The jungle story
22nd September 2006
I arrived back in Quito from Otavalo many moons ago to Mario´s hostel feeling alone after a week with Rossie and her family. No-one spoke English at the hostel and I didn´t know where in Quito I was. The hostel seemed very isolated and there were no cafes about. I decided on an early night and was dozing off when I heard someone arriving and a Canadian voice. This belonged to Kat who was sharing the room and volunteering for GVI too. Kat was desperate to phone her mum so I dressed and we went searching for a phone. After a very expensive phone call from the Swiss hotel we finally made it to bed. I found a map at the hostel and the next day Kat and I explored Old Quito and the transport system as Kat had lost one of her suitcases. We made a couple of trips to the airport via the tram system. 25 cents for a whole journey!
Suitcase still lost we went to bed before the big day when we were to be met and taken to base camp. About 11pm someone arrived at the door. Kat hoped it was her luggage but it was Jen who was also a volunteer. Jen, Kat and I made up the 3 newbies to join the expedition. There were 5 from the first 5 weeks, Rob, Kris, Lisa, Laura and another Kat from Scotland (to be known as Scot Kat, as the Canadian Kat was known as Kat Can). The staff team consisted of Olivia, Zach, Susan and Steve who was the intern, having completed 10 weeks and had been asked to stay on with the staff. We met Zach and Olivia on the Sunday morning and after a briefing we went with Zach to the bus terminal and took the bus to Tena. It was a six hour trip but the scenery was amazing. We met the others from the expedition celebrating their last night together. The three of us were just looking forward to our beds at that stage.
After a quick look around Tena the next day, Zach, Susan and the newbies made their way to base camp. We had a two hour bus ride then a 30 minute canoe ride and we arrived late afternoon. A quick tour of camp, made beds and put up mosquito nets and crashed out. A few lectures the next day then our first night walk. I made my buff into a balaclava and tucked it in to my shirt collar to keep the insects out much to the amusement of all. We found lots of insects, frogs and the last find was a green vine snake. Back to camp and to bed to be woken by the others arriving. They had a 10 hour bus ride from Tena then a muddy walk to camp in the dark with all their packs.
The first week and part of the second consisted of first aid course and lectures about what we would be finding and doing in the forest. GVI´s partner is Fundesin. They have bought up parcels of land around a reserve and GVI is compling a list of animals which are in the reserve. There are few monkeys, probably because they have been hunted. I was lucky to spot one on the first day walk we newbies had with Olivia and Susan. After awhile we were judged suitable to go out further into the primary jungle. The base camp was situated just off the Napo river, in secondary jungle about 15 minutes canoe ride from Mondana, the village next to Yachana eco lodge which is owned by Fundesin. There is also a college by the village which teaches students ecotourism, agriculture and other sustainable living subjects.
We went on several walks and partook in bird counts - 10 minutes in silence trying to hear the birdsounds and plotting the bearing and distance then trying to identify the sounds using the recording if we didn´t already recognise the sounds. I found this fascinating but a few of the expedition members (EMs) found it totally boring. We also did stream walks both day and night looking for snakes, frogs, caiman and any tracks. Puma and ocelot tracks have been found but not in this 5 weeks. I was introduced to bat netting but was useless at helping get the bats out of the net they were tangled in. We caught 6 the time I did it. I went out on 3 satellite (sat) camps. One was near a lagoon where some of the groups had blazed a new trail. There was a lookout where I saw loads of birds. We went on a night walk and Rob started to blaze a trail around the laguna and we spotted caiman. One seemed too big to be a dwarf caiman so there may be spectacled caiman there. The next sat camp finished off the trail but didn´t see the big caiman. There will be more trips there in the future.
On one of our night walks, Scot Kat spotted a dwarf oppossum, a blunt nosed tree snake (harmless) and a coral snake (deadly). You will be able to see the oppossum in the photographs when I finally manage to get them on to the blog site. There will also be a few snakes and the best of all, a new species of frog. On the last five weeks two frogs were found and it was confirmed that they were a new species. The task for this five weeks was to find a third to ensure that the first two were not just a fluke. Susan found the third on the stream walk on my last sat camp. We were all so excited by the find that although we went on with the walk and found other different frogs, we spent a lot of time taking photos - the welly emptying ones were some of these.
I also had the opportunity to teach English in the local school at Porta Rico. It was holidays but 4 boys used to turn up for one or two days a week. I managed a 2 hour session with them and enjoyed it all. Unfortunately, there was little opportunity to do it again but at least I was able to make use of my TEFL training.
