Gal and Guy, a traveling couple celebrated their umpteenth aniversary together by taking the overnight bus to the Capital. People do that frequently down here. Take the overnighter, that is. Yes, it's more uncomfortable, but it's a lot less expensive than say flying. The going rate for a ten hour bus ride is ten U.S. dollars, so the math ends up being pretty simple:$1 an hour. You don't really sleep though, even if it's an overnighter, what with the constant clucking of chickens and the non-stop, unintelligible jabbering of the highland peoples in their supposedly lost language. So, when Gal and Guy departed the next morning and headed off for the airport in an equally crowded and foreign city bus, it was more like they were sleepwalking than starting off a new day with a fresh start. But, they were smiling anyway because it was yet another adventure. First, there was going to be a 1.5 hour small plane flight East to Coca and after that there'd be a 5 hour dugout power boat ride further East down the Napo River. Then, they'd be there, The Sani Lodge.
The couple once again took heart from something they had heard long ago when they first started traveling together. Instead of letting them slowly enjoy everything around them, their Russian tour guide had hustled them at breakneck speed through The Hermitage, "You can rest when you're dead," he said, "we go fast, much art to see!" Nowadays, they prefered to g-o-o sl-o-o-w.
The native indians they were going to live with, The Kichwa, now have two choices for employment: Big Oil or Eco-Tourism.
Guy wasn't a birder at all and he freely admits it, but on this trip he was going to see more avians than he ever had in his life; so, "Why not record them?", he thought.
* his detailed list, complete with scientific names, is available at the end of this posting for those who'd like to look them up and see what he and Gal saw and sometimes heard, as well.
After two years in the mountain ranges with the Andinos, the camera the Gal was shooting with somehow didn't seem adequate for this river's repeated, uninterupted skyline vistas.
For some reason the memory came back to Guy of how his Mum had been the first in their barrio to get that new cereal, Fruit Loops. Of course, now his grains were primarily hops and barley.
His and her canoes awaited them as their way of getting around. They had arrived in a place without concrete, blacktop or even dirt roads. A place without many solid surfaces. Soon, the rainy season would briefly draw to its annual close, but not yet. So, if you want to move, paddle!
These prehistoric looking birds are called Hoatzin, or stinking turkeys, and they saw them often; but on their first early AM outing Gal and Guy, also; saw long-nosed bats, a rare harp Eagle, snail Kites, straited & rufescent-tiger Herons, white-wings, yellow-billed & large-billed Terns, pale-vented Pidgeons, greater & smaller billed Ani, amazon & greener rufus & ringed Kingfishers and black capped Donacobuis. And, those were just the birds... silently paddling through the grasslands they came upon squirrel Monkeys. red Howlers, dusky titi Monkeys, saddle-backed & black-mantled Tamarins...along with yellow-spotted turtles bobbing just below the surface.
They were priviledged to have two guides (one English speaking from the Capital & one native speaking from Sani Island) on their three daily trips. Pictured here is Danny, the local guide, standing in front of a chalkboard (with Kichwa alphabet) in his former school house. Of all the sons in his family, he had been honored with being selected to learn and someday replace his grandfather, as the island's shaman. It was Danny on one of the night walks that told Gal to NOT reach out and touch ANYTHING without first clearing it with him. Every outing he never failed to show them an incredible number of plant remedys (and poisons), insects, birds and fauna.
Gal photographed many of these, but also the community's children. Special little beings who didn't need adult make-up and the costumes of beauty pagents to convince you they were unique.
While Gal & Guy were there a professor from the university joined them by tagging along to video tape a documentary he was making on the economic choices facing the people of Sani Island.
Guy even found and bonded with his totem, the chronically lazy Great Three-Toed Sloth.
This was their home for the trip away from it all
where every day began at 7 am in a small boat to watch wildlife wake up, back for lunch and a nap, out again at dusk to see everybody and everything get ready for bed, back to the lodge for dinner and then out again for a night walk.
On the first night, they met frogs,
7 foot Caymans (Or, as Guy knew them growing up in Florida...Gators),
night noisy Monkeys, leaf cutter & army & bullet Ants, dwarf Iguana, black headed and yellow-headed Vultures, lance rain Frogs, lemon tree Ants (which tasted like their name) and a Fer-de-Lance (venemous) snake hiding under the boardwalk which Gal almost crushed as she stepped down in her dairy boots. Luckily, not holding that against her, it slithered away into the night instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUZcoHmN8E
Sunday was to be a cultural day. Guy & Gal were to have left by 6:30 am to go by dugout and visit the people of the Sani Isla community; but it was still raining. This was supposedly the end of that season and so Guy and Gal waited for it to abait. In a few months, August would bring the dry season, however, that was hard for them to imagine as it had been pretty much raining on & off since they arrived. Danny assured them most of this water would soon disappear after the daily rains ceased. It would all flow into the Napo which would flow into an even bigger river which would flow into the Atlantic. There the drops of water would rise up into the sky forming rain clouds and the cycle would all begin again for the million, billion, trillionth time.
When Danny lead them into the village he was greeted like an old lost friend by the wildlife and because Gal & Guy were with him they too were invited to sit and partake of the special dinner
which included everybody's favorite, grubs the size of Guy's thumbs.
It becomes a cliche to say this but they are a resourceful people who can take the garbage of "Modern Man", plastic bags, and weave them into something not only practical, but beautiful.
On the next morning, all of the senses of Gal & Guy got a workout. As they took off on their 4 hour paddle for the Black Lagoon; they noticed dappled light falling through the canopy, the smell of tree top flowers drifted down to them from on high, the laconic whistling of the Timaru bird registered that he was unsuccessfully attempting to interest a mate and the dugout's lateral rocking, gentle as a baby's crib hung from the ceiling, calmed and soothed the traveling couple.
