Ecuador – The Amazon

The Amazon is the antithesis of the Galapagos, it’s imposdible to see anything. ( unless you are Diego)he creature I am most afriad of is the bullet ant. Diego has been bitten twice, once it fell on his neck when he brushed past a tree, and hit him like a bullet, the pain lasting for 24 hrs. ” but it won’t kill you “says, Diego, “though it would kill the little ones, Millie definitely” Right that’s it. Millie is staying back at the ranch from now on, she is bored bored bored, way too young to be out here, and by my reckoning. We are 6 hrs canoe and bus away from a hospital. So ” Frozen” it is on the eyepad and Ebby, the Bengladeshi cook, treats her to toast and coke and all her favourites, they are firm friends when we return from our next jungle walk.

What I have loved most about the jungle,  is learning from Diego about the medicinal uses of all that nature provides around us. We walk 10 metres and all about us, are cures for this and that. This tree here converts rains water into the purest drinking water . All you have to do is get access to the hollow. That tree, when scraped provides a sappy glue. One tree is used by locals as a grater, it’s spikes, providing perfect blades for serrating. The Tawa seed, provides them with ivory looking jewellery and decorative ornaments. The soldier army ant, is used to like stitches up cuts.

The achote produces a seed, which when pressed between the fingers, creates a red dye. When we arrive at the Lodge on our first day, the two young Dutch back packers, have painted their faces orange, to commemorate ” the Dutch Day of Orange ” , using the achote seed.

There’s a star shaped flower, which when pressed on fabric, leaves the permanent imprint of a beautiful flower. A Tarzan vine, hanging loosely between the trees, provides an antiseptic, which is used to numb pain. Another fungus is used as a sticking plaster. Diego lays his hand on a termite nest, within seconds his hand is covered in termites, he shakes them off and they leave a residue. This when rubbed all over the body acts as a natural insect repellent. We taste lemon ants and are spared tasting coconut worms! 

Then are the wonderful simbiotic relationships between plants and creatures. The bees with no sting who make their nests in prickly trees, so that they can be protected from animals, the Squirrel monkeys and the Cappucine monkeys , who live together, the larger Cappuccines protect the little squirrels from predators, the smaller ones are better foragers, they are the perfect match for each other.

It’s all fascinating Stuff. 

And Yes I would recommend anyone goes Thank you Julie. It’s been an incredible experience. Except for the under 4s

 

To Jungle or not to Jungle that is the question?

Mark was  always going to go into the jungle on this trip, regardless, the question was always would I be join him. My fears, (I can cope with spiders, and things that fly, but the slightest slimy wiggly movement and I am off ) are mainly influenced by the likes of The Jungle Book , Tarzan and David Attenborough, where snakes dangle from branches above and monkeys jump from tree to tree. 

Going to the VIVARIUM in Quito, when we first arrived here, was a cleverly devised plan of Marks’, Gabriel was an immediate convert, Mark had a jungle mate, Should the girls stay behind and galavant somewhere else? We hummed and haaaad about whether it should just be a boys’ trip, Jemima was adamantly against going, in spite of a smiling photo of her wearing a boa, around her neck,( the dangerous sort, not the decorative kind. ) 

It was wise Julie from Canada , who we met in Vilcabamba, who had travelled the world with her family, but more bravely by yacht for 2 years. Her advice was that it shouldn’t be a boy versus girl thing.” Go she said, it’s wonderful” So here I am, conquering my fears (though Gabriel was a bit disappointed not to be having a dad and son outing. )

We indulge this time in flights from Guayaquil, saving ourselves a 20 hr bus ride, to Lago Agrio. This is a gritty place on the edge of the Amazon, where the oil companies have established themselves. We spend an insignificant night in this hot sultry place, surrounded by boys in blue denim, the uniform of oil.  We pack our bags, taking the minimum with us, a few clothes, long sleeved shirts and long trousers, head torches, factor 50, plastic ponchos, copious amounts of insect repellent, ( a receipe I have concocted of natural ingredients – it worked in the Galapagos, let’s hope it works on the jungle mosquitoes)  and welly boots for Gabriel and MIllie. The Lodge is not used to little feet, so we are advised to invest in some small sizes. The remaining luggage is left behind at our hotel. We will definitely not be needing jumpers or woolly tights on this trip,( though I am hanging on to them for San Cristobal in Mexico.)

Diego introduces himself to us, he will be our naturalist guide for the next 5 days. We board a bus for the next 3 hrs, accompanied now by Tatiana, from Siberia and her partner Peter from Holland. We follow the oil pipe lines all the way.  The letters TEXACO are graffitied in chalk on the rusty looking oil pipes, that snake their way, following the road ominously towards the Amazon. We are reassured by Diego, that once in the reserve, the pipes go underground, a small consolation. They are a menacing eyesore. We then transfer to a long motorised canoe and head at high speed  down a large wide river surrounded on both sides by thick trees and intermittent waterside dwellings. This is a 3 hr canoe ride. The speed breeze disguises the hot heavy burning sun.

