City Scenes

We ended up in Quito for a bit longer than planned (or preferred, really) due to the traditional Traveler's Rite of Passage: the tummy bug. Andrew was struck within a few days of our arrival in Quito, and I followed a day later. Good thing we had a nice view from our hostel! Suspecting that we hit the local eateries with a bit too much gusto and not enough caution, we started an antibiotics course and took some Spanish lessons at our hostel in an attempt to make the best of things.

Quito also served as our hub for traveling back-and-forth from the Amazon, as well as for our travels westward. Our impression of the city (tummy bug notwithstanding) was mostly favorable - the 360* mountain surround is beautiful and it's full of history, but it's also a large, bustle-y (and dirty) metropolis full of people and constant action. We were ready to move on to more tranquil spots.

Signage on the door of our hostel bathroom. Not appropriate for small children or parents.

The Presidential Palace. Not quite the same level of security as in the States.

Basilica in Quito.

El Panecillo at sunset.

Quito Street Art.

Going Native

The final day of our Amazon tour resulted in a serious lack of clean clothes. After looking at his outfit for the day, Andrew's observation was, "Damn. I'm plaid as $*&#."

More importantly, we had the chance to spend time with indigenous
peoples that call the Cuyabeno Reserve home. After touring around a small village of the Semona tribe (and sampling raw cacao seeds which have a yummy, slimy coating - picture below), a young woman graciously invited us into her kitchen to observe and partake in traditional food preparation. The main food staple in this region is the yucca root. Think, fibrous potato -  it was harvested fresh for our consumption as seen in the accompanying pictures - that's what I call "farm to table"! It's also used to make the famous "jungle beer".



If you've ever watched a documentary on Amazon tribes, they often feature the jungle beer-making process, which includes fermentation by chewing on the yucca fibers and collecting (spitting) the resulting...mouth-liquid for consumption. Really quite appetizing, as indicated by my expression as I tried it. (It is considered rude to refuse the offering. When in Rome...)

Andrew quite liked the stuff and had no qualms about how it was made.

Things got even more interesting after lunch when we were taken to the ceremonial hut of a Shaman of the neighboring Sequoia tribe. This Shaman focused his discussion mainly on the proper uses of the ancient hallucinogen Ayahuasca, which has been greatly exploited for tourism purposes in recent years. His point: only partake under the strict supervision of a bona fide Shaman like himself. He described the great power of this drug and the lengthy process of physical and mental preparation that "students" go through before partaking - purging, meditation, isolation - for days before entering the Shaman's hut to drink the potent brew (and then have crazy-ass visions while laying in hammocks). He also described the origins of his ornate garb: As a student under the influence, he had visions of "the king" dressed similarly, and so created the representative ornaments for his own use.
.

The shaman then offered to perform a short ritual to cleanse people of bad air that malingered within and around them. Andrew was willing, and the result was 8 days free of negative energies (which made me want to be sure and avoid Andrew on Day 9). We also got to try our skill at using the traditional blow-gun. Our darts were lacking in poisoned tips, however.

                  

 And I saved the most exciting monkey species that we saw for last...

                         

Monkeying Around Cuyabeno

Critters in the lodge 

We encountered a few harmless guests in our cabana.  On day one, a 5" long grasshopper was standing guard at (on) our door.  A moth half the size of your hand decided our bathroom was a cozy place for a nap a night or two into our stay.  On the third morning, a girl in our group was startled at breakfast by what our guide described as a harmless insect in the cricket family (it was certainly not the size of any cricket I'd seen before and not an expected breakfast guest).

The guides warned us that we might find some rather exotic critters in our cabanas but the worst anyone in our group encountered was a frog in her bedroom.  Stories from the guides included tarantulas in beds to scorpions in shoes (you can trust that we propped our shoes upside down and doubled checked them before each wear after hearing that story).

Right after arriving at the lodge, I noticed a large cluster of seeds that had dropped from a palm tree between our cabana and the dining area.  I made note of it simply because I'd never seen a palm tree that produces cluster containing hundreds of pecan-sized seeds.  On day two, I discovered that nearly a third of the seeds had been cracked open and eaten during the night.  Our guide informed me that he spotted three "rat-like rodents" with bodies the size of a cat eating them after lights out.  He encouraged me to come outside with a flashlight at mid-night to watch them finish the seeds off. No Thanks!

Monkeys

We spotted several types of monkeys but the squirrel monkeys were greatest in number and didn't even seem to notice our presence.

I was only able to capture a short video of a couple squirrel monkeys before my camera battery died.

The coolest monkeys we encountered were Red Howlers but they stayed much too far away to get pictures.  From time to time we heard their howls as they claimed their territory. They can be heard from several kilometers away and sound sorta like a pulsating aircraft engine.

Tucans

Hmm... these guys were always really high in the canopy or spotted in flight. So, no good pictures :-(

Here is best photo I was able to capture.

Sloths

This is a 2-toed sloth. The guide was fairly excited that he spotted it while it was sleeping (not moving). It isn't really much to look at but there it is.

We were able to float up underneath this 3-toed sloth and snap a couple pictures. It wasn't moving because we had more than likely frightened it by floating so close.  Even though this one wan't moving, we saw one scaling a tree so quickly that I wasn't able to grab the camera quickly enough... so much for these things being slow.

Macaws and Parrots

The larger macaws stayed at a distance (top middle) but the smaller parrots were more easily approached.  The one chewing on the sugarcane was inside of a small tribal settlement. I first spotted it on someone's porch and then later in this tree.

 

Birds

In the local language, this bird's name translates to "broken branch." It caused Luis, our guide, to rock the boat by jumping off his of seat and yelling "YEAHHH! 20,000 points!"  He explained that it is an extremely rare bird to spot.  In 16 years of being a guide, he has only spotted it twice for bird watchers and, in both cases, they broke into tears.  Most people on our boat took several minutes to spot it while Luis was able to spot it from 100 ft while moving down the river at 20 miles per hour. (I promise, there is a bird in the picture.)

The last two pictures are of Hoatzins.  These birds are extremely interesting at first glance because of their almost prehistoric appearance.  They also let us get fairly close without moving.  After a while you notice they are extremely common and you hear tid-bits like they vomit on people as a defense mechanism... and they become less interesting :-)

Critters in the forest

Our trip included a night walk through the jungle which was actually so unsettling that I don't care to recount the event. We also went on a night boat ride in search of caimans and boas which wasn't as bad as the night walk but still had it's moments. Here are some pictures.