We get to the Amazon Basin

Friday the 13th, always a lucky day for me, started quite early - 5am - so I could get the earlier bus.

Breakfast was at 6 and I tried all the local foods included in the buffet.

Then off to the airport at 7 to get my bag wrapped. Leaving the shuttle I was able to get a view of the volcano that was letting go steam this morning.

It turned out there was no need to rush and no line, so I was able to get the accomplished quickly. The group joined me at about 7:45, we met our contact - Miguel - and we got airside without a problem. We had to wear these stickers to be identified as a part of our group. Lisa wore her's in an attractive spot!

We had bags of time to spare, so I went window shopping and came back to where I thought our flight was leaving.

Luckily I looked at the monitor and realized it was a different gate. I met the gang and 8:30 came and went without anyone at the gate counter. Just on the off chance, I looked at the monitor and our gate had changed, so we all hustled to the new gate and waited some more. Finally our bus arrived and everyone had to board the bus by row numbers - still not sure why. We crammed on and got to the plane which was about half full. I was in an exit row and actually read the instructions. Even though it was only a 25 minute flight, it was the national carrier, we were crossing mountains, and I didn't know their safety record.

We took off about 15 minutes late. The flight was fast - this route took us over the equator twice. The pilots used a route that goes over smaller mountains and uses less fuel.

We landed and immediately felt the increase to the heat and humidity. Welcome to the Amazon Basin.

More importantly my bag, a.k.a. the chrysalis, made it in one piece. Our guide Pedro, who will be with us all week, collected us and we had a short drive to the boat dock.

There we met our fellow travellers from East Germany via Brandenburg: Stephan and Gabriella. After a rather rough introduction, we decided to try to get along for the next 5 days.

Our route to the Napo Lodge is the same route the Spaniards, led by Francisco de Orellana, took when looking for El Dorado. In fact the actual name of the town of Coca is Francisco de Orellana. Francisco started in Quito via Coca to Napo. Most of our trip will be along the Napa River until we go into the Black River to the Lodge.

The Napa River portion of the river trip - about 2 and a half hours -- was wonderful because the boat went really fast and it was cool. The boat was covered from the sun and had very strong motors. The breeze was very cooling and felt wonderful after all the humidity. We motored up the river, stopping for a quick look at an oil extraction operation along the bank. Evidently Ecuador extracts a lot of oil and exports it for refining. The local tribes are starting to understand that conservation and tourism will give longer term benefits than selling out to the oil companies.

We had a snack along the way - I couldn't get the chocolate unwrapped

After about 2.5 hours our cooling boat trip came to an end and we entered the black river and Yasuni National Park.

The tribe members have mandated that no motor boats are allowed. Virtually everything coming to our lodge has to be paddled 4 miles up the river in these small canoes. At the end of the river we saw where they are building a new walkway - more on that later - and all the materials and equipment were paddled up that river.

Our group of four was combined with the East Germans and we all got in the smaller canoe after a quick stop where we saw weaver birds up close and listened to their enticing call. We learned quickly that the Germans were noisy and wanted to vote them off the island, or at least off our canoe.

We had a further 2 hour canoe trip up river in the hot Amazon sun and I without my hat. I was miserable except when we got into the shade of the river. Along the way we saw the first of many Hoatzin birds- stinky turkeys - called so because they smell from the digestive juices in their waddle.

We saw:

A Rusty whip snake

Red howler monkeys

Capuchin monkeys

Squirrel monkeys

A lesser kiskidee (no photo)

A baby turtle and bigger turtle (no photo)

The trip seemed never ending, but we were told water hyacinth was an indicator of a lake close by and our lodge is located on the lake. We rounded the last bend and saw our lodge on the bank. It looked very exotic with thatched huts and a tall tower for bird watching - also a good place to see the sun rises/sets. Sun rise/set happens at about 6am/pm respectively given we are on the equator.

I had my own hut with a hammock outside. Mosquito netting around the bed and a ceiling fan, but no air conditioning and, boy, was it humid.

We were greeted with a lemon juice drink and a cold towel which felt wonderful and then went to our rooms. My hut faces the river and orchid “bushes”. I put out the hammock and noticed in the tree across from my hut there were two Hoatzin Birds mating - lovely…

We had our welcome briefing at 6;30 and dinner at 7. The food was good, but we were spoiled with the cooking at Mindo which I miss.

Here are some indicators about where we are

Tomorrow is an early start, so hit the sack early.