Day 8 - 12/21/2012 - Lost in paradise

Fresh fruits and bread for breakfast

The 5 am wake up call from the Red Howler monkey was as close to nature as it could get anywhere. A healthy breakfast of fruits, pancakes, bread and tea at 5:30 readied us for the trek ahead. I packed a large plantain red in color for sugar supply later on. There was Marco, the vibrant guide who had briefed us the night before booming 'chicos vamos' -  let's go people.

Reverse osmosis water filter

The OZONO master which I had used for filling up two bottles of water the previous night was sleeping no with no power. The trek started at 6:00 with an initial boat ride across the river. We anchored ourselves to point which had a steep clay slope upwards to enter the reain forest. Covered with a littl bit of sunscreen and a lot of mosquito repellent (not deet), we again looked up to Kavi (who isn't the most excited person when it comes to trekking) to take the lead.
The dense vegetation in the rain forest still let through a lot of light through allowing one to photograph without the use of flash. A simple observation would tell you that palm trees (not coconut) though had taken on the forest. As we started trekking, I stopped several times to capture the beauty of flowers and Kavi allowed Suzanna and Reiner to take the lead along with Marco. The ground was wet and slippery at times, but for the most part was soft and easy to get a grip on. We prayed it would not rain when we were in there eventhough we had the best gear possible made by Eddie Bauer, my pick among adventure gear brands. With every twist and turn the jungle floor became wetter and softer owing to millions of years of foliage that decomposed into once foot steps.

Bright flowers welcomed us through openings in the canopy of the palms and ancient species which lay waiting for us to explore. From the bark of the garlic tree, which could probably be used as a food substitute, but preferred by the natives as an insect repellent to the wide rimmed hollow trees that are used for radio communication in a state of emergency, the amazon has many hidden secrets for the curious. We had to guess what made the walking tree walk, albeit 2-3 m every year. The last year it was on the other side of the trail, the next on it and the year after past it. Kavi was not too enthusiastic about the long trek, but hit the mark - they walk in search of sunlight. The green cocoa pods that hung of the main stem were as intriguing as the large umbrella of the Chuchuhuasi tree which will stop you in your tracks with its massive size. 

Remembering John Muir

local mehendi

We took a few steps backward as one would if you were the movie sets of Jurassic Park, trembling, wondering where this came out of. A little disappointed that they were getting cut down large numbers, we learnt that its bark was used to prepare a natural aphrodisiac! The massive canopy, we understood, was home to a host of bird species, while the bark fed ants and reptiles, not to mention wood frogs that you couldn't spot unless you were trained to look for them. Colorful butterflies flying around without fear, skeletons of dead snakes ,
 Jaguar foot prints, creepy tarantulas wooed by human saliva from sleepy tree hollows, millions of army ants working away to the new year party, large termite nests hanging of tree branches, squirrel faced monkeys swinging of left arms, butterfly like birds melding into nature like leaves, spider webs on trail paths built hardly a day ago, floating lotus like water lilies, caterpillars on their way to metamorphosing into butterflies, trees that store water in their bellies, poison covered frogs that invite you to touch them with their appeal of natural beauty, ant hills that rise 5m up from the ground, tree roots that grow outside the soil spreading tentacles like red flames.....the list is endless.

We reached a midway point where

- ate big fat banana 700m boardwalk over marshy land to the lost lake
Canoe - turtles, big black bird
prehistoric cud chewing bird- stink bird

Caiman encounter

Walk 1 km back from tower to canoe Channel maintained by ecoamazonia lodge -3km - vulture 1 km walk Motorboat - kingfisher Tired - cold shower Lunch - boiled egg, spiced up rice with veggies , wrapped in banana like leaf - amazing lunch Slept and skipped 4 pm tour of botanical garden which had ayahuasaca vine Hammock - caiman - mosquitoes no power - lounge - pool - read book Dinner Read book till 9:30 -bobo down Slept in dark