The Amazon

30 January
Sunday

Woke up early and grateful to find our driver waiting to take us to the airport. Our travel agency had sent us boarding passes already and getting to the gate was easy. We even had time for a cappuccino and a Pan de Bono (cheese pastry) and a meat pastry – the English translation said “meatloaf” which I laughed about because it wasn’t wrong.
It was about a 2 hour flight with loud, violently kicking children behind us the whole way. But I forgot the word for kick and am too shy/polite to tell a kid to stop anyways.

Upon landing we found our guide, Elvis, who would be with us for the next 3 days. He had ridden in on his scooter so he directed us to a taxi and had the taxi follow him. He led us to the boat docks where we awaited the public boat to take us up the Amazon. Our guide noted that the water was really low in the river, so some of the docks were perched awkwardly on the banks.

Carl went to find an atm and a snack (perhaps the best empanada and cold bottle of water of my life) while I stayed with our stuff on the dock and watched people come and go. I watched one boat strap a couple large TVs to the top and on another watched a woman climb over three wobbly canoes, wearing flip flops, all the while nursing a fresh newborn baby.
The boat was about an hour late – which didn’t bother Carl and I because it’s not like we are in any hurry. Our guide was annoyed and kept apologizing. Then other people in the crowd started speaking up. One guy said “I need to get to the bar already!” and we swear we heard a nun say “something something JESUS CHRIST”. Finally the boat arrived and we piled in. They threw our bags on top of the boat and cinched them down.

The boat ride was a little over 2 hours long but it was surprisingly nice especially considering we were packed in like sardines on a public bus. Finally our guide gave us the signal to get off. We stepped out onto a muddy bank only to get into another, smaller boat with another guide, Oleando, to go up the Amacayacu river, which borders the Amacayacu national park. During this 40 minute ride, Elvis pointed out all kinds of birds and an iguana. We saw a kingfisher, a turkey vulture, many Amazonian swifts, and three toucans! (Carl said, “that’s a threecan!” and then we left him in the jungle.)
Elvis was sooo good at spotting things that we thought he must sense the animal before he sees it. He also showed us his treat of coca powder and a tobacco paste that he said helps keep him focused.

As we approached the lodge all we could see was a wooden path/ladder leading up from the muddy dock. Climbing to the top, it looked like we might have to hike to get to the lodge but then a staff person directed us to a little, palm leaf covered hut with two bunk beds and a full sized bed with a mosquito net. I guess they use the ecolodge to host all kinds of campers, but we luckily had the bunk room all to ourselves. There was also an attached bathroom, with mesh covered windows looking out into the forest. The mirror was in an adorable wooden frame that looked like a frowning yeti. There was no hot water but cold showers actually feel good after being in humid Amazon jungle all day. There was also no power. They had a generator that they turned on from 6-830 everyday to cook dinner and gave us just enough time to charge our portable chargers.

They gave us a snack of bananas and something that was related to passion fruit -granadillas. The sun set quickly so Elvis took us on a night hike before dinner. On the night hike the first thing we saw was two tarantulas that appeared to be fighting but then we realized one was male and the other female so they were more likely mating. We also saw a scorpion, a big yellow tree frog, a leech, lots of GIANT grasshoppers, and a Fer-de-lance snake which appeared to have just eaten a rodent, lucky for us. On the way back we saw some night monkeys and bioluminescent leaves. When we turned off our flashlights to see the leaves it was like we were in pitch darkness because the tree cover was so thick. At night the rainforest was teaming with life. It seemed like anywhere we shined a flashlight we would see something alive- a big bug or worse. Grasshoppers as big as your head.

Back in our cabin there was a cockroach the length of my palm which Carl promptly murdered and threw outside as an offering to the birds. At about this point we realized that, besides living with bugs and spiders for three days, we were going to be on an involuntary detox from alcohol and social media. In the middle of the Amazon it was amazing to occasionally get one bar of service but, of course, no WiFi. For dinner they served fish, something related to a piranha, with rice and beans and plantain and a nice side of juice.
We fell asleep to the sounds of the jungle.

January 31
Monday

We woke up early and met Elvis for a breakfast of bananas, granadillas, a fried egg and fried plantains, and of course juice and coffee. There was another couple staying at the ecolodge, in the only other bunk cabin. The woman was from Ukraine and the man spoke Spanish as if he was Colombian. We talked with them a bit while eating.

Oleando showed up a little after and we all got in the boat to go to ‘the lake’. Carl and I assumed we’d be taking the boat to a different dock to then maybe a taxi to get to this lake but instead we were in the boat the whole time. We went up the Amazon to Tarapoto lake which Elvis called black water. Oleando drove the boat to the opposite end of the lake. We did some dolphin watching and saw a few gray ones.
On the way back we stopped in Puerto Nariño, located on the Amazon river, for lunch. The town seemed like paradise to me. It was a perfect little grid with well designed street drains, and palm trees lining the streets. Elvis said there were only three cars in the town- one ambulance and 2 garbage trucks. There was also a statue of a snapping turtle in the middle of the town.

At the restaurant they served us some juice that was like sour and sweet passion fruit. Carl said it was the best juice he’s ever had and he chugged about 3 glasses worth. Then they served soup, catfish, beans, rice, and plantains. We were so hot and full from chugging juice that it was hard to eat all the food.