We pass a hideous eye sore settlement of 100 modern detached houses, straight from a UK housing estate only they are on stilts. All stacked neatly up side by side. The residents, we are told all work for an oil company, who has provided them with little neat box houses. No doubt the young love it  and the older generation hate it, It is hard to imagine, how the Quichua culture can survive, when full-on modernity is thrown at them full in their faces. Gone are the thatched houses, on stilts, and intense trees growing along side them. It’s an immaculate clearing. Our canoe serves as a drop off service, for the local villagers, a young woman, clad in jeans, make up and a modern hair cut, the trail of white headphones, draped around her neck. I suddenly feel, like maybe we are not so deep in the jungle after all. It all feels very wrong.

Then on we canoe, straight, first left, second on the right, turn under an arch of trees, left and right. I am someone who normally immediately and subconsciously marks my territory, I like to know where the escape routes are. In a warren of vines and thick trees and  muddly looking water, we take a final narrow entrance into a lagoon of clear black water, it’s beautifully still.

The canoe slows down and we arrive at our destination. We are greeted warmly by the all male staff  who work here, maybe it’s difficult to find women to work in this hostile environment.

There is a magic to this place, that is difficult to describe and no amount of photos can capture the atmosphere. There is nothing else around for miles, for hours, but deep, steaming, buzzing impenetrable trees and the big wide river. We are staying at the Nicky Lodge, in a clearing on the banks of the river. It is owned by the Quichua community and Marisol a local indigena, runs the office in Quito. On one side there is a black water river,  where we can swim but yes there are piranhas and caymans and anacondas, though, the locals say it’s safe!  On the other side is a lagoon with electric eels, anacondas and caymans, but we are told it is definitely Not safe to swim.  There is a big central room with hammocks and a long table where we all eat communally in the evening ( fabulous cook Ebby from Bengladesh, but no curries sadly!) with an urn and self serve  teas and coffees and then our bedrooms, simple open-aired with a rush ceiling as a roof, beds covered with mosquito nets.

There is nothing to stop wildlife from entering the camp or our bedrooms. The rooms are all joined together by wooden slatted walkways. I am feeling strangely OK with all of this. 

We have an hour and a half to rest before we head off on a night walk. Pop corn is served in the meantime and the children bizarrely discover there’s hot chocolate too at the self serve counter. They busy themselves.  Really ? here in this heat? But they seem to like it, the making rather than the drinking me thinks! We laze and swing in hammocks, too hot to contemplate moving.

Then clad in long shirts, long trousers, hats, and welles, and sprayed liberally from top to toe, we set off in the black of night to see what we can spot, head torches firmly in our hands, not on our heads, do t want to attract insects to our faces.

DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING! You never know what might be hiding under that leaf or crawling up that tree.” ( or my fears falling from above ) Diego firmly advises us, though he is also clear in telling us that the wildlife is only dangerous if it’s threatened and that most creatures are so timid that they will stay well clear of us. This seems a contradiction in itself. We almost tread on half a dozen large grey toads, which emanate a poisonous venom created in their cheeks when attacked. Hmmm I am not sure that Millie ( or I for that matter ) is really going to understand the significance of this.

The walk is a success, we spot some voluminous crickets, and grass hoppers, a large hairy spider, not much else, but it gives us a taster. We are all feeling quite confident until, after supper a snake is spotted winding its way along the banisters, behind our backs. It’s a small snake but a snake none less and my brain, blows snakes completely out of proportion, this to me is a giant venomous reptile of boa proportions. Everyone gets up from the table to get a closer look, except me. MIllie completely unaware comes skipping along, running her hand along the rail, blissfully unaware, I shriek loudly and she stops just short and finds the whole thing hilarious. now I am not confident about Millie and the jungle. me thinks she is a little too young to really understand the hazards of jungle life. Will have to rethink how we do this.

We are now all a bit edgy and scared( though I am determined not to show my fear!Scared mother =terrified children? we get back to our room, to brush our teeth, the  children want to sleep me with, but I can only choose one in my bed. Millie it is. Something is moving inside our wash bag – I silently hand it to Mark to sort out, it turns out to be only about half a dozen cockroaches Pah! Is that all! Next to bed, no lights, only our head torches, just as well I can’t see properly the dozen of cockroaches, scuttling away from the spare bed in the room. ( that I catch from the corner of my eye) I shall pretend I haven’t seen them, certainly won’t be letting the children know. Goodness knows what else is in our room. We tuck ourselves neatly into our beds, locking ourselves in under the mosquito net and fall asleep deeply in this black of black nights, the chirps and buzzes, all around us, singing us to sleep. I do get a wake up call from Gabriel who needs the loo in the middle of the night. be brave Fi !

We survived the night ! No signs of cockroaches or any living creature hovering under our beds when we wake up in the morning.   And so we spend the next five days. The children swim in the river, swinging out on a rope swing. We go for day walks and night walks and day paddles and night paddles, looking for creatures, large or small. Diego is a wonderful guide and has amazing eyes for spotting things. We will be hurtling along at high speed in the canoe, when he will silently beckon to the canoe driver,, yes indeed there is a sloth high up in the trees, monkeys, birds beautiful birds, that we only ever see in cages, or in Pixar films, colourful, but unlike Diego, us mere mortals can only spot them through binos. He also has a talent for replicating the exact sound of all the Amazonian creatures who make noises, so if he wants the cloth to move, so that we can see it, he just imitates the harpie eagle. That will definitely get the sloth a bit alarmed.