Tyler and Mary’s Increasingly Exotic Adventures (aka THE AMAZON RAINFOREST!!!)

We have done our best to correctly caption the photos of the animals. If we have incorrectly labeled something please send us an email so that we can get it updated. Thanks!

In the Ecuadorian amazon jungle there are 5 different indigenous tribes: Secoya, Cofan, Siona, Shura, and Quechua. All of there tribes are still in the Amazon today and some of them are still nomadic.          

Our first wild amazon animal, the White Throated Toucan.

Two Blue and Yellow Macaws sitting in a tree.

The birds are taking flight.

On our way to the lodge it started pouring, fortunately they gave everyone a heavy duty poncho.

Our home for the next 4 days... The Dolphin Lodge.        

Looking at the Dolphin Lodge from the observation tower. 3 buildings with rooms on the right and in the middle and 1 main common building with the kitchen and dining area on the left.

Our travel group... Yes all of these people were on the bus with us when we threw up. There are two people from each of the following countries: Canada, USA, Holland, China, and South Korea.

This is the hoatzin bird, also known as the "Stinky Turkey Bird".

This is the view from the Dolphin Lodge observation tower.

Everyday we used this canoe to navigate the river and search for wildlife. Our driver German is the one behind us.

Do you see the animal?... This is a caiman, a.k.a. an alligator.

The moon peeking through the clouds.

We parked the canoe a ways down a side river canal and disembarked in order to go on a jungle safari.

The perfect quiet stillness of the jungle...

It is a real good thing that they provided rubber boots for us to wear...

Tarzan vines do exist! The Tarzan vine up close.

Giant tree with vines growing down. The vines actually start growing at the top of the tree where there is water and sunlight and then grown down to the ground.

Random looking bunch of leaves...

Actually a bird nest in disguise!

In the jungle everything lives off of everything else.

The jungle is a real dense place...

Our jungle safari group.

After the rains stopped the sun came back out and it was spectacular.        

Stunning sunset.

 

Sunset through the palms.

 

An amazing rainbow at sunset.

 

Another stunning sunset photo.

 

Tyler was having fun with the camera, the sunset, and his boots...

 

Following the amazing sunset we went for a night walk through the jungle to see the nocturnal creatures...

 

This toad is yet another poisonous critter that can kill a human... but only if you lick it!

 

Creepy spider... neither of us like spiders, especially the giant ones in the Amazon.

 

Ah a snake... just a baby boa about 18 inches long!

 

This once was a spider...

 

Cute little deadly frog...

 

And another giant jungle spider. The legs on this one are so long!

 

This is a scorpion spider and it can jump about 3 feet.

 

The mitad del mundo in the Amazon... The equator line runs through a large portion of Ecuador including this point in the Amazon.

 

This is a giant grasshopper, the one that crawled on Mary's arm. The spike on its rear is not a stinger but is used to plant the eggs in the ground.

 

Before was the scorpion spider and this is a real scorpion.

 

Here is another big Amazon spider...

 

Our guide Diego had a keen eye for spotting the animals. Without him we would not have seen half of the animals that we were fortunate to see.

 

This is a Two-toed Sloth curled up at the top of the palm tree.

 

How many animals can you find in this photo? (Hint: there are more than 5)

 

I believe that this was the Yellow-handed Titi monkey.

 

Diego and his dragonfly friend.

 

This is the Squirrel Monkey. These are the guys that the Capuchin Monkey hangs around with.

 

Such a cute little monkey face... This is also the Squirrel Monkey.

 

This is the Pocket Monkey, a.k.a. The Pygmy Marmoset, the smallest monkey in the world. Tyler wants one!

 

The Anhinga or the snake bird, is the best diver in the Amazon and it can stay underwater for a couple of minutes.

 

Covering all of these trees are spiderwebs. These are the Social Spiders and in this grouping there will be millions of spiders. If a larger animal or insect becomes caught in the web the whole colony of spiders will descend on the prey to kill it and eat it.