After lunch we walked over to a viewing tower. The entrance was a giant tiger mouth like a carnival. Again, I loved this town. They could’ve just had a steel gate entrance but they chose an over-the-top giant tiger mouth. We entered and climbed to the top. It wasn’t that high up but being so full and so hot, it’s amazing we made it. From the top we had views of the whole town and the river.

We then headed back to our ecolodge where we had ‘workshop’ as Elvis called it. We sat in hammocks while Lena, one of the staff that lives and works there, showed us how to make bracelets. To my bracelet she added beads that came from seeds from a nearby plant. While we had craft time we tried to practice our Spanish with talking to Lena’s kids. We found out Lena was 32 years old (same as me) and she has a 13 year old girl named Luna, and two boys, 11 and 12 (I forgot their names). Her kids were very quiet but when Carl offered to show them pictures of the US they practically jumped out of their chairs to see.

While we waited for dinner Carl and I played cards until it grew so dark we couldn’t see. A different couple showed up that afternoon – both were French – and they were even more scared of bugs than we were. When we were getting ready to go to sleep we heard the other couple shrieking and then laughing hysterically like they saw a big bug. Then when the generator turned off and the lights went out suddenly they both screamed so loud that Carl and I were cracking up.

February 1
Tuesday

Again got up early and broke our fast before getting in the boat again. While eating breakfast Elvis heard something and ran out of the room yelling at us to follow. There was a group of Black Mantle Tamarind monkeys that were crossing the camp area near the river. We saw them just as they crossed and the alpha male took a second to give us a glare before joining his family.

To get from where we were staying to the Amazon took about 40 minutes so much of our day was sitting in the dingy and looking for birds. I started to write down all that we saw, but I couldn’t keep track. At our lodge there were two types of birds making sounds the whole time. One sounded like dripping water. The other, who woke up early and stayed up late, had a pretty three note tune that Elvis said sounded like “I sell bread” and the bird book said “que pa-so?”

Once we got to the Amazon river we went down river to Macagua and got out to walk around. We walked through the forest a bit to get to a monkey preserve. Monkey is mono in Spanish but in this area they called monkeys micos. The preserve is called Fundación Maikuchiga and they rescue monkeys who are being kept as pets or part of black market for monkey meat. One of the staff came out and told us all about the preserve and the monkeys- in Spanish- most of which we understood. My favorite was the night monkey- same type as we had see on our night walk. Carl’s favorite were the two wooly monkeys, a mother, Abril, and her son, who peed on the staff person and almost pooped on me and Carl.

We walked back into the main town to a restaurant right on the water. Again they had juice but this time it was the soup that Carl went crazy for. Best soup he ever had. After the soup they served…(can you guess?) catfish! And rice! And plantains! Also some sour tomatoes with star fruit, which was a nice surprise.

After lunch we got back in the boat and headed back to the ecolodge for a hike. Elvis said he wanted to do a three hour hike to get deep into the jungle, and we were ready. We borrowed rubber boots (to protect against snakes) from the lodge and wore pants and long sleeve shirts. I had to abandon my long sleeve because I was so hot and opted to get stung/ a rash from plants brushing my arms over fainting from heat exhaustion. We enjoyed watching/listening to Elvis call to birds and have them respond.

Amazingly, up to this point of our journey we had not been rained on at all. We heard rain at night and early morning but during the day the skies were clear and bright blue. Well, I made this remark to Carl earlier in the day and the gods must have heard because they decided to change things up. About an hour into our hike, about 4pm, we start to hear thunder. At one point, the cicadas and birds and thunder were so loud that we could barely hear each other. Elvis said “it’s going to rain”, which we knew, but appreciated his confirmation. Oleando showed us a short cut to get back faster, to try and avoid the rain. When it started it was so light that it seems like all the rain was getting caught in the canopy. Carl and I said “this isn’t that bad at all” which the gods also heard. About a minute later the rain really started. It was like someone wringing out a dishrag over our heads. For our trip, Carl and I both got new rain jackets and this was our first test of them. Quite a test also because we were already drenched in sweat before we even put them on. Elvis had a blue poncho that he held above his head and as he ran through the forest he looked like a big blue ghost. On the way out when it had been dry, we had tip toed along listening for birds and looking for snakes. Once it started raining Oleando and Elvia took off and we were basically running through the rainforest – it was fun!

I was happy to see rain in the rainforest- and all the happy frog sounds that came afterward- but on our last night a lot of our stuff was drenched. We rung things out as best as possible and hung things up, but the air was so humid that the next morning everything was exactly the same dampness.

Wednesday
February 2

Woke up at 5:15am. Elvis said the sun rose at 5 but it was still dark as night in our room. We packed up quickly and Lena served us some coffee and fruit before Oleando showed up with his boat. We got to the boat meeting spot (not a dock but some dirt that had been stepped on a lot) with plenty of time before the public boat showed up. While waiting we looked for dolphins which tend to hang out right where the Amacayacu river joins the Amazon river, which you can see because the Amazon is lighter and murkier. We saw a pair of gray dolphins and after much patient waiting finally saw a big pink dolphin! It was a crazy color and I couldn’t believe it when I finally saw one.
The public boat came and this one was a lot nicer than the one before – with cushy seats and it went faster (also going downstream this time).

Once we got back to Leticia we said heartfelt goodbyes to Elvis and got on a plane to go back to Bogotá for one night.