Our wake up call was not lenient at all - 5am sharp and that phone was bouncing off the walls in our room...so we got up and not reluctantly at all either. We had a great day ahead and boy did we! Gustavo, our guide, picked us up at the hotel after we handed over the luggage we were not bringing along with us, and hauled us off to the airport via yet another beautiful road through the new part of the city of Quite. There are a tremendous number of huge high rise apartment buildings nicely painted up in different and gentle colors. The view of the Cotopaxi Volcano was beautiful this morning too. And so we got to the airport, were handed over the another guide who would take us on the airplane and to Coca (pronounced "ko-ka") which is 100 miles due east into the Amazon Jungle. The flight was only about 45 minutes long - just long enough to see some awesome views of the Andes, some waterfalls way below and the dense jungle, spotted with small settlements here and there.
We landed in a rainburst so hard that the water was about 6 inches deep and we had to sit and wait in the plane for it to drain away first. We were taken from the airport in taxis to the boat dock where we were to get on the motorized canoe for the ride upriver to meet up with the river yacht. Well, that was fun! I mean the wait.... there were the cutest little monkeys, some with babies, running around all over the place. They turned their heads to look at you as if asking permission to take something from your bag, but did not wait for it at all. One quickly found a friendly Frank shoulder and cuddled up against Franks ear with its tail all curled around it and all.. seriously, it was obvious that this tiny little monkey snuggled up! It was so cute. They are mischief personified and great fun to watch. Until they poop or pee on your luggage.... They did not do that on ours fortunately, but we became very eager to get them off any and all luggage after that. They were still cute though. After a while, I got close enough to a table and a monkey jumped on me too, but I was not too keep on having him hang out there too long. The problem is I really was not sure how or whether to try to pick it up to get it off and when I tried, I got gently but firmly nipped on the finger. So I leaned near to a pole and off it jumped... By then Frank had a good many photos too.
And the toucans were hopping all around there. It was interesting to see that as soon as one of those little cute monkeys came close to a toucan, the bird left and the monkey did something like a victory jig. Naughty little blighters. There were also other monkeys there, fair sized tortoises and oh my gosh, you should see the size of the snails here! The peacocks screamed like cats and the one huge white rabbit just lay around as if he was a cat. Little canoes screamed up and down the rives, some with motors and some by arm power, and then there were the speed boats that take people up and down the river like taxis. We had an almost two hour wait, but it was by no means boring at all. We had a great view of the river during this time, seats to sit in and shade too. Right on the river edge, now lying in the mud because the water is so low, is a huge airplane on a barge. The wings are cut off really short, but the whole thing is a floating resturant......well, unless, like now, it sits firmly and unevenly on the mud.
We have a group of four that are only interested in the birds around here.... absolutely nothing else gets their eyes dancing at all....its very odd. And then there is a group of eight that will be screaming downriver for almost 6 hours tomorrow to catch up with us as they missed their connection to Quito yesterday! I would have cried! Anyway - so there we are, rather keen to get on to the boat and we were led down the gangplank into this loooong canoe that could possibly seat 4 people right to left on each seat.. We got a total of 20 of us on there very easily and off we went. Oh my. I wonder if it is just this river, or if its the atmosphere or if its just because we are somewhere else, but the magic danced and sang for us for two and a half hours heading down the Napo River. The canoe sits low in the water, maybe 18 inches from the edge of the canoe, there is a tarp that is tied on for a roof and if it rained, the sides could be dropped and we would look through the clear plastic. It did not rain then - the river just delivered miles and miles of incredible scenery. There are so many people living along the river - its not crowed as in our standards, but at least every 5 or six miles you can see a grass hut behind some trees, a wooden canoe gently bobbing in the water in front and at many, we saw the kids bathing, swimming and playing.
There are so many kids that are out on their own in small canoes with just paddles, playing around in the water, checking the fishing traps or playing around the many sandbanks in the river. The vegetation is totally thick, an uncountable number of shades of green and an incredible number of different species all scrunched up together. The motor on the canoe did not make for a quiet ride, but it was definitely a very interesting and fun ride.... and just when we started thinking that it was now time to find a different seat to sit on - there we came around a corner and the Manatee Amazon Explorer sat alongside the bank, just waiting for us. Oh she looks so much nicer than the photo I have on the blog! We were quickly helped aboard, our luggage taken to our cabins, the welomes were barely over and we were already headed further down the river..We were fitted with boots, did our 'sink or fire' drill with the life jackets and all, and then my camera went back to some serious work......
I dont quite know how to describe it all - huge, HUGE trees with perfectly shaped canopies.... many with big thick vines hanging from them and all surrounded by so many other species of plants and flowers. There is a beautiful splash of color every now and again - a tree with purple or orange blooms all over it, brilliant red flowers hanging inbetween the rich, deep green foliage all over the place, the birds flitting everywhere and we could hear the call of the toucans in the trees, but I did not see them along the bank, yet. There is a good flow to the river and we travel along at an average of 7 knots, apart from those places where the river is really shallow. During the early afternoon, it started to rain.. I mean r-a-i-n!! It came down in sheets and visibility was very poor and the pilot of the boat could not see the water to guage the depth anymore.....so the two canoes that we are towing behind the yacht, were broken free and sent off to get closer and find a place for us to stop and wait out the rain... It was a true tropical downpour and just lovely. But, that went well and we were on our way again in no time at all. One other time they broke the smaller towed canoe loose to take a pole and get the depth of the river along the way - and we had to go another way around an island in the middle of the river. Apparently no echo finder will work here - the water is way too silty.
Anyway... it was a totally awesome day. We are now tied to a tree somewhere in the pitch dark alongside a small village as I can see the grass huts next to the big tree we are tied to. The tree that they originally had marked out to hang out with tonight, had fallen down and we went around and around looking for another suitable one for the night. The meals are lovely, the people just beautiful and friendly. Most of them speak english very well and the rest certainly give it a really great go - and get their story across if we just listen hard enough.
We all go downstairs to the lounge for dinner, breakfast and lunch and that room has all open windows with a view all around....... then up on the third floor is the meeting room and the bar - we had cocktails there tonight - very good :) Our cabin is right next to this and I can still hear some people chatting away in there, but we were honestly just too tired and headed to our cabin for a shower and for me to download the photos of the day..... a mere 938 plus about 30 minutes of HD Video.... aaaaaah. this poor little laptop just does not like that much at all......
It's sometimes really hard to believe that we are actually here. Its just so totally beautiful, peaceful and different. The sunset over the Napo River was just stunning this evening and tomorrow morning we get an early wake up call again - 6am. Early starts to long and interesting days. Its been raining since just after sunset here tonight, which is always at 6pm, being virtually on the equator. It's going to be interesting to see what state the river is in in the morning - they say it sometimes rises 12 feet - overnight!!! There are some very intersting sounds coming from outside and right before I head to sleep, I am going to take a walk outside and just listen. Oh yes! They said that we will have a really great chance of seeing anacondas in this type of weather! I would just love to see one of those - even just once :) And so, early in the morning we will head out in the motorized canoe, into the smaller inlets along the river and see what wildlife we can see... and then in the afternoon we will go and visit a small local community that has a hospital and they also sell some goodies there.
This is honestly so far beyond awsome that I am having difficulty describing it. Our days are so full of a million different sights, smells and colors that we are quite exhausted pretty early on in the evening. It's way beyond my dreams - already :)
Till tomorrow.
love and light
Annie
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