Saturday, August 25, 2007

Five days in the Ecuatorian jungle

I just spent the most awesome five days at a lodge on the river Cuyabeno in primary rainforest (a.k.a. jungle). It took forever to get there (8 hour overnight bus, 3 hour taxi ride on dirt roads with one flat tire, and a 3 hour boat ride in pouring rain), but I could have stayed forever and ever and ever. The food was great, the guide was wonderful, there were no mosquitos (!!!), and the animals---oh the animals! Just to make you a little bitsy jealous, here's a list of just a few animals I saw:
  • black caiman (caiman is like an alligator)
  • dwarf caiman
  • dusky-headed parakeet
  • white-throated toucan
  • three-toed sloth
  • squirrel monkey
  • white fronted capuchin monkey
  • monk saki monkey
  • pink river dolphin
  • grey river dolphin
  • and lots, lots of birds

And a list of animals I could have seen but was happy I didn't:

  • tarantula
  • poisonous snakes

Unfortunately my humble camera couldn't catch anything high up in trees or anything that moved. Here are some pictures of what I could get:


Caiman lurking in water
Baby caiman
Swimming with the piranhas and caimans
"Hiking", thank goodness for rubber boots!
Strange fruit
Resident parrot (also known as breakfast-crashing evil little s··t)

Happy boater
And with a full-circle finale, a flat tire on the way back (same taxi same driver, this time a different tire)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

By comparison, on my adventurous trip across exotic Idhaho I saw a cow, a horse, a dog, a cat, an evil chicken, and a squiril. Are you jealous? BOD

Anonymous said...

I saw a male peacock in full spread-eagle on the highway in Colorado... I didn't realize they hve Caimen alligators in SA. People buy them here as pets. We have a rooster here that crows every morning here in the hood. They tell us it's for cock-fighting. I'm gonna get those bastards right before I leave. Last night our friends were in line at McDonald's and the person in front of them pulled a gun on the lady over chicken nuggets - so I guess I won't go out after dark anymore. Hvaing lots of fun in little Mexico.

sister Sam

Shannen said...

*BOD*

Ha ha! One must never cease to appreciate the biodiversity in one's own country. Let me know if you see anything else cool like that!

*Sister Sam*

Peacocks are cool! I didn't realize people keep caimans as pets...that's weird. Now you understand my Mexican rooster dilemma, hee hee, they were EVERYWHERE! You'll get used to him, hopefully.
EEK your neighborhood sounds really bad, all the better to keep you indoors studying away! Maybe it's their strategy to produce great students?

Moe said...

Cousin,

Like you had to mention the animals to make me jealous. Geez.

Anonymous said...

I guess I should have clarified that I'm going to get the jerk who has roosters for cock-fighting, not the poor little rooster. Although he may have lost, I haven't heard him in a while... We have two fox on campus too. I have no idea how they got here.

sister Sam

Shannen said...

*Cousin Moe*

Nyah nyah ni nyaaa nyah!
Now your sis is working on making us all jealous...

*Sista Sam*

I think even if you get the roosterman you will still have the same problem. Maybe you could throw a big black blanket onto the rooster's home?
Fox? Cool! Have you seen them?

nonnon said...

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I'm in Taiwan and started my blog.Well, I loved your site(so many great photos!!) and decided to use this, too. Here is my site:

http://nonsama.blogspot.com