Halfway through we had a weekend off in Limoncocha, an oxbow lake with fabulous scenery and birdlife, also black cayman. We had a 3 hour canoe trip to Coca, about half an hour in torrential rain but then the sun came out and dried us off. A quick lunch and tour around Coca and then we were invited on to a party boat which was an old plane on a boat. The music came on and we were all dancing on the wings. Another canoe ride, a short bus ride and a short canoe to the camp. We went on a nature walk, guided by Hector, to a huge Kapok tree, canoed around the lake looking at birds and went piranha fishing. A good time was had by all. Too soon it was back to work at base camp. We were meant to return by shiva (type of bus) but luckily the Yachana canoe came into Coca to pick up some tourists and we hitched a ride back with them. The canoe rides were my favorite part of being in the jungle.
On our Saturdays we relaxed and had a party night, a pub night where we all had to design something for the pub. I did the pub sign. Then a murder mystery night - lots of laughs. Hopefully the photos will show the fun.
Too soon it was back to Tena and goodbye to some of the EMs and staff with a lot of drinking and partying. Jen, Kat and I went on a white rafting ride through beautiful primary jungle. No photos of this but it was thrills all around. We came back to Quito on the midnight bus and spent the next day celebrating Kat´s birthday before we took her to the airport for her trip back to Canada. As we came back at 4 am to the hostel to collect Kat´s luggage, we were held up by a lad with what looked like a centre punch which he threatened Steve with. Luckily the hostel door opened in time and we ran in. When we came out to get into the taxi, another man approached me as I was trying to get into the front. As I couldn´t open the door, I opened the back, flung in Kat´s daysack and jumped in. There were then 4 of us squeezed in the back as the taxi roared away. I won´t be going out at night again!
I have been touring around with Jen and Steve with Steve´s sister Tracy and Steve´s mate Nick who came out to see Steve. We went up on the Telerifico (cable car) and visited a volcano with a beautiful laguna. I rode back up on a mule and was glad when I saw the exhausted faces making the climb at altitude. I still remember the Inca trail! I am now planning 3 days of rest and relaxation strolling around Quito before my trip to Chicago. Ihope to get the photos on soon but may wait until the USA.
I arrived back in Quito from Otavalo many moons ago to Mario´s hostel feeling alone after a week with Rossie and her family. No-one spoke English at the hostel and I didn´t know where in Quito I was. The hostel seemed very isolated and there were no cafes about. I decided on an early night and was dozing off when I heard someone arriving and a Canadian voice. This belonged to Kat who was sharing the room and volunteering for GVI too. Kat was desperate to phone her mum so I dressed and we went searching for a phone. After a very expensive phone call from the Swiss hotel we finally made it to bed. I found a map at the hostel and the next day Kat and I explored Old Quito and the transport system as Kat had lost one of her suitcases. We made a couple of trips to the airport via the tram system. 25 cents for a whole journey!
Suitcase still lost we went to bed before the big day when we were to be met and taken to base camp. About 11pm someone arrived at the door. Kat hoped it was her luggage but it was Jen who was also a volunteer. Jen, Kat and I made up the 3 newbies to join the expedition. There were 5 from the first 5 weeks, Rob, Kris, Lisa, Laura and another Kat from Scotland (to be known as Scot Kat, as the Canadian Kat was known as Kat Can). The staff team consisted of Olivia, Zach, Susan and Steve who was the intern, having completed 10 weeks and had been asked to stay on with the staff. We met Zach and Olivia on the Sunday morning and after a briefing we went with Zach to the bus terminal and took the bus to Tena. It was a six hour trip but the scenery was amazing. We met the others from the expedition celebrating their last night together. The three of us were just looking forward to our beds at that stage.
After a quick look around Tena the next day, Zach, Susan and the newbies made their way to base camp. We had a two hour bus ride then a 30 minute canoe ride and we arrived late afternoon. A quick tour of camp, made beds and put up mosquito nets and crashed out. A few lectures the next day then our first night walk. I made my buff into a balaclava and tucked it in to my shirt collar to keep the insects out much to the amusement of all. We found lots of insects, frogs and the last find was a green vine snake. Back to camp and to bed to be woken by the others arriving. They had a 10 hour bus ride from Tena then a muddy walk to camp in the dark with all their packs.
