A week later and we are back to civilization from the Jungle... Truely an amazing experience, I'll try and talk you through ours.
View of the propeller and first look at the jungle... I promise it's there really.
We then caught firstly larger boat, a smaller boat and finally a wooden canoe which took us 3 hours up river to our destination on the Challuacocha lake. Really a fun experience whizzing around the river....
The lake....
We had varied weather while we were there, for the first couple of days it was HOT and HUMID... really humid, as everything feels damp all the time. I`m glad to not have to put on damp clothes all the time now... The next 2 were really raining.
The rain is incredible it really causes the jungle to come to life.
Firstly you hear it... Then the wind will pick up and a sheet of torrential rain will arrive. After about 10 minutes you'll start to see the mist rising from the ground and the temperature drop. Under the canopy of the trees you get quite a lot of protection. After a while the rain will subside but the ground will still be releasing moisture.
From above the canopy you can really appreciate it, it's almost like the jungle is breathing... Definitely I've come away with a much larger appreciation of the beauty of nature.
Basically the day would start early (breakfast at 5.30) and then we would head out for a hike for about 3 hours. This follows routes which the local community keep maintained, otherwise the jungle would overgrow them very quickly. Then it`s a bit like wandering around a forest in Europe in some ways... although everything is much bigger. They have these cool ants called bullet ants. Probably about the size of half your finger. If they bit you apparantly it feels the same as being shot... ouch... luckily we didn`t get bitten. Although you might notice in a lot of the pictures I`m covering my hands with my sleeves... you can never be too careful.
After the hike, which you might see something interesting or not we went back to the lodge for lunch. Then out again at 3.30 for a couple of hours and finally some activity after the meal at 7. So really action packed days.
We also on the Thursday afternoon got to visit the community and see Sergio`s house which was an incredible experience to see how they live. It`s pretty rustic as you could imagine. From some of the pictures hopefully get an idea... :)
So we are heading off to the Galapagos islands on Wednesday for a week.
So we looked at all the options and just ended up nicking James's choice, thanks James... It's about 70km away from a town called Coca. To get to Coca we flew on quite a small plane from Quito and essentially dropped down to Coca in 30 mins.
View of the propeller and first look at the jungle... I promise it's there really.
We then caught firstly larger boat, a smaller boat and finally a wooden canoe which took us 3 hours up river to our destination on the Challuacocha lake. Really a fun experience whizzing around the river....
The lake....
and finally to our home for the next 5 days...
The accommodation was posh compared to what the people who live there have. Wooden huts with thatched roofs made from a kind of palm leaf, with proper beds and bathroom. Only cold water tho - the hot water system was broken :( didn´t matter so much the first couple of days when it was hot but then the storms started - the rain was probably hotter and more powerful than the shower!
Me making a roof like the ones in the lodge where we stayed, the guy on the right showing me how to do it is Sergio from the local community.
So the jungle is really hard to explain and I`m sure the photos won`t do it justice. Wildlife you couldn`t get away from and we saw: boa constricta (just around the cabins where we were staying), tarantulas (huge and very scary), parrots, toucans, monkeys, bats, butterflys, lots of birds, frogs, plants, caiman (like an alligator), beetles, cockroaches and hunders of mosquitos... All of which seem to bite us. It`s great to see the animals out of the zoo though and with large amount of space to live in.
The accommodation was posh compared to what the people who live there have. Wooden huts with thatched roofs made from a kind of palm leaf, with proper beds and bathroom. Only cold water tho - the hot water system was broken :( didn´t matter so much the first couple of days when it was hot but then the storms started - the rain was probably hotter and more powerful than the shower!
Me making a roof like the ones in the lodge where we stayed, the guy on the right showing me how to do it is Sergio from the local community.
So the jungle is really hard to explain and I`m sure the photos won`t do it justice. Wildlife you couldn`t get away from and we saw: boa constricta (just around the cabins where we were staying), tarantulas (huge and very scary), parrots, toucans, monkeys, bats, butterflys, lots of birds, frogs, plants, caiman (like an alligator), beetles, cockroaches and hunders of mosquitos... All of which seem to bite us. It`s great to see the animals out of the zoo though and with large amount of space to live in.
We had varied weather while we were there, for the first couple of days it was HOT and HUMID... really humid, as everything feels damp all the time. I`m glad to not have to put on damp clothes all the time now... The next 2 were really raining.
The rain is incredible it really causes the jungle to come to life.
Firstly you hear it... Then the wind will pick up and a sheet of torrential rain will arrive. After about 10 minutes you'll start to see the mist rising from the ground and the temperature drop. Under the canopy of the trees you get quite a lot of protection. After a while the rain will subside but the ground will still be releasing moisture.
From above the canopy you can really appreciate it, it's almost like the jungle is breathing... Definitely I've come away with a much larger appreciation of the beauty of nature.
We were in a small groups of 6, a swiss couple in their 60s and a german couple (south of Frankfurt) in their forties and us of course. We had two guides, Sergio from the indiginous community and Jeremy who was born in Canada but has lived all over the place. It was really good to have a native English speaker and as he was about our age we got on pretty well. They both should us loads of things we would have missed without them.
Basically the day would start early (breakfast at 5.30) and then we would head out for a hike for about 3 hours. This follows routes which the local community keep maintained, otherwise the jungle would overgrow them very quickly. Then it`s a bit like wandering around a forest in Europe in some ways... although everything is much bigger. They have these cool ants called bullet ants. Probably about the size of half your finger. If they bit you apparantly it feels the same as being shot... ouch... luckily we didn`t get bitten. Although you might notice in a lot of the pictures I`m covering my hands with my sleeves... you can never be too careful.
After the hike, which you might see something interesting or not we went back to the lodge for lunch. Then out again at 3.30 for a couple of hours and finally some activity after the meal at 7. So really action packed days.
We also on the Thursday afternoon got to visit the community and see Sergio`s house which was an incredible experience to see how they live. It`s pretty rustic as you could imagine. From some of the pictures hopefully get an idea... :)
So we are heading off to the Galapagos islands on Wednesday for a week.
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