Day 21... Rebound Jungle Dayz
I was up early with all my stuff packed, ready to re-immerse myself in the jungle. I stood outside waiting for my guide to appear. Finally a youngish chap appeared asking if I was Lydia, Yup I said and shook his hand... Franklin he said... Yup I said. What's your name... Franklin he said..... errr no... What is your name?? Given I was doing this in Spanish I assume I had just cocked it up....
My name is Franklin he said!
Well... Franklin meet Franklin...
After a bit of a chuckle over that one, we headed over to Amazon travel to pick up our boots... (required for wading through some parts of the Amazon)...
and then headed once again to the harbour. This time we headed over to a different section, where the private boats were moored. Here we met Miguel, who was our camp cook and boat pilot... then we hopped in the motor boat which was loaded up with stuff, Franklin and Miguel hauled a kayak onto the front of the boat and away we went.
The river was calm and perhaps due to the early hour, there were few other boats around. The sun was starting to make itself felt but there was a cool breeze as we hurtled down river.
The journey took only 1 hour and we drew up alongside the bank where a sign proclaiming 'Shuar cultural centre' stood. On the shore was a welcoming commitee, 3 kids, mum and dad.
We shook hands and then we were led to our accommodation. The track went past a communal gathering area and the 'kitchen' where Miguel would set up, past the 'bathroom' (drop toilet, no sink), and then along a small trail surrounded by trees and palms to eventually reach the bedrooms. Basically a hut on stilts with a porch overlooking the jungle and 2 bedrooms. Franklin (the other one) made up the bed for me complete with a mosquito net (to my relief) and then we went back over to the gathering area.
I was introduced properly to Teicho, the father and Franklin told him we were on an anaconda hunt...
the resulting babble of Spanish was too hard for me to follow but it seemed that they were discussing a lagoon around the centre that may contain the elusive anaconda.
But first Franklin decided that we would go for a walk before lunch around the property to see what we could find.
Within 500 yards, he had already found some monkeys jumping around in the trees. Easy to locate due to the crashing sound they make as they jump from tree to tree, but once located, not so easy to actually spot!! These turned out to be spider monkeys and we got glimpses of them as they hurtled from branch to branch.
The rest of the walk turned up some unusual insects such as a spider that looked like a scorpion and a stick insect like creature that wasn't a stick insect! There were a myriad of small brown frogs that were easy to find due to spotting the movement as they dived out of the way of feet. There were a couple of different green frogs too... all cute. We found a few small brown lizards and needless to say, everywhere you looked there was a small spider, not the size of the ones in Yazuni NP though.
Franklin, bless him, if I saw anything I wanted to take a photo of, would try and grab it so I could get a better picture. Personally I was generally happier with the picture of the animal in situ without stressing it out!
2 hours of walking had elicited many frogs and invertebrates.... but no snakes.... and the sun was now at scorching level, so we went back for lunch and a mean spag bol, somehow whipped up by Miguel in an extremely primative 'kitchen'.
After lunch... Teicho decided he was going to take us to the lagoon and we all headed out, Teicho with machete in hand. But first apparently, we had to find the lagoon. Teicho didn't seem to sure which direction through the palms and plants it was, and he started hacking a path through the foliage....every now and again stopping to try and see the way through. It must have been over an hour that he was hacking plants left right and centre. I have to say I wasn't particularly comfortable with the destruction being wrought. I also felt that any anacondas would be long gone due to the amount of disturbance this was all causing. We did see Capybara and Caiman tracks in the mud though.
When, for about the 8th time, Teicho looked lost, I suggested that the anacondas would have run away anyway and perhaps we should go back to an actual path and stop cutting anything blocking our path... shrugs of shoulders and back we went to the path we had walked earlier, which in parts overlooked a second lagoon..
no anacondas there either!!
Slightly dejected, we walked back to the cultural centre, sweating profusely, slightly more sunburnt and totally knackered from the efforts of the afternoon. Miguel then sorted dinner, another amazing concoction.
After dinner, I was introduced to Teicho's family, Maria the mother, Eduardo and Carlos, the 2 older boys, and the little boy, whose name I have forgotten. The little lad had burnt his big toe in a fire and he had some horrible looking blisters on his toes. Poor kid.
