Gullibles Travels: August 2008

Puerto Lopez is a small fishing village on the coast of Ecuador which really doesn´t have all that much going for it most of the year... however during the months of June, July & August the calm waters just off the coast become home to migratory Humpback Whales (Ballenas) who use this region as a mating ground.

The solitary males put on amazing performances regularly, seemingly as much for the benefit of tourists as for potential mates! The enormous animals throw virtually their entire body out of the water and do elaborate fin slapping on the surface of the water in an attempt to attract a female. It is a little scary considering that the whales are about three times the size of the fishing boats that take you out to observe the action... and that don´t really keep a safe distance away when they are throwing themselves around!!

The experience was well worth the 12 hour bus ride to get there!

Fin slapping on the surface of the water

Absolutely Incredible

Tim is getting lots of practice taking nature photos with his new, large, heavy, impractical camera... but the results are good!

Literally 1000´s of birds like this on the power lines - so cute!!

Don´t be deceived by the pictures... the town is dodgy

We only dared take photos at night... it doesn´t look so bad then!!

Tim & I just returned from an absolutely fantastic week deep in the Amazon Jungle in the East of Ecuador. We had to travel 8 hours by a public bus on an extremely windy road to what the Lonely Planet described as "an edgy frontier town" called Lago Agrio. Although we didn't know it at the time, the town is only 15 km from the Columbian border which makes it a prime location for drug runners and guerrillas. Needless to say, we didn't go exploring further than about 50 meters from our hostel! From Lago Agrio we travelled another 3 hours by road to Cuyabeno Puente (bridge) which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. From here we caught a motorized dug out canoe for another two hours to reach our jungle lodge.

The entrance to Jamu Lodge

The place where we stayed (Jamu Lodge http://www.cabanasjamu.com/) is only accessible by boat with the nearest town being 5 hours away. The entrance to the lodge is very unique and is approached by boat through many overhanging vines and trees (see picture below). All of the huts were made from traditional materials and with traditional design techniques. We were so fortunate to get the most incredible local guide, called Washington, who has spent his whole life in the jungle and grew up amongst a traditional indigenous indian group. He was totally amazing in his ability to use his senses to spot animals in the dense jungle as we flew by in the boat even in the dark as well as mimicking their sounds. We also had a lovely international group (totalling 9 people) to spend the week with. Unfortunately, our Spanish was by far the best in the group so as a result we had to revert to speaking English the whole week.

As it is the wet season at the moment, there is not a lot of land to walk on and explore. As a result we spent a lot of time either in dug out canoes that we paddled, or for longer distances we went in the motorized version. Thanks to the incredible eyes of our guide "Washito" we saw all sorts of animals including anacondas, boa constrictors, piranhas, 5 types of monkeys, sloths, pink river dolphins, tarantulas and wolf spiders, all sorts of birds etc. Tim even went swimming amongst it all after Washito assured us that the caimen (alligators), anacondas and piranhas prefer to stay by the shore and don't usually venture into the middle where he was encouraging us to jump over board.

An anaconda about 1m away from Tims camera

One of a group of monkeys that was fighting with a rival group across the river by breaking off branches from the trees and throwing them at one another

Young tarantula outside our cabana about the size of a mans hand

Tim swimming with the anacondas, caiman and piranhas

One night the brave amongst us we went on a nocturnal safari. The sky was absolutely brilliant with the number of stars that were visible and with the motor switched off there was complete silence except for the noises of the animals in the jungle. One of the women in the group was a bit apprehensive (to say the least) at the thought of stumbling through the jungle in the dark amongst the caimen guided only by the light of a small torch. It was particularly eerie as our boat slid silently onto the shore shrouded in darkness. Just at that moment at the peak of her anxiety, the fearful woman let out a scream and started wildly batting at some unseen invader. Amazingly, a fish had decided to choose that exact moment to jump out of the water, into our boat and land on the bare skin of her upper chest! It took us a few moments to get torches out and discover just what had happened!

Another day we visited a local indigenous village and met the Shaman (medicine man) who spent some time talking to us about his life and the longstanding traditions of his position. He was a gorgeous man with the most beautiful eyes who obviously cared for the well being of his people. We also made a form of ¨bread¨ from scratch out of Yuka with a young indigenous girl from the community. When I say from scratch I mean we did everything from pulling the yuka roots up from the ground, grinding it up and drying it out before making the "dough" and eventually the best part -eating it!

Apparently when a female knows how to make the Yuka bread she is ready for marriage!

To complete our jungle adventure we discovered on the way back out of the jungle, that while we were away, the only road back to Quito was blocked off due to an eruption of the Tungurahua Volcano which spewed lava all over the road making it inaccessible for some time!