rpics: Amazonia

Hello. We survived Amazonia and are heading to Vulcan Cotopaxi tomorrow, and then maybe to Ambato to take in some Carneval festivities before flying out of Quito on the 9th. Sani Lodge turned out to be an adventure. Plenty of jungle stuff, but also some challenges due to the fact that the local indigenous community has taken over the operation and are learning as they go. They seem to be trying to bring a communal approach to running an all-service lodge, and I wish them well, however... Shots below of the lodge dock area and our thatch-covered tent platform, which was one of the positives. We had the camping area and this large platform (a nice view of the laguna) to ourselves.

This is a hoatzin, a prehistoric bird which has to be in the running for wierdest fowl on the planet. They were everywhere around the laguna and in the channels. They hiss a lot - the Jurassic must have been a very noisy place.

This was our mode of transport most of the time, with these guys paddling - long thin dugouts - although this one happens to be made of fiberglass.

We did a night walk our first night with an excellent insect guy. First shot is of a Katydid cleaning one of its own antennae - who knew they could do that? Second is of two spiders - actually only one, with its just-shed exoskeleton. The challenge is to guess which is which. The image is sideways because this damn computer has no program to manage photos.

This is the morning view from about 150 feet up in a huge Kapok tree. The Sani tower accesses it. It´s like a scene from Avatar.

Arachniphobes skip this next photo - of a resident of the tree who dropped by to greet us.


Yesterday we went to a ¨lick¨ where parrots and their kin eat minerals to neutralize the toxic substances in the plants they consume (whch protect the plant from predation apparently - nature playing tricks on itself). These parrotlets and parakeets took forever to work up the courage to go to the heart of the lick, and anything seemed to spook them, prompting several stampedes - on one occasion through the blind we were in. We all ducked, much like in a 3-D movie. Wish I´d gotten video of that.

This scarlet maccaw looked in but chose not to join the party. Did pose for some nice photos and video, however.

And of course what post would be complete without a shot of D doing something special, here receiving indigenous face markings with a dye made from a nut the guide found along the trail.