The journey over the Andes to the Amazon
After a flight from Cuba via Bogota, we arrived in Quito at 10pm their time. We fussed around getting cash out from ATMs for our jungle excursion and got a taxi into the hostel we’d booked only hours earlier in Bogota.
Quito was huge and basically in a mountain range. I know it’s in the Andes but I presumed the city would be in some kind of plateau or on just one mountain, not spread over an entire range. The motorway had huge hills the taxi struggled to get over before speeding into the next valley. The altitude wasn’t really noticible until we went to bed. My resting heart rate wouldn’t go down and because of this I couldn’t get to sleep, despite being very tired.
The hostel was nice, the little we saw of it. The breakfast in the morning featured soft, fresh bread – I can’t remember the last time I ate bread that wasn’t stale! They also brought out eggs and a cup of yoghurt. Our driver, an Ecuadorean man called Washington turned up at 8.30am. He was happy to wait.
We started out by following the pan-American highway (the one that goes from Patagonia to North America), before turning east and climbing some enormous mountains. Washington thought the altitude might be about 3400m above sea level.
At first you’d think we were in some alpine area of New Zealand before we went over a peak and everything became verdant bush on the mountain sides. Then you’d go through clouds, barely able to see the road and it would suddenly clear, revealing a new valley. We stopped at a Hummingbird sanctuary, filled with so many birds. It was incredible! One thought I was a flower and buzzed around me. They move so quick.
We also stopped at a waterfall which was pretty impressive too. A woman called Susanna made us lunch of sweet potato soup, chicken, a tea made out of jungle plants (apparently it’s indigenous) and a dessert of palm nut fruit. It wasn’t sweet and it was very floury – hard to eat! She served it with jam. Two Costa Rican bird watchers appeared for a chat. I could understand some of Washington’s conversation with them.
We continued on, now definitely in the Amazon basin. At some point we turned down a gravel road that went on and on forever. We finally arrived at Yachana lodge, Alfonso was waiting at the drive. First impressions were that it wasn’t what we expected. There are no other guests here (classic for us), the dining room was very basic with plastic chairs, but the rooms seem really nice compared to our usual hostels. After sitting here a while, surrounded by strange bird noise amongst all the trees I’m definitely feeling more relaxed.
We had a couple of hours to unwind and then dinner was served at 7pm. The chef was a local 21 year old boy but he made a delicious pumpkin soup, main course of vegetables, stew and potato, and then pineapple cooked in sugar cane syrup for dessert. Everything was homemade or locally grown. As we ate dinner, the two Costa Rican men we met at the Susanna lunch place turned up! They were looking for bird-watching spots and were checking out the lodge.
After dark, the most psychedelic chorus of creatures chipping, whirring and whistling started. Some of it was so loud it sounded more like an alarm than an insect or frog. Although I’m terrified of most insects, I somehow found this noise comforting and it lulled me into sleep.
Quito was huge and basically in a mountain range. I know it’s in the Andes but I presumed the city would be in some kind of plateau or on just one mountain, not spread over an entire range. The motorway had huge hills the taxi struggled to get over before speeding into the next valley. The altitude wasn’t really noticible until we went to bed. My resting heart rate wouldn’t go down and because of this I couldn’t get to sleep, despite being very tired.
The hostel was nice, the little we saw of it. The breakfast in the morning featured soft, fresh bread – I can’t remember the last time I ate bread that wasn’t stale! They also brought out eggs and a cup of yoghurt. Our driver, an Ecuadorean man called Washington turned up at 8.30am. He was happy to wait.
We started out by following the pan-American highway (the one that goes from Patagonia to North America), before turning east and climbing some enormous mountains. Washington thought the altitude might be about 3400m above sea level.
At first you’d think we were in some alpine area of New Zealand before we went over a peak and everything became verdant bush on the mountain sides. Then you’d go through clouds, barely able to see the road and it would suddenly clear, revealing a new valley. We stopped at a Hummingbird sanctuary, filled with so many birds. It was incredible! One thought I was a flower and buzzed around me. They move so quick.
We also stopped at a waterfall which was pretty impressive too. A woman called Susanna made us lunch of sweet potato soup, chicken, a tea made out of jungle plants (apparently it’s indigenous) and a dessert of palm nut fruit. It wasn’t sweet and it was very floury – hard to eat! She served it with jam. Two Costa Rican bird watchers appeared for a chat. I could understand some of Washington’s conversation with them.
We continued on, now definitely in the Amazon basin. At some point we turned down a gravel road that went on and on forever. We finally arrived at Yachana lodge, Alfonso was waiting at the drive. First impressions were that it wasn’t what we expected. There are no other guests here (classic for us), the dining room was very basic with plastic chairs, but the rooms seem really nice compared to our usual hostels. After sitting here a while, surrounded by strange bird noise amongst all the trees I’m definitely feeling more relaxed.
We had a couple of hours to unwind and then dinner was served at 7pm. The chef was a local 21 year old boy but he made a delicious pumpkin soup, main course of vegetables, stew and potato, and then pineapple cooked in sugar cane syrup for dessert. Everything was homemade or locally grown. As we ate dinner, the two Costa Rican men we met at the Susanna lunch place turned up! They were looking for bird-watching spots and were checking out the lodge.
After dark, the most psychedelic chorus of creatures chipping, whirring and whistling started. Some of it was so loud it sounded more like an alarm than an insect or frog. Although I’m terrified of most insects, I somehow found this noise comforting and it lulled me into sleep.
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