 

An old forgotten canoe. The indigenous people used to use wooden canoes, however, they are heavier and require a stronger motor to power them than the newer fiberglass canoes. The motors that power the wooden canoes are so loud that they have banned from the Cuyanbeno Reserve.

 

When we arrived at the shore of the indigenous community we went to visit we were greeted with a number of what appeared to be leaves, they were actually butterflies.

 

There isn't much privacy in this community...

 

This is the remains of a caterpillar that was killed by wasps.

 

This is a traditional house for the people in the Amazon region.

 

When oil was discovered in the Amazon the oil companies would come to the indigenous communities and give them gifts hoping to be allowed to dig for oil on their land. This house was built by the oil companies and it a really nice house; however, it is not practical to have a house like this in the middle of the Amazon jungle. It currently sits empty.

 

This is the petal of an amazon flower that has the striking resemblance of a toucan beak.

 

Maria, our community host painted all of our faces for good luck before we went out to cut down the yucca tree and make pan de yucca.

 

Don't we just look adorable!

 

This is Achiote, a local fruit that makes a really nice natural orangish-red paint.

 

Yucca is actually a root, similar to a potato. Maria used her incredibly sharp machete to cut down the tree so that we could get to the roots.

 

Have you seen the Avengers: Age of Ultron? If not, there is a seen in it where all of the avengers are trying to pick up Thor's hammer, but only a worthy individual is able to do so. This is the Hammer of Yucca... Are you worthy?!

 

Once the yucca is removed the ground Maria used her awesome machete to cut up the pieces of yucca.

 

And again, the machete was used to open the skin of the yucca for easy peeling.

 

Peeling the yucca.

 

A hand-woven basket was used to carry the yucca back to the house for the next steps in making pan de yucca (yucca bread).

 

The buildings of the village sit around the edge of this field.

This is the school building for the community. They only have one teacher and one class for all of the children. Here they will only learn basics and there is no internet.

Back in the house we took our cut and peeled yucca pieces and had to grate them. Mary is using the root of the walking tree that is surprisingly spiky and worked amazingly well. The others are using pieces of sheet metal that has had holes punched through it.

Once the yucca is all grated the water has to squeezed out of it. This is a local leaf that has been dried and woven together to make the device that will squeeze the water out.

 

Maria is twisting the wrapped yucca until there is no more water dripping from it. It is like wringing out a wet towel.

Once the yucca has been wrung out we had to sift it to break up all of the chunks.

Next the yucca flower is spread out on the ceramic plate over the fire.

 

Once the edges start to curl up the pan de yucca is flipped over.

 

And your final product is a giant yucca-like tortilla that you rip apart and eat with your meal. It does not really have a taste but it is good.

 

These are GIANT ferns!!!

 

Our last sunset on the lagoon.

 

I don't have words for this...

 

More stinky turkey birds... They were everywhere along the river.

 

Orange Winged Amazon Parrots.

 

Our final morning we went out bird watching on the lagoon. It was so still...

 

An Orange Winged Amazon Parrot in the tree.

 

The Red Capped Cardinal.

 

A close-up of the Orange Winged Amazon Parrot.

 

Beauty in the morning.

 

Reflection in the water.

 

This is our room. This was the first time that either of us slept underneath a mosquito netting, it was weird but very effective!

 

Our bathroom had a giant window with mesh netting, this was our view.

 

Tyler relaxing in the hammock before we returned to civilization.

 

Something was lost in translation...

 

The Howler Monkey. These guys live up to their name, you can hear them howling for miles.    

Live to swing!

 

On our way back to civilization.

 

Cuyabeno Reserve. You can see on the sign how high the water was a couple of days earlier.

 

This is the last insect of that Amazon that we saw. It was in the bathroom where we got off the canoe and boarded the van back to Lago Agrio.