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Ecuador Rio Negro

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  • 6 Months ‘Round the World
    41
    Day 152

    Back to Quito 🚌

    May 2 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    Henry and I woke up at 6am to do some bird watching from the tower, we were the only participants of the group. We saw some pretty birds, including a toucan, and giant Amazon otters swimming way down in the river below. The otters are apparently rare, and we saw them the first day as well so that’s a treat.

    To leave the lodge we had to do all the transportation legs in reverse— two hour boat ride, two hour small bus, wait at weird hotel, 8 hour bus back to Quito. It was made longer because the small bus had mechanical issues. We did get to see a small anaconda on the boat ride back, which was the final animal on Henry’s Amazon bingo. The long bus ride had some really pretty views. At one point some police got on the bus but it kinda seemed like they were just hitching a ride. We arrived to our hostel around 10:30pm and were too tired to even find dinner.    Read more

  • 6 Months ‘Round the World
    1
    21
    Day 151

    Amazon day 3 🫗

    May 1 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    We’ve been sleeping pretty well so far which is a pleasant surprise, aside from the one bird that sounds like an alarm clock (Henry says it’s the Toucan). I woke up and could hear the rain in the distance approaching, and the frogs calling as if to warn each other. Today we’re heading to a local community down the river to learn about living in the deep Amazon. We took the motor boat (thank goodness) and the rain had stopped (double thank goodness).

    At the community we had some snacks of fruit and larvae. The larvae is a delicacy and supposedly very good for you. I felt a little bit like it was a shock gag for the tourists, but once they were cooked over the fire we did try one. It tasted kinda like pork belly. Then a local woman taught us how to make a tortilla from yucca root, by grating it, squeezing out the moisture, and frying it. It was challenging and Tom cut his finger grating. We had it with some tuna ceviche. Max had befriended the local kids and was chasing them around. Our guide painted our faces using a berry and Max drew cat whiskers and a Harry Potter scar on the kids’ faces. We all cracked up when Clara accidentally smeared the ink all over her face. Some of us bought handicrafts.

    Then we visited the shaman, Hector. He told us about Ayahuasca and how it connects him to his ancestors, who also tell him how to heal people (I think?). We tried a tiny drop of it which just tasted bitter. Then we all had a shot of a fermented infusion of herbs and plants, primarily meant to help with Covid. It tasted suspiciously like whiskey. We each left a drop for Pachamama. The last event was being slapped with stinging nettles. Unfortunately Clara volunteered first and wasn’t told what was going to happen, so that was a painful surprise. I volunteered out of curiosity and found out it was indeed pokey. I don’t remember specifics of the purpose, except curing rheumatism.

    We got back to the lodge and changed for a final Laguna swim. The sunset was stunning. Tom held his injured finger out of the water which looked hysterical. We had our last dinner together.    Read more

  • 6 Months ‘Round the World
    4132
    Day 150

    Amazon day 2 🚣

    April 30 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 79 °F

    We awoke to the sound of the rain, which was nice until it was still pouring after breakfast. Luckily Tom was feeling better (Henry has dubbed them Team Tummy Ache because it sounds like they’ve had stomach troubles for a while). Despite the rain we got on our wellies and ponchos and headed out in a canoe. Rowing in a small boat while being dumped on with rain turned out not to be my favorite activity. In addition our guide was having us navigate through narrow spaces between trees, meaning there was a lot of ducking and watching for spikey trees and spiders involved. Eventually we made it to a bank but the heavy rain meant it was pretty flooded. We learned about a Ceibo tree and tried to climb the hanging roots (well I didn’t but others did). We saw lots of mushrooms and some bullet ants (very dangerous ants). The rain was letting up but unfortunately we walked through water so deep it went in my wellies and flooded them. At which point I was pretty over nature walk and relieved when we got back to the canoe, rowed backwards until we got to the main river, and made it back to the lodge. I attempted to clean my trousers and socks, given that I’m quickly running out of clean clothes.

    In the afternoon we made chocolate from beans, which just involved shelling them and then grinding them with sugar. We had some in hot chocolate and put some in the fridge for dinner. We got ready to go on a night walk behind the lodge. Henry spotted nocturnal monkeys at we were heading into the jungle— it has become a running joke that he spots more animals than the guide. Right at the beginning of the walk we see a Ferdelance snake, which is apparently super venomous. I was already a bit done with adventure for the day so I decided to turn around while the others went ahead. Fortunately they all survived and Henry came and got me to look at piranhas in the water, which were slightly underwhelming.

    We tried a pisco sour with dinner (it was okay) and after dinner another staff member gave us a karaoke performance, which was slightly odd but very endearing. We stayed up chatting a bit. The generator gave out as we were getting ready for bed so we had to navigate with flashlights.    Read more

  • 6 Months ‘Round the World
    111
    Day 149

    Amazon day 1 🕷️

    April 29 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    The bus deposited us at a weird hotel in Lago Agrio. We felt somewhat okay despite a bumpy bus ride. We had breakfast at the hotel and then another bus took us two more hours to the meeting point with the Amazon river, Cuyabeno. Our group includes a young British couple (Izzy and Tom), a young solo German traveler (Clara) and a solo male traveler (Max— American but living abroad for many years). We had lunch and talked briefly about the different animals we might see in the Amazon. Then we got on a small river boat for another two hour trip to our lodge.

