Jungle redux

Okay, a few days catching up on my sleep, doing laundry, starting to feel human again, and I can share a bit more about the jungle.

We stayed in the Cuyabeno preserve, which is primary jungle. This means we were far from creature comforts. We flew into the town of Lago Agrio without any issues. Then we took a bus filled with 19 year old Danish backpackers for 2 hours into the jungle. There we transferred to a long wooden canoe with an outboard motor for another 2 hour ride. Along the way our guide pointed out animals and vegetation of interest. He was a great guide in that he had a really good eye for spotting things and had a lot of local knowledge, but he only spoke Spanish.

We got to the lodge which had nice common facilitates but pretty dumpy rooms. We were in a tower that was more or less a built like a tree fort, which would not have been bad if we didn't have neighbors both above and below us! Since the weather is so exceptionally hot and humid, there is no glass or screens for the window openings. That was novel and fine, the late night noise with early morning schedules was the difficult part.

We spent each day taking a canoe ride to a different location, checking out the local flora and fauna. Right before sunset each day, we went to the Laguna Grande for sunset swimming. In the evenings, we either went for a canoe ride to look for caimans or for a night hike. Usually in the afternoons there was a midday break for napping in the hammock lounge.

We spent our time with 2 French couples with whom we exchanged email addresses and hope to connect with again the the future. It was a wonderfully exhausting 4 days.

We had a few disasters since then with transportation and Reyn has been overcome with some nasty stomach issues. We've also met some truly wonderful people, are staying in the quaintest town ever and have seen the most beautiful scenery I have ever experienced in my life. Bren has also joined us and made us all feel complete, again!

Tomorrow were off to Machu Picchu with a train ride in a couple hours to Aguas Calientes, the town right next to the site. Ill have a lot more to share after that.

It's been difficult getting decent photos to really share the jungle experience, but its been visually stunning.