While planing this trip we were quite determined not to visit the Amazon, since we were afraid of all the mosquito bourn diseases. However, once there, we thought it would be a shame to be in South America and not have visited the Amazon. Therefore we booked into a 5 day trip to the Cuyabeno Reserve in Ecuador, which is located close to the Columbian border.
We were driven to the entrance of the reserve in a bus and arrived at our lodge, the Guacamayo Lodge, after additional 2 hours in a motor kanu. After a little siesta, we drove to a close by lagoon to swim while watching the sunset. Back for dinner, we saw that the place was already occupied by someone else: a tarantula was walking lazily over the chairs and tables while several other large specimen clung to the ceiling.
After breakfast we went for a walk through the jungle, but unfortunately did not see many animals except from more spiders. The main attraction were the two Australian boys in our group, who touched everything and were not afraid of anything and who constantly got stuck in the mud and lost their rubber boots. We were pretty sure they did that on purpose... In the evening we went for a swim in the lagoon again and drove around after sunset searching for caimans, but could not spot more than the faraway reflection of their eyes.
Since we were the only people who booked a 5 day trip, we changed the group the next day, to have no double activities. While the people in our previous group were very nice, we soon realized, that our guide was not very good. Our new guide Elvis shared much more information and on top of that found a lot more animals in the jungle. During another daywalk in the jungle, we could taste the bark of the tree that is responsible for the unique taste of tonic water, saw the plant from which the poison curare is made and were able to smoke some wooden sticks. He even found the tiniest poison frogs - about the size of the small finger nail - as well as a venomous snake, which is in the top ten of venomous snakes in the world. Another highlight was the natural insect repellant: an ant species, which, when smashed on your skin is supposed to keep mosquitos at bay. Naturally, Domi had to try this while Claudi was merely watching, taking pictures and videos. Unfortunately, they did not turn out as well as Domi would have liked...
Later that day, we went on another walk in the jungle, this time during the night. We saw many large insects and if you wanted, you could have had a tarantula walk over your hands or even sit on your shoulder. Both of us politely declined. An interesting find during that walk was a dead banana spider covered in some kind of mold. Elvis explained that this mold befalls insects and can control and change their behaviour by infesting their brain. Luckily, it is not harmful to humans. Our ride back to the lodge was no less spectacular. The nightsky was bright and spotted with millions of stars, and our skilled kanu driver didn't need any light to navigate the river, thus we had the feeling that we were actually driving straight into the milkyway instead of just cruising around on earth.
The next day was again full of adventures. We took the kanu and drove along the river to visit an indigenous tribe that has been in contact with the modern world for about 80 years. On our way there we spotted cute nocturnal monkeys resting for the day and the smallest monkey in the world clinging to a tree. Luckily, Elvis brought a telescope.
In the indigenous community we were shown how to prepare a bread from maniok, a root vegetable. We harvested it, peeled and grated it and pressed the water out of the mash, which resulted in a flour with the texture of coconut shaves. This was then baked on a clay plate over open fire and while missing a little salt, was quite delisious. During a little walk we visited one of the largest trees in the Amazon and tried our luck with a blow pipe.
After a short siesta it was action time again. Elvis adivised us to bring some beers for our swim at the lagoon, which we of course did. First, however, he took us to a little side stream and within 10 minutes fished a piranha for us. Quite an unspectacular fish to look at, apart from the teeth of course. To demonstrate the power of the piranha's jaws, Elvis put a twig into its mouth, which was quickly shredded into tiny pieces.
With the picture of the little sharp teeth in mind, it was time for another swim in the lagoon. While watching a spectacular sunset, we finished our beer in the water. Afterwards: more caiman spotting. Since this was a bit boring and full of mosquitos the last time, Claudi was a bit reluctant to go. However, this time was going to be so much more spectacular than last time, without actually seeing any caimans. Instead of searching around the big lagoon and the adjoining river arms, Elvis drove us through a tiny stream with lots of overhanging trees and bushes (we had to duck down constantly) into a flooded forest. We were all alone in the middle of the Amazon, it was dark but the stars and the milkyway were hanging over our heads. Even though we could hear the constant noice of many frogs, the place had an eerie silence to it. Elvis told us to be quiet and called out for the caimans. At first we thought he was fooling us, but then, far away, hidden behind the constant frog noice, was a reply. We drove around the lake for a while but could not find any caimans, only heard their calls. However, just the cruise was spectacular, the still water reflecting the starlight, the trees around us just a black siluette. It was so very beautiful, but since we didn't have a stable ground to put up the camera, we could not take any pictures.
After an eventful and long day, we rose early the next day to watch some birds, but quickly got tired of it and instead chilled with a mug of coffee in one of the hammocks. After breakfast it was already time to say goodbye to the lovely Guacamayo lodge, our great guide Elvis and our nice group mates and to start our long trip back to Quito.
