La Selva Jungle Lodge
Trip Start
Oct 18, 2007
1
15
46
Trip End
Sep 14, 2008
Coca River,
Ecuador
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The travel went smoothly and without a single glitch.
We arrived at the lodge and were immediately greeted by the local guides, lodge staff and our first introduction to the amazing food that we would be enjoying over the next 3 days. Unfortunately, I was not able to eat for the first couple of days but Iīm over it now.
We were shown our new living quarters, they were bamboo structures with 3 bedrooms, 2 shower/toilet rooms and a hammock each!
Waiting for the private jet
! Woven reads provided a completely leak proof roof. We had a switch that we used to change the temperature of our water from cold to warm, and our double beds each had a mosquito net to keep out the obvious as well as the 2 tarantulas that enjoyed hanging around INSIDE our cabin! We had a lovely veranda, complete with 2 chairs that overlooked the jungle. The sounds at night were incredible. Bugs buzzing, crickets clicking, and unknown creatures filling the night with magical sound. There was a lovely common area that was home for the bar, board games, tables, sofas and bunches of fresh bananas that one could eat at their leisure. The view from this building overlooked the jungle and the river. This location was a bird watchers paradise. The most often seen birds around the lodge were what is known in the English language as stinky turkeys- apparently when they are killed they give off a terrible smell. I played several games of chess during our down time.
The lodge also had a large dining room where we ate the most amazing and fresh food. We had 3 complete meals a day. Everything was made fresh, the juices were so unique and delicious, I donīt have any idea what the names of the fruit juices were, as they were all foreign fruits provided by the jungle
Airport transport
. The soups that we had, both lunch and dinner, were creamy and delicious and the main meals and desserts were out of this world.All of the buildings at the lodge were connected by a wood-slatted, elevated walkway. At night the walkway was lit by lamps, although headlamps were definitely needed to see your way back. Main lights were out at 10 and our room lights went out at 1030ish.
Every morning we were woken at 530am by a lodge worker, who did his morning rounds of pounding on the cabins. We went to breakfast for 6.00 and our first excursion for the day started at 6.30, second excursion at 4.30pm and last excursion at 7.30pm.
We took several hikes into the jungle, wellies were provided for us. Hike one was the first introduction to the jungle. I didnīt go as it was pouring down but the group saw many different species of trees, 1 hector of trees in the rain forest contain more species than all of the United States. Here is a list of our excursions; Jungle hike, Bird Watching tower in the early morning (i missed this one too with stomach ache), Canoe around the banks of the rain-forest, Spider hunting at night, butterfly sanctuary, a trip to a shamanīs hut and Cayman hunting at night that was unfortunately canceled due to rain
Where the streets have no name
.When the others returned, i was glad to have missed the torrential rain!! They were soaked and there was about an inch of water in the bottom of their boots. It was a good test for their rain gear though - I will definitely need the waterproof pants Iīve brought for the Inca Trail.
Another excursion took us to the house of an indigenous shaman and his family. Here were were shown how they live, the animal traps that they set and then I was "spiritually cleansed" by the shaman - a ceremony involving him blowing smoke and wiping my aura down with herbs.
On our walk back to the lodge, our guide decided that we should see his house. We didnīt realise that we would be hiking through a swamp. Dawna fell in twice. I did once and had a narrow escape from a leech spotted climbing my boot! We saw monkeys, toucans and many more creatures I have never seen in the northern hemisphere.
A sloth was spotted near our veranda which had to have been one of the coolest things to see. Apparently it is very rare to see a sloth as they sleep 22 hours a day
Amazon boat
. We loved the time in the jungle. I canīt believe all of the activities that I experienced and my new group members are all fun making the trip even better. Our guide, Javier, and our jungle guide, Francisco, helped us adapt well to all the different weather conditions and provided a unique experience for all of us.
Julio, our guide for the entire 1 month portion of the trip, decided to sleep the entire 4 days.
I am sad to have had to leave the jungle, but will see more of it when we get to Venezuela again in 4 months. We were taken back in the canoe, hiked 15 minutes, hopped on our power boat for 2.5 hours and then took one more flight back to Quito.
Just a quick lunch and then we got on the 4 hour local bus to Baņos. No thefts this time!
