Jungle Fever

I love our journey to the jungle, from the moment of waking up with anticipation early in the morning. There was mass confusion in the hotel lobby as each of the students identified the bag to go into the bodega and made sure that their other bag came with them into the bus. Jose and Tomas arrived early to herd us into the bus and get us to the airport on time. We met Jorge whom Eric and I had not seen in years; he was working for Sacha Lodge and would accompany us to the jungle. The plane ride to Coca was short and spectacular as we ascended above the city and through the clouds. We passed a few volcanoes peeking through the clouds, and then floated gently down to the jungle floor. The Napo and Coca rivers were visible from the air as muddly ribbons in the thick green background. The airport was unchanged except that the damaged airplanes were no longer scattered around the runway.

We met Lucy in the tiny terminal and loaded our bags onto a truck while the passengers boarded a bus to the staging area near the river. I introduced the handful of other passengers who would be joining us for our four day visit to the jungle lodge. A group of Germans and some English passengers took the boat with the luggage, while the students and alumni weighed down the other boat. Jorge informed us about Fransisco de Orellana's discovery of the Amazon, . Washo drove the boat, as he had the very first time I took this trip some six years ago. I liked watching his two assistants at the front of the boat and their hand signals as they 'read' the river and directed Washo so to avoid grounding the boat. I sat next to Greg, who pointed out birds flying along the banks of the river. It was a two plus hour ride downriver to the landing area on Sacha property. Many of the students slept or worked on their journals. Maya sat a the back with the students and worked along with her new friends. After a short rest and observing some birds with Greg along with the scenery, it was time for a 45 minute walk through a portion of flooded forest. I told the students that they would be surprised after our walk, where groups of six climb into canoes to be paddled through 'Pilchicocha' to the lodge. The lake is magical, starting with a narrow passageway with intense vegetation on either side, and then suddenly the lake opens up and the canoe slices through the glass covered water to the balsa and on to the entrance to the resort. We were welcomed by Tomas, who has been working for Sacha as manager for years.. In fact most of the workers at Sacha have been there for long periods of time. They are all men, (women not allowed! ) and clearly they must like the job, since they stay there forever. We were welcomed int eh bar, where Maya attached herself to a group of young women. THe students were separated into groups according to their interests. My group was the 'other' group, and Fausto, brother of Marcelo (unmistakeable) and Jose (native guide) would be guiding us. There was a monkey group and an insect group and a reptile group and a bird group. Most popular was the 'medicinal plants' group with Efrain and Segundo. We were welcomed with green cocktails and hor s'oeuvres. Almost everyone put their swimsuits on and jumped into the lake (full of piranhas and caimans!). Maya swam almost across the whole lake.

Our cabin was the same one we had last year, perhaps because it has three beds, and is far away from the noise and activity of the main lodge. Our neighbour was Mary, who is from Virginia and has horses on her farm and wants to go horsebackriding during our time in Ecuador.

Sacha does not change; the workers are familiar, the routine predictable. Every afternoon is a good time to swim in the lake, or catch piranhas, on the same dock with the swimmers. Eric set up his equipment and started his research immediately. He brought a student from Catolica with him. We tried on and chose our rubber boots for the day. Maya brought a group with her to the butterfly farm, where we admired the colours and delicacy of the creatures. Maya was busy guiding her friends to all the corners of Sacha, it now being so very familiar to her. She chose to join the monkey group and began bonding with her partners.

After a predictably amazing dinner, Fausto took my group out to the lake for our caiman search. Our canoe took a left into the rushes and we paralleled the edge of the lake and landed back in Orchidea without any sight of caiman, but we encountered bats flying above and around us and catching insects and fish. Returning to the lodge, there was a small caiman visible under the dock; of course that was where we were swimming!

Eric worked all night while the rest of us slept. He is under pressure to finish a grant before his deadline in two days. I don't believe he slept at all! It had been raining off and on from the time we arrived in Coca, but when we slept the rain began in earnest and the raindrops pounded onto the roofs to keep me up all night. Maya slept soundly, and I hope that meant she had caught up with her sleep. We both had a 5:30 wakeup call, so falling asleep before midnight was important for both of us.