Amazonia, baking bread, boa constrictors, shaman and pink dolphins

 I left for the jungle region of Ecuador that is called Amazonia after some obscure local river.  In fact, I had hoped to find the source of this little known river which was reportedly near some place called the Dolphin River Lodge.  

In any case, I set out with about 25 other intrepid explorers to this remote region aboard the explorer vehicle of choice- a  mini bus.  We left about 11:30 pm and it was a mere 10 hours to the jungle.  I had little trouble sleeping on this bus, what with the smooth Ecuadorian roads to occasionally bounce you out of your seat.  Upon arrival, we took a 2 hour boat ride to the remote lodge-

As

I found the boat ride a bit more relaxing and sleep inducing but the guide kept prompting me about monkeys and sloths, which seemed to be more awake than I.  

In any case, I spent 3.5 days in the jungle and saw quite a few interesting and colorful birds and some boa constrictors, piranha and caymens (crockadiles) while swimming about in the Amazon basin (i.e. River Cuyabeno) 

Swimming with anacondas, piranhas, boa constrictors, etc, etc, etc 

We also saw some of the famous pink dolphins, though they mostly appeared more gray than pink (evidently they turn pink when they are more active and excited).

  It was kind of cool to see dolphins swimming in a river, but what they were doing thousands of miles from the Atlantic Ocean where they belong, I have no idea.  As my friend Craze and others know, I have made some navigation errors in my time, but  none of the magnitude of these dolphins.  

We visited an indigenous community in the Amazon as part of the tour and they put us to work making some sort of local puya bread-

I did take the opportunity of hobnobbing with the local shaman.  He extolled the restorative virtues of Amazon fauna and I briefly discussed various Bordeaux vintages in exchange-

We did see the largest tree in the Amazon and some great jungle sunsets-

On the 10 hour bus return trip to Quito- the Cuyobena River and the Amazon basin are near the Peru and Columbian borders and a long way from Quito- the bus got stuck in the mud and the river trying to board a ferry.  Fortunately, we stuck a few wooden planks under the bus wheels and managed to avoid calling a tow truck in the wilds of the jungle, tho it was a near run thing.  

One thing I did observe in the jungle is that there is a lot of truth in the description 'rain forest'.  Both a lot of rain and a lot of forest-

Back to Quito and civilization.