In the dark ... Goodbye Napo

Sunrise over the Napo River means only one thing, that we've already been travelling a bit over an hour to get here. That is, leaving in the dark and paddle boating down the little stream in the dark. And I really mean dark, I thought they would use headlamps or torches to navigate, but there was none of that. Just the pitch blackness of the night in the forest, winding around tight corners and hearing the scraping of the extremely low water level causing the branches and logs to rub against the bottom of the canoe.

The only help in the dark that would assist with the navigation was a lining of glow worms along both edges of the stream. Like little stars in the water showing us the way. Unfortunately it was impossible to get a picture at that time of day.

Like the day we arrived we walked a short distance to get to the motorboat that would take us 80km upstream back to Coca to catch the plane back to Quito. This time it was a bright sunny day which meant we got to enjoy the view with the blinds up. Catching the sight of the river and the people living and working along the river banks this time.Read more