Bob, Alan, and Matt, guided by Franziska with assistance from Estuardo (also the chef), Kipa, and others
On our second full day, after a hike in the cloud forest on Thursday, we took a jet from Quito to Coca, where we caught a bus to the riverside. There we began our 8 day trek through the Amazon rain forest, going first down the Shiripuno River which then flowed into the Cononaco River. We then retraced the route back. We were in the Yasuni National Park, home to indigenous people, but also to massive oil reserves that have caused enormous controversy. During our trip, we visited settlements of the Waorani indigenous people.
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Our bus:
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We saw so many monkeys along the shore, and several caiman, one of which is shown below, and, as we saw just about every day, more turtles:
Video. [19 sec]: Monkey video
Alan caputures a wonderful close-up of a monkey.  |
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Video. [48 sec]: A large, beautiful, blue butterfly appeared several times during the trip and flew alongside the boat, as shown in this video and the photo below.
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Village pets, being petted
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A festival took place in the evening, which Bob and Matt attended, giving Matt a chance to dance.
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The village included a grass airstrip which was no longer allowed to be used. Our original plan called for us to fly into this village. One possible reason for the government to ban such flights was that passengers on a plane might be able to see new construction in support of the oil industry in this protected area, which the government denies is taking place. I have heard satellite photos show such construction.
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Video. [29 sec]: A view of the village from the airstrip.
Video. [54 sec]: Playing soccer.
Franziska asked Alan to remove his shirt. After some discussion, villagers decided that Alan more resembled the spider monkey (daya) than the wooly monkey (capuchin). Hence, Alan's new nickname - Daya.
Video. [29 sec]: Daya.
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Video. [47 sec]: Constructing a dart.
Video. [15 sec]: Eating ants that live inside a lemon flavored tree.
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More flowers and a cicada nest entrance:
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Rosa gets hold of Bob's camera and takes his picture. Rosa is to the left of her friend Isabella in the second photo.  |
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Video. [2 min 17 sec]:
Preparing darts with poison made from curare, a jungle plant, after the curare has been processed down to a concentrated form.
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Video. [56 sec]:
Matt and Alan each try his hand at using a blow dart gun to hit a target. And each miss.
Video. [9 sec]:
So Bob tries it. And misses.
Video. [9 sec]:
As does Franziska.
Video. [16 sec]:
Finally, the expert shows us how it is done. And Alan gets a photo of a butterfly.
[The photo is lifted from the video and, in fact, the dart has just struck and is hanging from the fruit target at 14.71 sec, but you can only realize that by watching the video.]
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Cominda, shown below at his door, lives above the village airfield, the highest point in the village.
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At the end of the day, we get to see some frogs.
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Video. [1 min 18 sec]:
Squirrel monkeys jumping from tree to tree
Video [53 sec]: A villager carries a recently caught peccary.
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Matt finds an army of insects crawling across the top of his tent. |
Video [18 sec]: Hiking through the rain forest. |
Video [23 sec]: Cutting a cacao nut. |
For the most part, we had good weather, however, we were in a rain forest and this day it did rain, as the pictures below demonstrate. At one point we sought refuge under an absolutely huge tree.
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Video. [49 sec]:
Here we are fishing for piranha in the rain.
And Matt was quite successful, catching 3, which added to the 3 caught by Estuardo and Pika, was sufficient for a dinner meal of fish.
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Video. [2 min]:
Monkeys in the trees beside the river. You must watch this full screen, full 1080 resolution, since the monkeys are small and in the background.
Traveling up a river estuary to a lagoon presented a challenge as the following videos demonstrate. At one point, a thick log was blocking the path and I thought meant we would have to turn around. Kipa and Estuardo, using only their machetes, cut through the tree and cleared the way. You can see the cut log as the boat passes under it in the photo below. Not only was the log cutting amazing to watch, Matt, Alan, and I were all impressed that after so much work, Kipa and Estuardo seemed not the least bit tired.
Video. [1:58 min]:
Rowing up to the fallen tree.
Video. [28 sec]:
Chopping at the tree.
Video. [21 sec]:
Still more chopping at the tree – the videos capture only a bit of the 10 minutes or so of chopping.
Video. [2:03 min]:
Finally getting by the log.
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Heading back to camp after a wonderful day in the rain forest.
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The scratches may be by a jaguar. |
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As we motored down the river, a butterfly followed Alan for quite a ways.
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Alan proudly demonstrates he can flood and sink the canoe.
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Then Matt and Alan show that together they can also flood and sink one.
