The Jungle Book - Day 1 - The Cuyabeno River Lodge

Morning – Getting There

We got to the airport in plenty of time for our 9 a.m. flight to Lago Agrio. The Liga soccer team that recently won the South American Cup Championship was also waiting to board a flight to the Oriente (to a city called Coca) for a match that afternoon. Not being familiar with TV, we didn’t recognize any of the players. Nevertheless, Rebecca was easily able to pick out which ones she wanted to play ball with.

The flight to Lago Agrio was perfect. It took thirty minutes and the morning was so clear that we were able to spot three snow-capped volcanoes from the plane – Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, and an unidentified third. The descent into Lago Agrio, which is just 250 kilometers from Quito, was over landscape that had changed to flat and green. Lago Agrio is about 300 meters above sea level, whereas Quito is about 2800 meters above sea level. Of course, everyone remembers from high school that a meter is equal to approximately one yard and a kilometer is equal to approximately 6/10 of a mile.

As we disembarked onto the airstrip, surrounded by tropical foliage and armed Ecuadorian soldiers (LA is only about 20 kilometers from the Columbian border), I was instantly reminded of what we are missing this summer in Northern Virginia, heat and humidity. I did not feel nostalgic for home. I just felt hot.

Our private transport to the entrance of the Cuyabeno Reserve was waiting. Thankfully, we were whisked through Lago Agrio, which, as you can see, isn’t much of a town unless you are an oil roughneck or are into dust, exhaust fumes and confusion.

But little did we know that the roughly three hour journey to the park entrance would be the most dangerous part of our trip.

The jalopy we piled into had more creaks and squeaks than an orgy of octogenarians on a rusty bed. The driver consistently screeched around turns and accelerated unreasonably on straights. We ran right into a dog and killed it. That didn’t stop us though. It barely even slowed us, even though the dog owner and family were right by the side of the road when we thumped it.

About the only good thing that happened on the ride to the park entrance was that it started raining. The driver had to turn the windshield wipers on. But all they did was smear the windshield so I couldn’t see the road anymore. What a relief.

After we left the city of Lago Agrio, the landscape was that familiar tropical vista that we have seen in other developing countries. Wood plank walled shacks with rusting corrugated tin roofs, in a landscape of softly rolling alternating green/bare hills, palm trees and tropical plants, with the usual mix of garbage, mud, and liberated dogs, roosters, hens, pigs, and cows. About the only difference between this landscape and say, Puerto Rico, was that oil money had caused the road to be paved for half the distance to the park.

When we finally did reach the park entrance, a dozen or so other gringos were standing around waiting for their canoe. We paid the park entrance fee and passed the time waiting for our canoe by watching Jonah throw stones into the river.

Finally it arrived and we were off.

Afternoon – The Cuyabeno River

The canoe ride up the Cuyabeno River to the lodge was advertised as taking a half-hour. It took ten minutes. This turned out to be not so cool as I could hear the low rumble of trucks and buses as I lay in bed at night. I was hoping we would be located more remotely so we would have a better chance of seeing wildlife.

Upon arriving at the lodge, and ascending the dozen or so steps from the river to the main staging area,

we were greeted by the lodge’s mascot – a baby woolly monkey named Melissa. The woolly monkey is an endangered species and the lodge obtained Melissa from the ministry of environment office. She was quite fun to watch and play with during our stay.

Her she gets acquainted with Maya and Jonah.

The main lodge where we ate our meals and mingled with the other guests was flanked on either side by four or five “cabins”. I use the term loosely because I believe that cabins actually have four complete walls, and these structures did not. This design allowed easy access to our room for Melissa. But we learned quickly to hide our small items so they wouldn’t end up in the river.

Despite missing parts of two walls, the accommodation was fine. Rebecca and I decided that this was the most rustic accommodation we’ve had since staying a week in a tree house in Palolem, India a decade ago. It’s good to sleep under a mosquito net every once in a while.

The cabins were connected to the main lodge by raised boardwalk. In the wet season, December to March, the river rises to a level that covers the ground under the lodge and cabins and even up into the jungle behind the lodge.

It didn’t take long to figure out why this lodge was cheaper than so many others. The dessert to our lunch was canned fruit cocktail. We got a couple of other canned goods during mealtime – but overall – who cares?

After lunch, we took a canoe ride up the river to see what we would see. This turned out to be not much. We saw a bunch of birds, including the red kingfisher, a medium sized bird with a bright red breast and a long beak, and that was pretty cool. But the coolest part of the ride was just seeing the lushness of the jungle, how plant grows upon plant grows upon tree, the hanging vines and trees growing up out of the river and understanding that you are in this climate that exists in so few places in the world.

The most exciting part of the ride was that two of these spiny caterpillars that you do not want to touch, fell into our canoe. Maya was not very pleased to see them. We eventually got them back onto land.

About a hundred meters from the lodge on the return trip, we were told we could jump out of the canoe and ride the current the rest of the way. After inquiring about the chance that a piranha would rip us to shreds, a few of us dove in.

Basically, piranhas only go into attack mode if they smell blood. So, if you have no open cuts or sores, you are probably safe. Rebecca stayed in the canoe so she could take pictures. Maya and Jonah stayed in the canoe too, but they had a nice swim in the river from the lodge steps after we docked.