Yarina Lodge, Day 5 - 18 December 2021

 Galivanting thru the Galapagos & the Amazon

Day 5 - Yarina Lodge on the Napo River - Saturday, December 18, 2021

Up at 5am.  Had heard it rain, so unsure if we were going on early birding or not, but decided to go ahead & get ready.  George sent what’s app to Delfin & he said yes.  Got to Lodge right at 6am, but he let us have a cup of coffee first.  Saw huge troop of Squirrel monkeys coming down a Palm Tree to the ground.  

Hoaxin - photo by me

Hoaxin from Merlin - Large, dumpy bird found around lake edges and slow-moving streams. Head looks too small for its large brown body. Its orange mohawk, blue facial skin, and stubby bill make this bird extremely distinctive. Usually found in groups or pairs. Moves clumsily around waterside vegetation, making loud huffing noises.

Then on the boat & it was an amazing 2 hours!!!!! Even had about an hour of clear blue skies!  Saw a few other canoes on the river - local fishermen.  Identified 20 birds! Wow! Really cool! Learning how to use Ebird & it’s working well. Even shows the exact location! Saw flocks of Red Bellied Macaws & a fly catcher chasing a Toucan! It was great fun! Saw tons of Hoaxin, in large flocks, very noisy & fun to watch.

As I learn to use Ebird & it's checklists, I'll provide more comprehensive info on the birds we saw.  I'm not good at taking pictures - only using my Samsung phone & juggling the binoculars & taking notes is just too much for me.  But learning how to quickly take not of the names while they are identified by the guides is making it quite a lot of fun!  Here are some maps as provided by ebird. 

Here was my checklist for this 2 hour birding trip!

Occasionally I'll look up birds & try to get a decent picture. This is a Spix's Guan. We saw it as we left the lodge. Delfin said the locals hunt them & they are like turkey for them. Here's the description from Merlin - Large, stocky brown bird. Largely arboreal, but often seems too large or clumsy for its tree-dwelling habits. Calls loudly when flushing from a tree and makes crashing noises as it lands roughly in another tree. Found around forest edges and young forest as well as in more mature forests. Typically found singly or in pairs, occasionally in larger groups. Larger and darker than chachalacas with more prominent red skin on throat.

Back to Lodge as it started pouring!  No problem for us on the boat (they had put the cover back on just in time!!) & then it stopped just as we got docked!  Cool!  

Had breakfast leisurely.  Eggs, fruit, croissant.  All excellent.  Back to our cabins to put on our "jungle" clothes (including knee high rubber boots) & then back on the boat to head back across the Napo River.

Delfin & Christina demonstrated the use of a plant that can be used to dye fabrics or even draw a semi permanent tattoo for decoration!!   He also found some ripe Ice cream plant & gave us a taste.  It's pretty yummy.  And doesn't need to be frozen!

Christina showed us the plant that is used to weave a Panama Hat.  That popular hat was really developed in Ecuador & is still made there.  Prices range from fairly cheap to in the thousands depending on the tightness of the weave.

Delfin & Christina showed us how to process Yucca & Hearts of Palm.

A Maracuya tree, one of the many fruits growing throughout the jungle. The local fruits are unbelievable. Was reading in Wikipedia about the quantity of exotic fruits that grow there naturally. We tasted lots of them (more about that in the Galapagos). The bushy tree with the long beans is an Ice Cream Tree. Included a picture of the Ice Cream bean (inga edulis) & how the little clumps of fruit separate. The pit is large & inedible, but easy to spit out. Even the consistency is similar to ice cream. And it doesn't need to be frozen or even refrigerated! Amazing.

We saw several Black Mantled Tamarin's in the trees way way up above us!  No, not my picture of the monkey - I love Wikipedia!!!

