Riding down the Rio Napo

Tuesday, March 1, 2011 – Wednesday, March 2, 2011

On our final day in the Amazon we traded in our rain boots for trainers and moved around the jungle on the Rio Napo.  After a lovely breakfast of eggs and fruit, we piled into the narrow dugout boat and rode across the river to a somewhat construction-like area.  Nearby a couple trucks were transporting stones, splashing us with muddy water as we walked down the road.  Livio started cutting down tree trunks, while Adonis and Israel from the lodge and our boat driver helped us carry the 6 inch diameter and 15 to 20 foot logs down to the river. 

When we’d successfully aligned all nine tree trunks, three of which I aided in transporting, Livio got to work binding them together with a rope.  With one smaller piece perpendicular on the top, he wove the rope through the logs with Marie-Ann’s help.  Once the rope had gone the full length, he went back to the start to tighten the slack.  The other side of the raft was tied together using the local plants which had been tied to each other to form a long string.  I’m sure Livio would only use the plants in his construction, but I’m guessing we used the rope for safety.

Less than 45 minutes after the first tree was cut down, David, Lyle, Marie-Ann, Miriam and Livio boarded the raft and started floating downstream.  Given my circumstances, I opted for the boat travel which turned out to be a smart option since the 15 minute ride was actually an hour.  The sun shined brightly on the river as I watched my group have water fights on the raft and swim down the Rio Napo.  I was extremely relaxed sitting in the shade of the boat gazing out at the trees and random bird-life as we moved down the river.  At some point we branched off to a different river (so I think) and then abandoned the raft, removing only the rope, at some shallow landing.

We continued on to the Kichwa Indian museum, highlighting various traditions of the upper Napo communities including hunting techniques, musical instruments, cooking utensils and medicinal herbs.  There was a 20 minute beer stop before Livio explained each and every trap in the museum, about ten, in full detail.  Maybe I should have drunk some beer because the detailed descriptions were making me antsy.  After hearing about other traditions (like those listed above), we had a chance at using the blow gun.  My first attempt, to my enormous surprise, hit the board.  It must have been beginners luck because my next two tries missed completely; it was hard to figure out how much force was needed in the blow.

Back in the boat we ate our lunchboxes, plastic containers filled with cold rice with chopped up vegetables, chicken and meat and an apple for dessert.  Even though the rice was cold it had good flavor, especially with a bit of the spicy sauce.  We persisted further downstream while we ate, eventually coming to the animal rescue center (as they call it).  The rescue center was our one chance to see the natural wildlife of the area.  Sadly it was not in the wild, the cages were quite small.  Our Australian tour guide took us to various cages – macaws, woolly monkeys, capybara (world’s largest rodent), borugos, ocelot, peccary, turtles and more – while squirrel monkeys swung in the branches above (these seemed to have free rein).  A couple of the squirrel monkeys carried babies and another type of monkey had just given birth that day, tightly clinging to her mother’s back.  Most of the animals in the center cannot be released because they are too used to humans and would find themselves in a village being killed for their meat or skins.  So in some ways it is positive that the center exists, the animals just don’t seem to have much space.

On our way out of the animal rescue center, Miriam got accosted by a monkey who climbed up her leg and almost onto her face.  We all tried to walk calmly to the boat as to avoid any monkey bites (and here’s a monkey bite – Mrs. Doubtfire anyone?).  It was already coming on 4:30, but our day wasn’t over yet.  The last stop brought us to a town, Ahuano, where we sat through short demonstrations in pottery and balsa carvings, with the obligatory walk around the shop afterwards.  Post the balsa carving demonstration we sat on the curb while Lyle and David enjoyed a beer and everyone except me bought French fries from the street vendor.  In the hour and a half we were in Ahuano I didn’t bother to take a single photo.

The sun was setting as the boat drove upstream 30 minutes back to our lodge.  We arrived just after 6:30 and were told dinner would be ready at 8pm.  So after a shower, I sat around talking to Livio, mostly in Spanish and writing down some key words.  Turned out dinner wasn’t ready until 10pm, at which point we were all hungry.  Marie-Ann insisted that all the guys join us for dinner, so we extended the table from five to eight and eventually ate.  I have to say it was my least favorite meal, the meat had an odd taste and texture, the cabbage salad was bitter, and the vegetables and mashed potatoes were ok.  I was also frustrated by the fact that we were eating so late when we were told dinner would be two hours before.

Just as we were finishing some conversation at the table at 11pm the lights went out.  I got ready for bed by candlelight in the bathroom before retrieving my flashlight in the room.  Slept like a log.

Another 8am breakfast today consisting of fruit and some type of potato/veg dish before leaving our lovely lodge to head back to civilization.  We took the boat to the town of Mishualli for an hour bus ride to Tena.  In Tena, we had to wait around (we all popped to the supermarket for some snacks) for the direct bus to Baños which took four hours.  A pretty ride with another horrible movie blasting from the speakers as I listened to more podcasts.

After taking a taxi to the hotel and dropping our stuff in the rooms of Posada del Arte, Miriam gave us an orientation tour of Baños which ended at an adventure tour center.  I’m considering an activity which involves abseiling down the waterfalls but haven’t made up my mind yet.  We all agreed to meet back at the hotel at 6:30pm for dinner and David and I set out to have a quick look at the church and a cup of coffee.

The hotel has a varied menu and I ended up ordering a hamburger for dinner (Americans run the place) along with their own beer.  Tempted by Miriam’s high recommendations of the chocolate cake, I got dessert too.  Just like the other nights, we sat around talking at the table for a good hour after finishing our food.  Tomorrow I’m hoping to go bike riding along the waterfall route with David since I don’t want to go on my own.  We’ll see what he thinks in the morning.  Good night.