After a three days of torrential downpours, the sky was blue, clear of clouds and the temperature was warm at last. Kingfishers and Egrets were fishing as happily and eagerly as Senior Citizens off Florida highway bridges.
Flocks of Enapendula scattered from the giant Kapok's treetop as their boat approached and blue morpho Butterflys skittered across the tributary's surface. Laughing Falcons and black-headed Parrots announced their arrival to the Payachocha River's entrance.
It was time for a little Pirahna fishing and while they were jigging they might catch a glimpse of the elusive, mysterious pink river dolphins which had inspired so many mermaid myths.
A fishing trip that also noted squirrel cuckoos, black caracara Falcons, white banded Swallows,
white-throated Tucans, red-bellyed Macaws, Ospreys with lunch fish, yellow-rumped Asi,
Ainga diving birds, blue-black red chested Dragons and stories of a seven foot Anaconda in a box.
Lists and lousy photos, even if they mention strangler trees and show the drooping basket nests of Oriels,
don't convey the wonder,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnI6Hlw3DxA
describe the quiet
or place an accurate value on a surprise sighting.
Only a horizon full of luminous clouds filling the sky comes closest to expressing the grandeur of those moments which mere word images fail to represent for those who have never visited Eden.
Guy struggled to imagine how he would ever describe all that Danny had taught him and Gal to look for and see as they passed through these river neighborhoods and their backyard jungles.
From the new types of insects on every branch
to trees that walk and other trees with the large thorns of a rose bush or a cactus,
to spiders that look like a tuft of bird's feather stuck on a bush or ant nests to rub your hands on so you can keep the mosquitos away,
to giant millipedes in your hand and Geckos in your bathroom,
there was all this and so much more..
How to explain the sight vantage of a 12 story tree house above the canopy for spotting
other than to say it's like being a bird looking at other birds.
Finally, and most importantly, at the end you learn not to fear the unknown. If you're hot and tired, you go swimming...calmly, soothingly just like any other creature feeling that way would. You come to believe, for better or worse, those around you, like pirahnas and gators will respect those feelings by not even noticing you. Conversely, if you demand attention, you get it.
Because Gal and Guy were such low maintenance tourists; their guide, Edwardo, rewarded them by revealing an Amazon Basin that held more than they ever could have imagined or hoped for.
For Example:
BIRDS
Hoatzin-Opisthocomus hoatzin/Harpy Eagle-Harpia harpyja/Osprey-Pandion haliaetus/
Rufescent Tiger Heron-Tigrisoma lineatum/Great Egret-Ardea alba/Striated Heron-Butorides/
Black vulture-Coragyps aratus/Greater Yellow-headed Vulture-Cathartes melambrotus/
Snail Kite-Rostrhamus sociabilis/Laughing Falcon-Herpetotheres cachinnans/
Black Caracara Falcon-Daptrius ater/Yellow-billed Tern-Sterna superciliaris/
Large-billed Tern-Phaetusa simplex/Pale-vented Pigeon-Columba cayennnensis/
Red-Bellied Macaw-Orthopsittaca manilata/Dusky-headed Parakeet-Aratinga weddellii
Greater Ani-Crotophaga major/Black-crowned Night Heron-Nycticorax nycticorax/
Smooth-billed Ani-Crotophaga ani/ Pauraque (Nightjar)-Nyctidromus albicollis/
Chestnut-fronted Macaw-Ara Severa/Blue-and-Yellow Macaw-Ara ararauna/
Masked Tityra-Tityra semifasciata/Black-headed Parrot-Pionites melanocephala/
White-banded Swallow-Atticora fasciata/White-throated Toucan-Ramphastos tucanus/
Yellow-rumped Cacique-Cacicus cela/Long-billed Woodcreeper-Nasica longirostris/
Screaming Piha-Lipaugus vociferans/Amazon Kingfisher-Chloroceryle amazona/
Ringed Kingfisher-Megaceryle torquata/Green-and-Rufus Kingfisher-Chloroceryle inda/
Black-capped Donacobius-Donacobius atricapillus/
Masked Crimson Tanager-Ramphocelus nigrogularis/
Dark-billed Cuckoo-Coccyzus melacoryphus/Social Flycatcher-Myiozetes similis/
Crested Oropendola-Psarcolius decumanus/Russet-backed Oropendola-Psarcolius angustifrons/
Blue-crowned Trogon-Trogon curucui
Mammals
Brown-Throated Three toed Sloth-Bradypus variegatus/
Short-Tailed Fruit Bat-Carollia perspicillata/Red Howler Monkey-Alouatta seniculus/
Saddle-Backed Tamarin-Saguinus fuscicollis/Dusky Titi Monkey-Callicebus moloch/
Noisy Night Monkey-Aotus vociferans/Common Squirrel Monkey-Saimiri sciureus/
White-fronted Capuchin Monkey-Cebus albifrons/
Golden-mantled Tamarin-saguinus tripartitus/Pygmy Marmosett-Cebuella pygmea
and assorted Others
Pink River Dolphin-Inia geoffrensis/Black Caiman-Caiman niger/
Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle-Podocnnemis unifilis/
Green Parrot Snake-Leptophis ahaetulla nigromarginatus/Fer-de-Lance-Bothrops atrox/
Turniptail Gecko-Thecadactylus rapicauda/Guichenot's Dwarf Iguana-Enyaliodes laticeps/
Helicopter Damselfly-Microstigma rotundatum/Menelaus Morpho Butterfly-Morpho menelaus/
Aurorina's Clear-winged Satyr-Cithaerias aurorina/Leaf-Cutter Ant-Atta sp./
Burchell's Army Ant-Eciton burchelli/
Conga Ant-Paraponera clarata is called a Bullet Ant because it feels like you've been shot by one.
