Part X - Ecuador -- Exploring the Jungle, Once Again, Yachana Lodge Style


Yes, it's true, I had to go back to the jungle. I wasn't satisfied with my last 6 day trip - I needed more time. Well, I got it... four more days in the Amazon Rainforest, near the town of Coca, finally made me satisfied (for this year anyways).

Somehow, I didn't expected to see so many new things... I thought I had seen it all in the last trip to Cuyabeno, but no! On this trip, we saw;

So, there was quite a lot of new things to uncover here (and probably much remains to be seen)! All these discoveries were made during day hikes, night walks (with flashlights), and exploring the lodge's nearby surroundings. We even took a canoe ride at night to watch the southern stars (the southern cross and the scorpion).

At one lucky point, we also saw a type of "aurora borealis" at 4pm coming out of a cloud just before a rainstorm. It looked like a circular rainbow above the clouds that was shimmering. It was really unique - I had never seen anything like that before.

The lodge itself - quite the opposite of the wild and unruly world around it - was lavish. It's electricity for all the twenty five rooms and main hall was powered by 8 solar panels, with motion detector lights along the corridor for a safe return to your room at night, heated showers (always a plus), and tap water that you can drink (you can't even safely drink it in Ecuador's capital city!). And every meal, we were spoiled with some chocolate sauce or desert made from local cocao plants. Lastly, the staff was unbelievably service oriented... the best in Ecuador really! They were fantastic and fun loving guys.

And because Yachana Lodge was set up to help the local communities, all the lodge's profits go to setting up ambulance canoes, paying for the doctors (2), dentist (1), and medical supplies, and soon educational centers.



See below for pictures of my adventures in the Ecuadorian jungle (49 pictures):