Amazonia

Thanks to another Ecuadorean holiday, we were blessed with a four day break for Carnival  last weekend. In order to take full advantage of our precious vacation time, we decided (at last minute) to make the most of things and head for the Amazon jungle despite it requiring a 12 hour overnight bus ride (on Ben's birthday), then 6 more hours to Tena and finally a 5 minute motorized canoe trip up stream to our destination- The Arajuno Jungle Lodge. We were lucky enough to find this place on one day advance notice and even luckier to share the experience with only one other group of six people. We were cheerfully greeted by the owner Tom Larson (former Oregonian) and his trusty (and sometimes slightly menacing) primate sidekick, Mona. What better to do after a hot, sticky bus ride than refresh yourself in the river! So,we dumped our bags in the tidy rooms, washed down some yummy homemade cookies with fresh squeezed lemonade and went for a refreshing swim in the Arajuno river. Perhaps you are imagining crocodiles, alligators or piranahas lurking about in the jungle river. Maybe true at one point in time, but much damage has been done in the Amazon rainforest -- such as habitat loss and deforestation.

Tom, the lodge owner, has been there for approx. 10 years and is making a contribution to habitat restoration and preservation. On his property, he has  a few ponds where he is raising a native species of turtle, which he is attempting to reintroduce to the river. Much ecological damage has been inflicted on the local rivers from dynamite fishing-- an effective yet terribly destructive method of fishing used by some of the locals. Tom is making an effort to teach the local communities to raise fish in ponds rather than blow them and everything else out of the river.

                                          

Our first day we went for a hike in the mostly secondary rainforest and some primary rainforsest with a bilingual guide, Octavio. The property surrounding the lodge was a former cacoa plantation so we started off by sampling some of the cacoa. In raw form, the cacoa beans are enclosed in seed pod covered with a sweet pulp--we sucked the pulp off the seed pods. You can see Mona trying to get her share of the goods. 

We both got a chance to play Tarzan and swing from some of the vines in the primary forest. The guide did it first to prove it was safe.

We ended up on a pristine stream bed where we got to get a glimpse of  the magic of jungle aquatic life.

A view of the Arajuno River from the hilltop above the lodge. In the afternoon, our lodge host Tom took us up the river about 1 mile or so and dropped us off with inner tubes. We were lucky that the sun was shining most of the weekend. Usually there are daily afternoon showers, but this year  has been especially dry in this particular region of the Amazon.  Not a drop of rain until our last night when a thunderstorm provided a nice downpour for a couple hours. Just prior to the thunderstorm, we took a night walk in the forest surrounding the lodge. A guide showed up to stay the night and offered for us to tag along with him and his son. We used our headlamps and spotted several colors of tree frogs (like the one in the photo), many different types of spiders, crickets, a lizard (the one hanging out on the branch in the photo), some leaf-mimicking katydids, and some stick bugs. At one point, we all turned off our headlamps to enjoy the lightning from the approaching thunderstorm.

 

One of the tree frogs spotted on our night walk.

 The lizard hanging out on a branch just above our heads. He remained still until the 8 year old son catapulted him from the branch. Following the walk, we were able to enjoy the sound of a good jungle downpour with flashes of lightning and occassional thunder while kicking back in the hammocks on the lodge porch.

Given the lodge is completely powered by solar there were certainly measures to limit electricity use such as candlelight dinners. The food was prepared by Tom's Ecuadorian wife Charo. Delicious! Soups with every meal is a tradition in Ecuador, even in the hot, sticky jungle. For the special occassion of their volunteer finishing his 6 weeks, Charo prepared fish. Tom caught a 10lb fish (some relation to the pirranha) from his pond on the property, and Charo cooked it on the grill all morning. Mona, the resident monkey, had to be locked up for this event. When she was released at the end of the day, she was rather subdued, and as Tom described it "on her best behavior" to avoid more time in the BIG HOUSE. Once we adventured on a short walk later in the afternoon, she took her favorite resting place back upon Ben's shoulders. When she came running toward him, he just got into the habit of sticking out his hand. She grabbed and he swung her up around his shoulders. Although at times demanding, she was rather interesting to observe. 

To make the most out of our vacation, we waited until Tuesday to return to Loja. Another overnight bus ride and arrival at 7a.m. just in time to shower, grab a snack and teach our first classes at 7:45 am.

                                                       

Carnival!

What is Carnival? Not being Catholics, it took us awhile to figure it out. It's the equivalent of Mardi Gras in the US. This four day event begins on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday and ends on "Fat Tuesday" just before the Lent Season which begins on Ash Wednesday. The four days are a time of excess-- overeating, binge drinking, masquerading in elaborate costumes. As you may know, most Catholics give up some indulgences during Lent so the Carnival celebration is to indugle oneself prior to the Lent season.

Carnival is celebrated in many different ways across the country, but one tradition throughout the entire country is to get each other wet with waterballons, squirt guns, even buckets of water. In addition to water, mostly teenagers and children spray a foamy substance, like shaving cream at people and cars. Not just in these four days, but in the weeks leading up to Carnival, children hide in doorways or on the rooftops and toss waterballons at pedestrians. Sometimes even eggs and flour are thrown at each other. As gringos, we were told we might be  "targets" so we walked with vigilence over the past few weeks. We felt as fugitives looking for snipers on the rooftops. We dodged a few waterballons hurled at us from rooftops across the street. At one time, I (Sara) had to shake my finger at a few kids holding waterballons. Although the crazy game is generally played only by teenagers and children, the teachers here at our school had some fun with waterballons on the Friday prior to the Carnival vacation. Last Friday was also Ben's birthday. The English teachers hosted a small gathering for cake. We have learned that Ecuadorians like their fireworks but for a birthday candle...