Our afternoon adventure was to Christina’s (not the prostitute from Quito!! Ha!) for home hosted visit to her farm & for lunch. Talked a bit, then walked her farm of 400 hectares, but only 25 hectares are useable, other is swamp.   Their family turkey put on a show for us & she showed us her many fruits, coffee, & cocoa trees.  They basically had everything they needed on the farm for survival.  They do buy their clothes & shoes at the local market, but even their home is made from local products on their own farm.  There is a road that provides access to towns & schools when it's passable, but they mostly travel by boat on the river.  It's about an hour to Coca in one direction and there is another town of about the same size in the opposite direction.  Her husband works for an oil company & was currently out of town.  He was supposed to have been there to let us discuss the pros & cons of oil exploration in the Amazon.  We discussed it a bit without him, obviously it's good for the family to have an income from him working, but it's at the expense of the flora & fauna of the Amazon!

Christina invited us inside their home to help prepare a late lunch.  She used big palm tree leaves for the "table cover."  They had several birds for pets.  The big ones were Orange Winged Parrots & the small ones were Dusky headed Parakeets.  They were actually free, but since they had food & a safe place to roost, they just stay nearby.  Christina & her mother prepared 3 kinds of plantain (roasted, dried, & mashed), palm hearts (yummy!!), onion, roasted white chocolate nuts, water melon, locally caught catfish for most & chicken for a few of us, and the specialty - local bacon!!  Read on!!!!

Volunteers were requested for preparing the lunch time specialty!  Palm Tree Weevil Larvae!!!!  Yipes!  No volunteers, so I stepped up.  Oh crap!  First I had to kill the sucker - stinkers have little pinchers & try to get you!!!  You kill them by squishing the head until it pops.  Then you skewer it.  After all are on the skewer, you slice through the tough skin to keep them from exploding when you roast them and finally you rub a little salt on them & place them on the hot grill.  Since then I have read on line & World Hunger Organizations are encouraging the growing & harvesting of them world wide due to their nutritional value - extremely high in protein & since they contain their own fat, they cook up satisfyingly crispy without the use of any oils or processing.  Good to know, hummm????

Our dessert table - watermelon & fruit.

After eating, we got to have a question & answer session with the children.  They were adorable.  The oldest daughter is preparing to move to town with her boyfriend, while the boy wants to be a farmer and the youngest girl just wants to stay with Mom.  None of them would speak English to us, although it is taught in school.  There were several other younger children around - apparently nieces, nephews, & cousins.  Christina had a nettle switch that she waved around a few times to warn them when they got boisterous!  Apparently that worked because they were all quiet & well behaved.  They all wore their masks for our entire visit.  

Took a break when we got back to the Lodge & I read for a while in the hammock on the front porch, but it soon was in the sun & got too hot.  Inside with the fan, it was comfortable for a nap!  Then we met again for another boat cruise through the jungle.  Used my Ebird app to provide a map of this excursion.  

The sun was shining bright & we took the boat cover off again.  It was beautiful out & we couldn't resist a selfie!  We had already spotted a Caiman lizard swimming beside the boat, an enormous paper wasp nest, & a huge Crane Hawk looking for prey.  

Our last spotting of the day was 2 Howler Monkeys far up in the tree above us.  Without binnoculars, they were just 2 dark brown balls.  We sat for awhile hoping they would wake up, but we noticed that our beautiful blue sky was starting to get dark.  Another storm heading our way!

We headed back across the Napo, enjoying a beautiful sunset in one direction & the fast moving storm coming from the other direction!  Winter & Summer & Delfin got busy putting our cover back on!!!

The original plan was to do some night time jungle exploring, but the rain put an end to that idea.  We just headed back & arrived in time for dinner!  Once again, the storm had passed through & we didn't even get wet climbing the stairs to the lodge.  Can't say I really missed the night time adventure - it was rather spooky in the dark!  But figure they might have spotlighted some cool stuff.  Oh well!  It was not meant to be!  But back at the lodge we had a marvelous dinner & after watching a Man in the High Castle, we called it an early night!!!