In the Jungle

The locals call it "la selva". We got a hotel in Puyo, which sits at 950 m and right at the edge of the jungle proper. We didn't feel like spending $2k on a trip deep into the jungle (plane trip, long canoe ride, lodge in the middle of nowhere) so we asked at the desk for a recommendation on local operators. We got Pascual, a member of a local tribe and the operator of Bugyu Tours. (Bugyu is the name for the pink river dolphin in Kitchwa.) He spoke some English, and we hammered out a plan for a two-day trip to the jungle to visit a local community and do some forest things.

We left the next day with Roberto, our indigenous guide, and took a taxi an hour down the river. We stopped at a local fish hatchery/pond to check out the giant fish they have in the rivers: Paiche. They're some kind of lung fish, as they periodically came up for air. While we were there we got a net full of tilapia for lunch. The next stop was a waterfall a few km into the jungle. We stopped often to check out the plants, bugs, and birds. At the waterfall we changed into swim suits and got into the cold water; it's apparently traditional to go swimming in these falls.

We walked back toward the village, which happened to be on an island. It had rained all night and the river was high; the banks were 10 ft wider than normal in places and the water was at least a foot above its normal spot. With more than a little difficulty, a dugout canoe was poled upriver and then across to pick us up. It was not the most calming ride.

We had very yummy fish for lunch, but then didn't have a lot to do. The river was too high to accommodate our scheduled slate of activities. Ah well. We hung out a bit, kicked a ball around with the kids, shot a wooden parrot with a blowgun, etc. A little later in the afternoon, we did go for a walk up the river. Eventually we arrived at a boat: we were going whitewater canoeing. Yikes! It was quite the adventure, and we only ran aground twice. The boat managed to not tip over though Hilary got quite wet from the waves crashing over the sides.

It was crazy to see how differently the family lived (compared to us).  While our guide used his cell phone to contact people from the middle of nowhere jungle-land, they had no running water, no electricity, and the kids generally watched over themselves while playing in the dirt yard all day (seriously... 3-year olds walking around playing with machetes, stripping off to jump in the fast-moving creek/river on the other side of the island, and generally self-policing).  It was truly a world apart in many ways.

That night there was some traditional dancing. We wrote down some helpful English phrases (the family spoke only Spanish and Kitchwa). We went to bed inside our mosquito net; the bed was rather hard as it was basically a wooden platform covered with a thin 20-year old mat. Didn't sleep a whole lot, especially since Hilary is afraid of all the bumps in the night. The jungle has lots of night noises, including the rooster who thought the sun came up at 3:30. Also the dogs tried to eat her during a midnight bathroom break. (bathroom here equals anywhere that is not your hut.) The next morning we weren't feeling all that great, and decided to skip the 3-hour hike to another waterfall and head back to Puyo.