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The villagers display artifacts for us to consider purchasing. Bob likes 2 necklaces for Shirley and is told one cost $5, the other $10. Bob asks Franziska to negotiate the $10 down while he goes to get his wallet in the tent. Near the tent, Alan demonstrates that he can be as much of a dirtball as anyone else – sinking a canoe in a muddy river will do that. Upon Bob's return, he finds Franziska has arranged for each necklace to be $5 and the deal is consummated.
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Leaving the village for the last time to begin our trip back up the river. It was hard to leave after having had such a good time. The chickens are shown below as a reminder that roosters in the village began their crowing at 4 AM when it was still pitch black outside. A few more chicken dinners with specific roosters might have been nice.
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We briefly stop at a small village where, as it turns out, some missionaries are also stopping by. There is little interaction. Some frown on the work of missionaries with the indigenous people.
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Video. [29 Sec]:
Monkeys continue to entertain us, as they have throughout the trip. As always, playing at highest resolution on full screen mode makes a difference.
Video. [8 Sec]:
As we make our way through a rain forest hike, it is often necessary to bridge a stream by walking across a log, as shown here. Bob discovered that his balance is not what it used to be and often required a helping hand, gladly provided by Estuardo or Kipa.
Video. [6 Sec]:
Estuardo crosses the log.
A frog during the day and a frog at night.
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Our campsite.
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This day started out with what was perhaps the most potentially deadly event – fortunately averted – of the trip. Alan sat down for breakfast wearing sandals, his bare ankles exposed. He then noticed, coiled up only a few inches from his foot, a pit viper which would turn out to be a fer-de-lance. This one was quite young, which makes it particularly dangerous because it does not effectively control its venom output. A bite can be lethal.
Alan moved away and, because such snakes are territorial and would return if removed, and because kids played in the area, Estuardo used his machete to kill the snake.
Video. [1:04 Minutes]: Estuardo kills the snake.
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We visited a home at lunch time shown in the photos below. After lunch, we were curious about what was in the guy's canoe, so he took out his recently killed armadillo and agouti (a type of rodent). When we showed a lot of interest, he cut off the hindquarters of the agouti and gave them to us. So we had for dinner, as we say, “rat's ass”.
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Video. [1:16 Minutes]: Two macaws, presumably a couple, have quite a squawking discussion over something, before one flies over to another branch to get some momentary respite from the argument.
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Video. [56 Secs]: In the last week so much rain has fallen up-river that the river has risen several feet. The campsite at which we stayed the first night on the river is now completely under water, as the video shows.
Video. [29 Secs]: The river is blocked by debris which with plenty of machete work by Estuardo and Kipa is cleared enough for our canoe to pass. They then take the time and effort to clear a lot more debris so other boats coming downstream can pass, which one shortly does.
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Video. [29 Secs]: A pet monkey and macaw move around the village we stayed at that evening.
This is the day we get off the river and leave the rain forest, and it was an amazing end to the trip, with a massive mud slide with which to contend. But first..
A pet cat takes to Alan and a less desirable animal takes to a boot.
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As we took our final hike in the rain forest we saw many mushrooms.
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And lots of flowers and other plants, one of which provides drinkable water.
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Our final rain forest adventure occurred as we tried to leave the river entrance station by bus. Our bus did arrive and we boarded. But in the few minutes it took to load our baggage and start back up the road, a huge mudslide had swept down. It completely blocked the road. While we waited, trucks began arriving to be filled with mud to be taken away. Some people ahead of us simply began walking back down the road. Clearly, this was going to take hours. And we had a plane to catch.
This is where Franziska came through in a big way once again. Two local buses were stopped on the other side of the mud slide. Franziska knew one of the drivers and negotiated for him to take us back to Coca and the airport. As you can see below, we once again put on our boots and now waded through the thick mud to board the new bus.
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Although he drove quickly, since it was a local bus, the driver stopped for people needing a ride. Franziska then negotiated a fee for the driver to quit stopping (there was a second local bus right behind us, so these folks did get rides). Our flight was to leave around 5 PM. We arrived at the airport (which included the bus making a probably illegal U-turn to get us to the entrance) just before 5.
Yet again, Franziska's contacts paid off. She knew folks at the airport and had called ahead. We went right through quickly and were the last to board the jet, Bob being the very last person to board. Soon after we were seated, the jet took off.
The ride in a large, comfortable bus and a commercial jet seemed luxurious after a week on a canoe. But it was nothing like the luxury to come in the Galapagos.
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Just before leaving, as we waited for our bus to pick us up at this river entrance point, I took a photo of rules for the park.
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Itinerary
The following are our itineraries for these days.
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Other Websites
By The Author:
UC Berkeley in the '60's
Civil War Diaries
Mostly pre-WWII
