By Joanne Sykes, V!VA Travel Guides
Despite enough mosquito bites to keep me scratching until well into 2010, I have returned happy and in one piece from my trip to El Oriente last week. The first leg of the journey was definitely not the highlight: eight hours on an overnight bus with a broken seat, a very loud movie blaring right above my head, and a road that was alternate strips of rumble, sand and tarmac. But we woke up in Lago Agrio, where we would start our tour, fairly fresh and eager to see some real Amazonian jungle.
Lago Agrio was originally called Nueva Loja, after the residents of Loja in the south of Ecuador moved here and set up the town looking for a new life. It was later renamed after Sour Lake, Texas, the home of Texaco’s headquarters. Indeed, a road to the town, clearly not finished yet, was only built when a route was needed to transport oil out of the region. It is obvious that the place exists for this one reason, besides being the pick-up and drop-off points for excursions to the Cuyabeno National Reserve. It is also reported to be quite dangerous, being so close to the Colombian border. Our bus was stopped twice on the return journey for inspection, the passengers being made to alight and show their identification documents.
We had a coffee and waited at the shabby chic Hotel D’Mario. There we picked up our mini-bus and drove two hours to the meeting bridge and jumped on a motorized canoe three hours down the Cuyabeno River and into the heart of the reserve. There began four days of relaxed jungle adventuring. We walked through dense wet vegetation, our guide showing us how to wash clothes with leaves from the ’soapy vine’, find and eat beetle lavae (the main course) and lemon tree ants (dessert). And after eating such unusual fare we did not keep the piranha we caught on our fishing trip.
We usually ate breakfast leisurely at 8am, then later devoured a three-course lunch, always followed by a siesta and dinner was by candlelight (no electricity). Being the rainforest it did rain, but rubber boots and ponchos were provided (see the V!VA packing list for suggestions on what to take).
After learning how to make yuca bread with a family from the Siona indigenous community, and losing 4-3 in a futbol match against the rest of the village, we went out caiman and river dolphin spotting and swam in a beautiful lagoon as the sun set over our jungle jaunt.
One thing that made our tour truly memorable was our guide Diego, who was so much more than a guide. His infectious laughter — even when just at his own jokes — as well as his evening entertainment of “Deigo Copperfield” magic tricks, kept everyone in good spirits . His knowledge of the jungle was impressive and clearly not taken from a book. If Diego had a Facebook page I have no doubt he would have thousands of fans! Credit should also go to the staff of Samona Lodge and the agency through which we booked our journey to Ecuador’s Orient, Carpedm Adventures. Anyone visiting Ecuador should definitely not miss out on such a wonderful experience.
