It was quite a trip to the Sacha Lodge. We were met at the airport by a representative who gave us boarding passes. There was a half-hour flight to Coca, where we were collected and brought to the Sacha offices, given a snack and life vest, and piled onto a large covered motorized canoe. We motored for 2 hours up the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon. The boat had to zigzag continuously because the water was low and there were many things floating that were best to avoid. We passed several small communities and one flaming gas pipe; the only wildlife we saw clearly were egrets.
When we landed, we (there were 14 other people with us, all related or friends or something and very loud) got into real canoes and were paddled to another landing, where we disembarked and walked a mile to the lodge. The one very very old woman in the group got a kind of rickshaw, for which she was extremely grateful.
We finally got to the lodge, which is stunning. We were given a welcome drink and introduced to our group's guide, Alejandro (Alex). There is a British couple and an Australian couple in our group; the very vocal others are not with us, tg. We chose wellies for the muddy walks (I of course had to return mine for different sizes a couple of times, as good as Zappos) and then went to our luxurious cabins. Lovely AC and a big balcony overlooking the jungle.
Because our flight was delayed 3 hours (construction at the Quito airport closed the whole thing down), we were offered a night walk. First came dinner, steak and swordfish, quite delicious. Then we put on our wellies and bug spray (which didn't really help, just fyi), and went out into the darkness. I spotted a gigantic frog almost immediately, which gave Alex entirely the wrong idea about my wildlife abilities. We saw poison dart frogs, many creepy but non-fatal insects, and spiders of all sizes, including the scarily-named scorpion spider. It was incredibly hot and we got many mosquito bites, but oddly they don't itch much after the first hour or so.
Ben and I decided to forego the morning excursion, which began at 5 and included a visit to an indigenous village. Instead, we
slept in a bit and then went for a refreshing swim in the pool, fenced-in so we would not be eaten by piranhas. We saw hoatzins (which Peter studied during a miserable stint in Venezuela) and an agouti and many blue morpho butterflies. Ben got to view a family of monkeys cavorting outside his cabin.
Meanwhile, Phil arose at 5, had a massive breakfast, and headed out in a canoe with several others to go to a parakeet lick. They had to view it from a distance, so there are no photos.
After that, they went to a local village -- or rather, a small settlement where a couple of women agreed to interact and teach about their lives. Phil got to blow a poison-arrow dart (mildly successful) and eat a smoked grub (entirely successful, in that he did not vomit), see how the local beer is brewed, and taste a variety of non-insect-life treats. The trip was long and very hot; he enjoyed it but I don't regret staying behind.
After a long rest, we set out in a canoe through the black water creek which was quiet (tho nothing is ever really quiet here). We took a short walk to see some owl monkeys hanging out in a hole in a tree, then continued to an endless staircase that led up a gigantic kapok tree to a platform in the canopy.
Up there we saw a flock of chestnut-eared aracaris, who courted each other for a while.
On the way back, after dark, Alex spotted eyes, and we paddled to find a baby caiman hiding in the shallows. Very exciting!
Dinner, then bed. Tomorrow up at 5.
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