“So, is it a pretty curvy road?” I asked Luis, our driver, as we headed out of Cuenca. “No, not very curvy,” Luis replied-with complete seriousness. Approximately 500+ tight turns and 9.5 hours later we arrived in Tena, the gateway to the northern Ecuadorian Amazon! By my estimation, Luis was secretly pleased with winning the imaginary race he had been driving in all day, while in contrast, we were pretty proud of ourselves for not painting the entirety of his vehicle with our vomit!
The scenery along the drive was persistently beautiful and even breathtaking at times; unfortunately, I was too laser focused on the road ahead of me to really enjoy it. This screen grab from the map shows just a small section of our very long journey.
Getting to Gaia Lodge
Arrangements for our week in the Amazon had been made for us by our Spanish school and for the first time since our travels started, I had no idea what we were doing. It was glorious!
We spent one night in Tena before heading into the Amazon proper, where we spent the next six nights. In order to get to our lodge we took a taxi to the nearby port, Punta del Ahuano, crossed the Napo rive by boat taxi and then took another short taxi ride to our accommodations, Gaia Eco Lodge. The travel was much easier than expected and less than an hour, in total, from Tena.
Gaia lodge consisted of three separate duplexes and the main lodge, a spacious two story building. These structures were spread across immaculately kept grounds in the jungle, overlooking the Napo River, and were connected with a paved path. Enveloped in screen-only windows, allowing the breeze in to help keep it cool, our room was clean and massive with plenty of space for all. Spoiled with plenty of hot water for our showers and no real bugs, inside, to speak of, our quarters were pretty fantastic. Our veranda was decorated with bats that slept all day and hunted all night.
The temperatures ranged between high 60s and low 80s with plenty of humidity. Just as it would start to get overly hot and sticky the afternoon rains would start and cool everything down again. Each walk around the grounds would yield some new surprise, often in the forms of gigantic insects. This video shows a palo santo munching away on this equally large flower; its body was approximately 5 inches long.
Typical Day
We started everyday with a hearty breakfast in the main lodge, consisting of loads of fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice, scrambled eggs and toast. Simple but delicious! Following breakfast we would separate for our four hours of Spanish lessons. Teaching us were three gracious teachers who traveled in from Quito for the week. Even though Andrew and I had individual lessons, we usually ended the session all together to play games in Spanish. Twenty minutes into Uno, on the first day, our ‘chill’ covers were blown and our normal ‘take no prisoners’ competitiveness emerged, much to the surprise (& entertainment) of our teachers!
Following class we would feast once again on some delicious lunch before heading out on an excursion. Our guide, Roberto, patiently and expertly lead us on adventures ranging from swimming in the river to walks through the jungle to tours of a nearby wildlife sanctuary to an indigenous community where we learned just how (not) good we are at blow darts. Except for walking in the nearby jungle, we traveled by boat to the various locations along the river. The fauna and flora were lush and plentiful; it really did feel like a jungle movie come to life-which was our only point of context prior to seeing it in real life.
One of our favorite activities of the week was making chocolate fondue from the cacao beans of the Nacional tree. This particular species of tree accounts for only two percent of the world’s cacao production and is only grown in Ecuador. Pure Nacional cacao is considered a rarity. I’m not certain that we would be able to tell the difference between the Nacional cacao and other cacao beans, but there was no denying that it was divine! So rich and delicious and all the better because we got to make it ourselves.
Following our daily excursions we would relax until dinner, eat another incredible meal (have I mentioned how much we liked the food?!), and then hang out in the lodge, reading or catching up on news, before heading to bed. Each night we were lulled by the melody of insects and birds outside our windows; these dulcet sounds were frequently interrupted however, by rain showers so loud that you couldn’t hear the person in the bed next to you talking in a normal voice. The intense nightly rains infiltrated my dreams and quickly became the stuff of legends during our morning chats.
Seven days after arriving, we left the jungle humbled by how spoiled we had been, on many accounts. It was an incredible place to continue our Spanish studies and to learn about that tiny corner of the vast Amazon ecosystem. If it weren’t for that nausea-inducing drive, we would definitely be making plans for another trip there soon!
That monkey cracks me up! What a great adventure!
looks like the girls (and you and hubby) are loving your adventures!
Thank you for bring your adventures to us. Love the pictures, you all look like you are have a great time.