South American Diary

(page 4)

Tuesday 22nd December....

Woke at 7.30 and went downstairs for a good breakfast. Today is river trip and jungle walk day! Bernardo from the hotel acted as our guide and we set off at about 9.30 by taxi to Misahualli on the Rio Napo (I think). The taxi was an open van but we were happy to sit in the back enjoying the view, as well as all the plants and flowers that we passed. Saw lots more Mauritia flexuosa on the way. When we got to Misahualli, we were lent rubber boots and had to hand in our passports. It's a sleepy river town where I don't suppose anything ever happened before the arrival of tourism. Very Gabriel Garciá Marquez. Sweeeet little monkeys scrambling in amongst the trees could be pursuaded to come down for a piece of fruit. The boat was a dug-out canoe (i.e. dug out from a single tree trunk) about 20ft long and powered by an outboard motor. We sat on wooden seats set athwart, and set off upstream at a good rate of knots. The Rio Napo is about a hundred yards wide at this point. What a wonderful was to explore and observe the flora of the riverbank! With binoculars everything can be examined. Lots of palms, some we already know, but some new ones, including one called 'Pambil' and used by the Indians for blow gun darts, and many others besides. We sped along for an hour when suddenly sun turned to clouds and it began to rain quite heavily. Out came the waterproofs but even so it wasn't too pleasant. We pulled into the bank to shelter and set off again when it has eased. Finally, the boatman cut the engine and eased the boat into the riverbank again, to where a path led up into the jungle. Up we climbed into the forest, everything, including us, soaking wet. It was not strenuous and there was much to see so we stopped frequently to examine plants and to take photos, some with flash, as it was quite dark under the trees. Bernardo certainly knows his palms, unfortunately only local names, but he indicated by mime and a few words of English the use of this one or that. It is extremely difficult to identify palms in the wild with no experience of the flora of a particular area, but we did our best. Occasionally we had wonderful views out over the jungle. We saw toucans and heard other birds, probably parrots. We stayed up in the jungle for a few hours then slowly made our way back down on a different track to where the boat was waiting, and we set off down river. We had a couple of stops on the way back to Misahualli, one at a 'lodge' where monkeys came crashing down out of the treetops on production of a banana. One climbed all over me! There were also some sad animals in cages, including some huge boa-constrictors with bruised and bloody faces where they continually struck out at waving fingers and met only chicken wire. The other stop was for a (very touristy) demonstration of blow darts where we were invited to have a go at target practice ourselves. The old man got very alarmed when I pointed the blowpipe at his dog! The heavens opened again when we were on the river for the final leg, and we returned to Misahualli very wet, very tired, and very hungry, but having had a splendid day. Bus through the dark back to the hotel, where they had washed our jeep while we were away. Dinner of fish with manihot and rice. Delicious! Washed down with rum punch, and entertained by huge bats flying in and out through the open sides of the restaurant. Bed at 11pm. What a wonderful day!

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