The first week and part of the second consisted of first aid course and lectures about what we would be finding and doing in the forest. GVI´s partner is Fundesin. They have bought up parcels of land around a reserve and GVI is compling a list of animals which are in the reserve. There are few monkeys, probably because they have been hunted. I was lucky to spot one on the first day walk we newbies had with Olivia and Susan. After awhile we were judged suitable to go out further into the primary jungle. The base camp was situated just off the Napo river, in secondary jungle about 15 minutes canoe ride from Mondana, the village next to Yachana eco lodge which is owned by Fundesin. There is also a college by the village which teaches students ecotourism, agriculture and other sustainable living subjects.
We went on several walks and partook in bird counts - 10 minutes in silence trying to hear the birdsounds and plotting the bearing and distance then trying to identify the sounds using the recording if we didn´t already recognise the sounds. I found this fascinating but a few of the expedition members (EMs) found it totally boring. We also did stream walks both day and night looking for snakes, frogs, caiman and any tracks. Puma and ocelot tracks have been found but not in this 5 weeks. I was introduced to bat netting but was useless at helping get the bats out of the net they were tangled in. We caught 6 the time I did it. I went out on 3 satellite (sat) camps. One was near a lagoon where some of the groups had blazed a new trail. There was a lookout where I saw loads of birds. We went on a night walk and Rob started to blaze a trail around the laguna and we spotted caiman. One seemed too big to be a dwarf caiman so there may be spectacled caiman there. The next sat camp finished off the trail but didn´t see the big caiman. There will be more trips there in the future.
On one of our night walks, Scot Kat spotted a dwarf oppossum, a blunt nosed tree snake (harmless) and a coral snake (deadly). You will be able to see the oppossum in the photographs when I finally manage to get them on to the blog site. There will also be a few snakes and the best of all, a new species of frog. On the last five weeks two frogs were found and it was confirmed that they were a new species. The task for this five weeks was to find a third to ensure that the first two were not just a fluke. Susan found the third on the stream walk on my last sat camp. We were all so excited by the find that although we went on with the walk and found other different frogs, we spent a lot of time taking photos - the welly emptying ones were some of these.
I also had the opportunity to teach English in the local school at Porta Rico. It was holidays but 4 boys used to turn up for one or two days a week. I managed a 2 hour session with them and enjoyed it all. Unfortunately, there was little opportunity to do it again but at least I was able to make use of my TEFL training.
Halfway through we had a weekend off in Limoncocha, an oxbow lake with fabulous scenery and birdlife, also black cayman. We had a 3 hour canoe trip to Coca, about half an hour in torrential rain but then the sun came out and dried us off. A quick lunch and tour around Coca and then we were invited on to a party boat which was an old plane on a boat. The music came on and we were all dancing on the wings. Another canoe ride, a short bus ride and a short canoe to the camp. We went on a nature walk, guided by Hector, to a huge Kapok tree, canoed around the lake looking at birds and went piranha fishing. A good time was had by all. Too soon it was back to work at base camp. We were meant to return by shiva (type of bus) but luckily the Yachana canoe came into Coca to pick up some tourists and we hitched a ride back with them. The canoe rides were my favorite part of being in the jungle.
On our Saturdays we relaxed and had a party night, a pub night where we all had to design something for the pub. I did the pub sign. Then a murder mystery night - lots of laughs. Hopefully the photos will show the fun.
Too soon it was back to Tena and goodbye to some of the EMs and staff with a lot of drinking and partying. Jen, Kat and I went on a white rafting ride through beautiful primary jungle. No photos of this but it was thrills all around. We came back to Quito on the midnight bus and spent the next day celebrating Kat´s birthday before we took her to the airport for her trip back to Canada. As we came back at 4 am to the hostel to collect Kat´s luggage, we were held up by a lad with what looked like a centre punch which he threatened Steve with. Luckily the hostel door opened in time and we ran in. When we came out to get into the taxi, another man approached me as I was trying to get into the front. As I couldn´t open the door, I opened the back, flung in Kat´s daysack and jumped in. There were then 4 of us squeezed in the back as the taxi roared away. I won´t be going out at night again!
I have been touring around with Jen and Steve with Steve´s sister Tracy and Steve´s mate Nick who came out to see Steve. We went up on the Telerifico (cable car) and visited a volcano with a beautiful laguna. I rode back up on a mule and was glad when I saw the exhausted faces making the climb at altitude. I still remember the Inca trail! I am now planning 3 days of rest and relaxation strolling around Quito before my trip to Chicago. Ihope to get the photos on soon but may wait until the USA.
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