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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.
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| 7am breakfast before leaving at 8am |
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| This is truly a lovely resort |
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| Cristine keeps insisting on getting into the shots |
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| This is the gate, minus the roof the bus ripped off |
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| The roof is now stuffed in the corner of the parking lot |
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| Miraculously, it is quite intact, even with lightbulbs! |
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| Gorgeous roses |
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| All colours |
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| Bird of Paradise |
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| Love this statue by the walkway |
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| And what a great walkway! |
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| Pulling into Chiguaza |
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| Nobody seemed to have a problem with this bridge |
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| Two huge rivers meet here |
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| A nice wide suspension bridge |
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| This silk spider is about the size of my hand |
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| A suspension bridge in the distance |
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| One of Fernando's dogs had 4 cuddly puppies |
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| Gathering to see the spiders |
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| The webs overhead are covered in these |
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| Nope, not on my body......... |
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| Following Fernando and the daddy dog, Max |
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| An old group, but all troopers.... |
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| Fossilized seashells on the mountainside |
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| Incredible shapes, millions of years old |
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| Getting the info from Fernando |
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| This man is a good guide |
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| Cristina is ducking behind Fernando into the Labyrinth |
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| Dressed for hiking the jungle |
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| Some spaces are very limited |
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| OK, she asked for another shot... |
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| More fossils |
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| Enlarge this to see the web clothesline! |
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| Fernando digging for the giant spiders |
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| Phobia-city.... |
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| Looking over part of the labyrinth |
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| At least it is not impenetrable |
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| More yucky spider photos |
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| Enlarge to see a giant ant |
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| Some kind of flowering bean plant |
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| Huge termite nest (queen is the size of a mouse) |
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| Guess which tree this is... |
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| Great cave formations along this one river |
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| Bat feet and............ folded wings. |
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| Poor little guy is scared of these aliens |
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| Fernando is at home with all creatures |
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| Yup, I think he is a boy bat |
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| Enlarge to see his reaction to my camera.... Priceless! |
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| Yes, he is a very horny little bat |
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| Maybe he wants that apple? |
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| Finally back at the camp |
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| Relaxing with beers.... aaaahhhhhh |
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| Great view from the camp |
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| Love this suspension bridge |
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| Cristina again needs to be in the shot |
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| We also saw an egret at river level |
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| The river is very wide and powerful |
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| And 2 rivers collide here |
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| The lovely Chiguaza camp |
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| Waiting for lunch |
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| Lovely meal of tilapia |
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| Huge boa that I want to call Fred |
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| Ron is first to hold Fred |
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| Fred has a comment on this |
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| Second comment, same as the first |
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| Aidan barely outweighs Fred |
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| Fernando convinced Cristina |
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| Headline: Cristina save man from certain death |
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| Fred slithers away from the crowd |
