Cuyabeno Amazon Rainforest

As we did not go to the Amazon Rainforest in Colombia and also do not plan to go there in the other countries we‘ll visit, and as we got a very enthusiastic report on Cuyabeno (the Ecuadorian part of the rainforest on the Colombian border), we half-spontaneously decided that this will be our next destination. We booked a 4-nights-3-days package including transport, lodging, all the food and several tours and activities, thinking that it would be a nice break from all the planning that travelling usually brings on the daily basis. Well, it was a nice break indeed not having to think about what to do and where to eat, but as we got used to that way of ‚living‘ for the past 6 months it was also kind of weird 😂 Still, our group of 9 was very lovely (surprisingly we were the oldest- I guess we’ll have to get used to that 🤷🏻‍♀️) and the lodge, food and surroundings were very good, too!
The activities and tours we did were also okay: Several boat rides among the river (not the Amazon river, by the way), everyday sunsets and optional swimming in the Piranha- and Caiman-containing lake nearby (noone got bitten 🤞🏼), two small (but very muddy 🙃) treks of which one in the darkness and a visit to a communal village including Cassava making and tasting Ayuvasca with the local Shaman (just tasting, no worries dear parents). The reasons we label the itinerary as only ‚okay‘ is that we ALWAYS took to much time, resulting in having to hurry up to get back to the lodge in time for food and therefore missing out on a lot of our planned freetime 😕 And, to be honest, we were also quite disappointed by the absence of bigger animals that you are supposed to see in the Amazon, but that was just bad luck we suppose…
But enough of the negative now, there were still many spectacular encounters, very fun conversations and very good food, and it‘s not that we have not seen any animals - very much the opposit! We spotted several sloths, beautiful birds and monkeys, a tarantula (at our lodge 🥶), a baby caiman, a baby amazon boa, a red-belly piranha, the super toxic dart frogs and - Alina‘s personal favourite - the famous pink river dolpins 🐬😍 (which are only pink when they are quite old by the way, but we‘ve seen such a grandpa (or -ma), too!). So even though we did not see a jaguar, a fully grown boa or a big-ass caiman, it was still a very special encounter with nature at Cuyabeno!
Ps: Gotta give the credit where the credit is due, and this is to Jenna who provided us with most of the high-quality pictures with her Nikon. Thank you again dear Jenna!!Read more