I was done in for the day and having watched the sun set on the jungle for another day, I turned in and fell asleep to the sounds of the cicadas and the nocturnal birds.
My name is Franklin he said!
Well... Franklin meet Franklin...
After a bit of a chuckle over that one, we headed over to Amazon travel to pick up our boots... (required for wading through some parts of the Amazon)...
and then headed once again to the harbour. This time we headed over to a different section, where the private boats were moored. Here we met Miguel, who was our camp cook and boat pilot... then we hopped in the motor boat which was loaded up with stuff, Franklin and Miguel hauled a kayak onto the front of the boat and away we went.
The river was calm and perhaps due to the early hour, there were few other boats around. The sun was starting to make itself felt but there was a cool breeze as we hurtled down river.
The journey took only 1 hour and we drew up alongside the bank where a sign proclaiming 'Shuar cultural centre' stood. On the shore was a welcoming commitee, 3 kids, mum and dad.
We shook hands and then we were led to our accommodation. The track went past a communal gathering area and the 'kitchen' where Miguel would set up, past the 'bathroom' (drop toilet, no sink), and then along a small trail surrounded by trees and palms to eventually reach the bedrooms. Basically a hut on stilts with a porch overlooking the jungle and 2 bedrooms. Franklin (the other one) made up the bed for me complete with a mosquito net (to my relief) and then we went back over to the gathering area.
I was introduced properly to Teicho, the father and Franklin told him we were on an anaconda hunt...
the resulting babble of Spanish was too hard for me to follow but it seemed that they were discussing a lagoon around the centre that may contain the elusive anaconda.
But first Franklin decided that we would go for a walk before lunch around the property to see what we could find.
Within 500 yards, he had already found some monkeys jumping around in the trees. Easy to locate due to the crashing sound they make as they jump from tree to tree, but once located, not so easy to actually spot!! These turned out to be spider monkeys and we got glimpses of them as they hurtled from branch to branch.
The rest of the walk turned up some unusual insects such as a spider that looked like a scorpion and a stick insect like creature that wasn't a stick insect! There were a myriad of small brown frogs that were easy to find due to spotting the movement as they dived out of the way of feet. There were a couple of different green frogs too... all cute. We found a few small brown lizards and needless to say, everywhere you looked there was a small spider, not the size of the ones in Yazuni NP though.
Franklin, bless him, if I saw anything I wanted to take a photo of, would try and grab it so I could get a better picture. Personally I was generally happier with the picture of the animal in situ without stressing it out!
2 hours of walking had elicited many frogs and invertebrates.... but no snakes.... and the sun was now at scorching level, so we went back for lunch and a mean spag bol, somehow whipped up by Miguel in an extremely primative 'kitchen'.
After lunch... Teicho decided he was going to take us to the lagoon and we all headed out, Teicho with machete in hand. But first apparently, we had to find the lagoon. Teicho didn't seem to sure which direction through the palms and plants it was, and he started hacking a path through the foliage....every now and again stopping to try and see the way through. It must have been over an hour that he was hacking plants left right and centre. I have to say I wasn't particularly comfortable with the destruction being wrought. I also felt that any anacondas would be long gone due to the amount of disturbance this was all causing. We did see Capybara and Caiman tracks in the mud though.
When, for about the 8th time, Teicho looked lost, I suggested that the anacondas would have run away anyway and perhaps we should go back to an actual path and stop cutting anything blocking our path... shrugs of shoulders and back we went to the path we had walked earlier, which in parts overlooked a second lagoon..
no anacondas there either!!
Slightly dejected, we walked back to the cultural centre, sweating profusely, slightly more sunburnt and totally knackered from the efforts of the afternoon. Miguel then sorted dinner, another amazing concoction.
After dinner, I was introduced to Teicho's family, Maria the mother, Eduardo and Carlos, the 2 older boys, and the little boy, whose name I have forgotten. The little lad had burnt his big toe in a fire and he had some horrible looking blisters on his toes. Poor kid.
I was done in for the day and having watched the sun set on the jungle for another day, I turned in and fell asleep to the sounds of the cicadas and the nocturnal birds.
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