Amazon- Day 3

Adventure, adventure, adventure!  This is like no other journey I have been on.

We departed from the Marriott Quito at 6 a.m  traveling south through the Avenue of the Volcanoes for travel to Shell Airstrip.  This was about 4.5 hours with a stop for bathroom and photos of Cotopaxi Volcano.

This is a very scenic route traveling past Banos down the majestic Pastaza River Canyon, filled with waterfalls and a beautiful entrance to the Amazon rainforest.  We then boarded our nine-passenger plane that would fly us to the Achuar community; this flight was about 45 minutes long.  We were then met by our native guide from Kapawi Ecolodge & Reserve, and traveled about 30 minutes in a canoe into the beauty and tranquility of this remote part of the world.

We traveled up the Pastaza River, then into the smaller Capahuari River, and finally arrived at Kapawi Ecolodge & Reserve.  Kapawi Ecolodge is situated deep in the nearly two million acres of the Achuar people's traditional territory near the confluence of the Pastaza and Capahuari Rivers, the former a major, the latter a minor tributary of the Amazon near the border between Ecuador and Peru. This area is one of the most remote and well-protected parts of the western Amazon Basin. It is a remote and pristine region, untouched by logging, mining or petroleum extraction.

Kapawi Ecolodge offers many activities from a clay lick visit, bird watching, hiking, kayaking  and canoeing, fishing, camping, and Achuar community visits.   Achuar comes from the word achu meaning “morete,” a sort of palm that grows in flooded areas, and shuar meaning people.   The Achuar people believe in multiple spirits that give them the guidelines for a harmonic relationship with the rainforest.  They believe strongly in their dreams and use them in their everyday life.

Achuar have been self-sufficient and autonomous, sustaining their family groups through hunting and gardening.  The most important food and beverage is the nijiamanch (chicha).  It is made by the fermentation of previously chewed yuca.  The women are in charge of making and serving this drink to their family and guests.  This drink is more important to them than food.  After this has fermented several days it is stronger than our beer.  Unfermented chicha is served to the children.

We only have one full day here and much to see and do, so after we saw Kapawi Ecolodge, ate lunch and watched a video about the lodge, we were ready to set out on our afternoon.

It was about 3 p.m. and the five of us from Rainforest Alliance set out for a canoe ride to the Sua community.  Along the way we stopped en route to check out the blue and green macaws and turned off the boat to listen and enjoy the macaws.

When we were getting ready to head back out, yes, you guessed it: the boat would not start.  With a simple call for help on the radio, the adventure would have continued, but as they forgot the radio we were stuck. We knew there would be another boat coming to this area so we paddled by hand to the beach area and waited.  We walked around a bit and waited for our boat to arrive and rescue us.  We did get back to the lodge just after sunset, ate dinner and went off for a short night hike around Kapawi.  We saw spiders, walking sticks, ants, frogs and several other types of insects.  We returned to our room and it was time for bed. We had another fun filled day of adventure ahead of us.