a goant giant web & live as a community

Lots of birds….
Blue throated Piping guan bird
Macaws in this area

Exhausted and drenched with sweat, we had dinner, showered and fell into bed. 5am would be early to rise…I did mention we are on vacation, right?🙃