    It started raining lightly right as we arrived to the lodge which quickly became a downpour. Our rooms are in little huts with partially outdoor bathrooms and the lodge seems like it could fit a lot more people so we must be a small group. Right away we saw a huge tarantula hanging out in a tree. We had a few hours to chill and then took the boat down the river. We spotted squirrel monkeys, wooly monkeys, and another type of monkey, as well as lots of birds. We arrived to a laguna with other boats from other lodges. Everyone was swimming so despite our concerns about piranhas we jumped in. The water wasn’t too cold but it’s very brown from the muddy bottom which was spooky.

    We slowly came back to the lodge, looking for caymans (they look like small crocodiles) in the trees. We also saw a small snake in a tree. We had dinner at the lodge and chatted for a bit, but unfortunately Tom had an upset stomach so we called it an early night.    Read more

  • TravelerSüdamerika
    1
    311
    Day 26–29

    Cotopaxi

    April 19 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    ~ Wanderung bzw. besser Klettern zum Wasserfall
    ~ Wanderung auf den Cotopaxi, einem aktiven Vulkan, bis zum Gletscher auf 5007m
    ~ Entspannen im Jacuzzi mit Blick auf die Vulkane
    ~ Wanderung auf den Gipfel des Pasochoa auf 4200m
    ~ Lesen in der Hängematte
    ~ Füttern der Lamas und Kuscheln mit dem 3 Wochen alten Baby    Read more

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  • TravelerSüdamerika
    1121
    Day 22–25

    Amazonas Cuyabeno

    April 15 in Ecuador ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    ~ mit dem Kajak Tiere beobachten
    ~ Schwimmen in der großen Lagune bei Sonnenuntergang
    ~ Nachtspaziergang durch den Dschungel
    ~ Bird Watching am frühen Morgen
    ~ Wanderung durch den Dschungel
    ~ etliche Tiere gesehen: Schlangen, Spinnen, Faultiere, Vögel, Frösche, einen Kaimanen, Affen, pinke Delfine, ...
    ~ Zeremonie mit einem Schamanen, inklusive geschlagen werden auf dem Rücken mit stacheligen Brennnesseln
    ~ traditionelle Herstellung des Yucca-Brotes: Ernte der Wurzel, Schälen, Reiben, Entwässern, Sieben zu Mehl und Backen auf dem Feuerstein ohne Zugabe weiterer Zutaten
    ~ traditionelle Herstellung von Schokoladenpaste: Rösten von Schokoladenbohnen über dem Feuer, Schälen, Mahlen und mit Zitronensaft und Rohrzucker zermörsern    Read more

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  • TravelerWeltreise
    1
    Day 148–150

    Hasta luego Ecuador

    April 12 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Nach den aufregenden letzten Wochen, bleiben wir die nächsten 3 Tage in Quito, wo wir hauptsächlich zuhause sind und viel schlafen 😴.

    Ecuador gehört definitiv zu den schönsten Ländern, die wir bis jetzt bereist haben. Wir haben die vielfältige Natur und spannenden Abenteuer, die wir hier erleben durften fest in unsere Herzen aufgenommen. Vor allem, dass wir diesen Abschnitt mit zwei unserer besten Freunden erleben durften, macht uns glücklich 🥰🥹

    Am Montag in der Nacht verlassen wir Ecuador und reisen weiter nach Los Angeles 🇺🇸    Read more

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  • TravelerSüdamerika
    11111
    Day 19–21

    Baños

    April 12 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    ~ angekommen im Hostel den ganzen Nachmittag über Cambio gespielt
    ~ Arepas zum Abendessen
    ~ Abend ausklingen lassen mit Trinkspielen
    ~ Wanderung auf einen Berg mit wundervoller Aussicht auf die Stadt
    ~ Besuch des Casa del Arbol mit ,,Schaukel am Ende der Welt"
    ~ abendlicher Besuch der hot springs - vom Vulkan beheizte Thermalbecken, Sauna und Dampfbad, mit angestrahltem Wasserfall im Hintergrund
    ~ mit Pizza und Shrek 2 den Abend ausklingen lassen
    ~ Fahrradtour entlang und zu unendlichen Wasserfällen
    ~ frisch zubereitete Empanadas bei Mercedes    Read more

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  • Traveler2024 Winter Adventure
    1112
    Day 105–109

    Quinto

    January 28 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I ended up staying in Quito longer than planned. I was only supposed to be there for two days but I had to wait for my health insurance to renew before I could ride again, so I ended up staying four nights before heading north to the mountains.

    Most of my time was spent wandering the city and figuring out my route through Peru. I also experienced my first earthquake, which was pretty wild. I was lying in bed when a 5.6-magnitude quake hit the building shook for about 20 seconds. No one else seemed to care since earthquakes are pretty common here, but it was definitely a new experience for me.    Read more

  • Landcruisers HorizonAusfahrt Amerika
    3
    Day 408–409

    Cajas Nationalpark

    August 21, 2024 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Und noch eine Wanderung in Ecuador, die uns in einen verwunschenen Wald - gleich kommt Tom Bombadil um die Ecke - und an kleineren Seen vorbei führt. Viele der Pflanzen und Tiere dort sind endemisch, unsere Kenntnisse reichen jedoch nicht aus, um sie zu identifizieren.Read more

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