Thursday, June 2, 2016

Wednesday June 1, 2016 Jungle Boogie Day 3



Souvenir Photo Studio is now re-opened.  Book your session now.

Please see more of my artworks for sale at http://saccc05.tripod.com
© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission.

Welcome…..  Please note that you may SUBSCRIBE below to this Blog.
Comments or purchase requests are graciously accepted at souvenirphotostudio@gmail.com.

Wednesday June 1, 2016
Today we headed into the Ecuadorian edge of the Amazon jungle to a place north of Macas called Chiguaza.   This area is an ecological preserve and our guide, Fernando, has built a rustic tourist lodge to accomodate several people at once.  It at the confluence of two huge rivers, one probably being the Paute.
Now this will probably be my one and only forage into a jungle setting unless I eventually make a trip to Africa.  I just don't do heat, humidity, cobwebs, slime and millions of insects.  Fernando cut us all walking sticks and they were truly a godsend.
Having said that, we actually had a nicely overcast day to make our trek tolerable.  It was interesting to see fossilized seashells in rocks high up on the mountainside.  Once upon a time these rocks were on the ocean floor and were pushed up by a seismic event shifting tectonic plates.  After all, this is how the mountain ranges were formed.
Fernando pointed out the two main trees, bamboo and "I forget", which are ther souces of the wood for the construction of all his buildings.  That second tree has a girdle of roots descending down which are indelicately called "the devil's privates"...  I think you will get the idea....
We made our way through a place they call "The Labyrinth", which is a bunch of vertical rocks, covered in slimy moss and cobwebs.  In one photo (enlarge it) you can see a "clotheline cobweb", absolutely horizontal across many feet of distance that was just above head height, ...meant to trap very tall persons??...  This is an area of huge silk spiders and the cobwebs are incredibly strong.  There aren't too many more yucky feelings than cobwebs in your face.  I resorted to waving my walking stick vertically to clear my path, however once you get that icky feeling, it stays for days.
Fernando dug between some rocks to bring out some of these monster spiders for our viewing pleasure... Yuck, upchuck....  
I kept looking up into the tree for signs of any kind of wildlife but that was futile.  Disappointingly there wasn't anything but insects... no monkeys, no jaguars, and most surprising of all, not even one bird.  No parrots, toucans, nothing.....  What kind of jungle is this anyway???
As we made our way back down to riverside, we finally encountered the odd bird.  Fernando again excused himself for a moment to go digging in a cave and came back with a frightened visored? bat (See http://ipfactly.com/top-10-facts-about-bats/).  Being kidnapped from his sleep by an alien will probably give the little guy nightmares...!!  And I am sure he was a male bat from the evidence in one of the photos.
We were happy to get back to camp and have a cold Bud while waiting for our meal of fried tilapia.  I normally don't like my food watching me, but I was so hungry that I didn't care.
After our lunch Fernando slipped into one his subterranean spaces and came back with a 10-foot boa constrictor that he has kept as a pet for 10 years.  They are not dangerous if they are not hungry, and I think I herad him say that he keeps it well fed with guinea pigs.  
The ride back to the Luzcelinda seemed quick and I headed straight to the steam room.  Then I came to our room and started work on the many photos.    It was at that time that I decided to skip the June 2 trip to a coca farm where they would show us how to grind and roast the beans into coffee or chocolate...  I decided to get some badly needed sleep instead and finish work on these photos in the morning.  It takes many hours to process this many photos.

June 2 - 
As I write this I think that I made an absolutely brilliant decision to say behind, as the early morning sunshine quickly has given way to a small thunderstorm and pouring rain.  I also see that Cristina left her rain poncho behind, ..ugh, so hopefully she at least has her small umbrella.
I hope you enjoy the photos.  That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al 
NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

7am breakfast before leaving at 8am

This is truly a lovely resort

Cristine keeps insisting on getting into the shots

This is the gate, minus the roof the bus ripped off

The roof is now stuffed in the corner of the parking lot

Miraculously, it is quite intact, even with lightbulbs!

Gorgeous roses

All colours

Bird of Paradise

Love this statue by the walkway

And what a great walkway!

Pulling into Chiguaza

Nobody seemed to have a problem with this bridge

Two huge rivers meet here

A nice wide suspension bridge

This silk spider is about the size of my hand

A suspension bridge in the distance

One of Fernando's dogs had 4 cuddly puppies

Gathering to see the spiders

The webs overhead are covered in these

Nope, not on my body.........

Following Fernando and the daddy dog, Max

An old group, but all troopers....

Fossilized seashells on the mountainside

Incredible shapes, millions of years old

Getting the info from Fernando

This man is a good guide

Cristina is ducking behind Fernando into the Labyrinth

Dressed for hiking the jungle

Some spaces are very limited

OK, she asked for another shot...

More fossils

Enlarge this to see the web clothesline!

Fernando digging for the giant spiders

Phobia-city....

Looking over part of the labyrinth

At least it is not impenetrable

More yucky spider photos

Enlarge to see a giant ant

Some kind of flowering bean plant

Huge termite nest (queen is the size of a mouse)

Guess which tree this is...

Great cave formations along this one river

Bat feet and............  folded wings.

Poor little guy is scared of these aliens

Fernando is at home with all creatures

Yup, I think he is a boy bat

Enlarge to see his reaction to my camera.... Priceless!


Yes, he is a very horny little bat

Maybe he wants that apple?

Finally back at the camp

Relaxing with beers....  aaaahhhhhh

Great view from the camp

Love this suspension bridge

Cristina again needs to be in the shot

We also saw an egret at river level

The river is very wide and powerful

And 2 rivers collide here

The lovely Chiguaza camp

Waiting for lunch

Lovely meal of tilapia

Huge boa that I want to call Fred

Ron is first to hold Fred

Fred has a comment on this

Second comment, same as the first

Aidan barely outweighs Fred

Fernando convinced Cristina

Headline:  Cristina save man from certain death

Fred slithers away from the crowd