tena, ecuador

Now for more jungle, Tena. Though Macas is the largest town in the Southern Oriente, it's a sleepy small town kind of place. With Tena, we're getting a little further north, but I still found the town a bit quiet, though there's definitely more tourism infrastructure here.

Upon arrival, I did the usual finding of the hotel and then began my search for tours. Again, I found it challenging to book a tour being a solo traveler.

Every now and then my photos turn our funky, but I still think it looks cool.

I only had an hour or two to figure things out if I wanted to go on a tour the next day, and my only option was to go on a 2-day jungle tour with a French couple. Both the couple and the tour company were begging me to pay join because the tour would only be possible with a minimum of 3.

At first I was hesitant because my first choices were a tour of a Huaorani community or a trip to Limoncocha. It was my fear that the tour the French couple wanted was too similar to my experience in Macas, however I ended up going with this tour since it included boat time on the river and my only other choice involved waiting however many more days for another tour.

The company I went with was also the company that Channing Tatum chose to go rafting with the same day I booked my tour. That would have been a cool tour to join... but alas!

The next morning from Tena we caught a bus to Ahuano at the edge of the Napo River and took a motorized canoe along the river. 

spidey

egret

The first stop was AmaZOOnica, an animal refuge for injured or unwanted animals. One third of the animals received die, another third have to live out their life at the refuge, and the last third are able to be released back into the wild. The place is run by donations and volunteers. Our guide gave us a great info-filled tour of the +600 animals living there.

This calm curious bird was walking freely at the entrance.

Peccaries are some of the only animals at the refuge that are allowed to reproduce as AmaZOOnica aims to sell their meat to locals as an alternative meat to hunting wild animals (eg. endangered monkeys and birds) for festive events. Unfortunately, free is usually the choice of the day over meat which costs moula.

The animals are normally not allowed to reproduce on their own since the adults were often pets and therefore don't have survival skills to live in the wild. That, or they are too used to being around humans and reintegrating them into the wild is not an option. Animals can cause a whole variety of problems. For example, the Macaw. Many people get a pet Macaw without realizing that they can live up to 75 years. When the owners tire of the bird's loud voice, they are often given to places like AmaZOOnica. Since the birds are capable of mimicking what they hear, some have been known to imitate a jaguar or vocabulary from a multitude of languages. In turn, this can pose a problem if pet Macaws are returned to the wild as they'll teach what they know to other birds of the jungle.

An unclear shot of a magnificant ocelot. One girl thought she was buying a kitten, but when she showed her purchase to her mother, she learned that she had actually purchased a baby ocelot.

There was a lot of monkey business here as you might expect.

Each stop along the way, our canoe pulled up and anchored to the shore of the river whereupon we had to scramble at times to get onto land without slipping into the river.

This museum had displays about traps used to catch all sorts of animals.

High above our heads, a snake sleeping in a tree.

The snake must have been having a really good dream because it didn't stir when out guide used a blow dart and hit it with wooden spikes, twice.

Mariposario

Some of the butterflies here live days, others weeks.

A guide showing us the 'fake legs' of a caterpillar which disappear come butterfly time.

Just waiting to hatch, who knew the pupa could look so different.

Butterflies meander on the verge of being creepy with penetrating eyes like this. It's almost like it can look into your soul.

Renegade lizard in a world of butterflies.

Then back to the river which calls your name.

I stayed at a lodge this time, but I didn't bring shampoo because I didn't know there would be a shower, let alone a private shower and bathroom. As a reminder that we were out in the jungle, electricity was only available from about 6-9:40pm at night.

That's the lodge, a brief climb through vegetation, passing a small waterfall and wild orchids like the one I saw in Macas.

To the left is the kitchen, at the back are hammocks and the rooms.

We rested for several hours, then went on a night walk. A young tarantula was our first finding.

Frogs!!!!!!

This guy was tiny and barely three-dimensional.

This critter was huge, bigger than a mouse. Creepy!

a scorpion spider

And now for a real scorpion.

Our guide and his wife putting the scorpion into a bottle of water filled with scorpions. He said scorpion water cures all, such as a sore back. He went on, all plants in the jungle are medicine. Once, in Esmereldas he caught malaria and had a terrible fever. However, he used plants from the jungle and cured himself. Who needs doctors when you have jungle plants!

Next morning after breakfast we set out by boat, then bus to reach our trail for a 5 hour hike.

There were periods of hiking upwards and going downhill - it was mixed. The humidity made every part of it a sweaty affair, however.

Our guide stopped along the way regularly to share information about the plants and help us glimpse birds in the canopy high above. The latter proved very challenging, but we did get to hear the birds' singing voices.

This tree is related to coffee and it's warm to the touch.

I keep hearing people say there's so much food in the jungle, and that's what I keep seeing as well.

The guide's daughter scaled this fruit tree with ease and relayed a few dozen of the juicy citrus to the ground for our collection.

very vanilla

At this river we stopped for lunch.

This soft leaf, our guide informed, an excellent substitute for toilet paper.

paper tree

Lunch is served! ...with a jungle plate.

Finally a clear photo-capturable bird sighting in the canopy! Quite a unique voice, too.

I'm still wearing rubber boots, and my feet/ankles are getting angry at me.

We're almost at the end of our hike, I can see the river at the end of the tunnel, and it's all downhill from here.

After the hike, we took the middle canoe and floated down the river for an hour before reaching a road where we waited for a bus back to Tena.

I liked being on boats on the river and other parts of the tour, but it was also a little repetitive of the time I spent in Macas. Perhaps I got spoiled on the first tour which was more adventurous and fulfilling. As well, I wasn't the biggest fan of our guide. Though he was knowledgeable, he wasn't very enthusiastic or professional. He also turned out to have an obsession with France and French and I felt neglected for not having been born in Europe.

I had a few more hours in Tena before sleeping and an early bus to the next city.

At the bus station, crowds watch shirtless volleyball players give it their all.