Cheryl and Bradley convinced me to go to the jungle. Jesus H Christ. Luckily we flew, because I just don’t have it in me for some long, jenky, Ecuadorian bus rides right now. So, we few into El Coca – apparently that’s a person and not the drug. I guess I was expecting something a little nicer from the town, but really I can’t think of why.
So, we flew into El Coca and stayed at some abandoned resort with a ginormous pool. Then we caught our lancha in the morning to go to the Yarina Eco Lodge, about 30 minutes up the Río Napo. Given that it’s in the middle of nowhere, it’s all-inclusive. Cheryl would later be unimpressed with basically everything, but I think she just wanted something more exotic and less civilized.
We were greeted by a tarantula and Cheryl’s screams. I think Bradley wanted to kill it, but he didn’t. I’ve seen bigger 😉
See all our pictures!
On the second day there we went to an indigenous community. I was expecting huts and tooth necklaces and the like, as I think my compañeros were as well. But it was citified and the “ancient” parts were kept around only to show tourists. It was super fun though as we did a fun walk, swung on a vine like Tarzan, shot darts through a blow gun – I was the best hunter of the group; even better than the guide! – and ate barbequed grubs (tasted like fatty bacon).
We hiked and/or went out in canoes two or three times each day. We looked for caimanes, but you can only see them for their eyes as they reflect the light from lamps. They gave us these giant rubber boots to wear and one day I got stuck in the mud and it ate my boot! It took the guide a full ten minutes to get my boot out. Probably if my boots had fit they wouldn’t have slipped off so easily. Cheryl took pictures which really pissed me off at the time but are funny to look at now.
One afternoon we went fishing for pirañas – we didn’t even see one. But we saw millions and billions of mosquitoes and other horrible biting bugs. And birds, owls, bats, and little monkeys. And one black and orange snake. Our guide Octavo also pointed out to us lemonade ants – we ate them too, because of course, and they tasted lemony, quite good actually.
Going to the jungle was one of those things that I only did reluctantly but, while I wouldn’t necessarily sign up for it again, I did enjoy myself.
Bradley wrote an account too; I think he liked it a little bit more than me LOL