Home-cooked food in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Five days in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon completed our wildlife full-immersion. Unlike the Galapagos, which were planned for ages, the decision of visiting the Amazon was last-minute. We chose to visit Shiripuno Lodge, situated in the Yasuni National Park. Indeed it was a good choice. Remember when I said about travelling being as important as the destination itself? This held particular significance in this case, as getting to the lodge was part of the experience. We flew to Coca, gateway to the Amazon, early in the morning. Coca looked like a very interesting place to explore, unfortunately we had only a few hours. What looked like a dusty frontier town suddenly became alive in the market, where colorful fruits and exotic meats such as armadillo were on offer. From Coca we travelled three hours on the back of a truck to a bridge where we were going to board a canoe to go downriver. But before, we had a medical checkup to be sure we weren't affected by swine flu and a briefing, as we were entering indigenous territory. I left the briefing rather scared; we were told of the danger of uncontacted tribes who have been known for killing people, especially timber and oil workers. Then, the canoe. I expected some sort of seating or shelter, we had neither. We travelled downriver for 6 hours, three under the blazing sun, three under a torrential rainstorm.

However, when we arrived we soon realised it was worth every minute of the arduous trip. There were only four guests in the lodge; the two of us and two French girls. Plus two guides, the cook, the waiter and the canoe driver. That's it, it was only us and the indigenous village halfway between our lodge and the bridge; the closest place otherwise was Coca, a day's travel away. One may expect a place like this to be silent at night; it was the opposite. Frogs, crickets and other nocturnal animals filled the air with their sounds. And with the absence of any background noise, the sensation of being immersed with nature was total. We trekked in the forest for three days, finding spider, capuchin and wooli monkeys. At sunset we swam in the river looking at macaws and toucans flying over us. During night treks we marvelled at the sight of poisonous frogs, scorpion spiders and tarantulas.

There is nowhere else on earth that can be compared to the Amazon. The nature didn't give me a feeling of balance and equilibrium, such as it was in the Galapagos. Rather, it was overwhelming. The greens were greener than elsewhere, the light shining through the trees was so scarce that at times it was hard to tell what time of the day and what weather it was. It felt like a place where men aren't welcome, where wildlife rules and men should only look and tiptoe. The humidity and heat when hiking were overbearing. And when it rained, it poured.
One day we trekked for hours to a salt lick, essentially a muddy, swampy field whose mud contained salts. We had to be silent for hours, to make ourselves invisible to the wildlife. Finally, swarms of parakeets arrived to lick the salt in the mud. First they came in pairs, then by the tens and hundreds. The bright colours of their feathers and the flutter of their wings was eerie in the stillness of midday in the forest.

Another day, we were trekking to a lookout when we heard calls of distress. It was a jaguar hunting monkeys. We couldn't see it, but the screams were piercing. We continued on our trail and found tracks of peccaries, a type of wild pigs. Once again we tried to follow them, hoping to catch a glimpse. From walking slowly we started to walk more briskly, then we ran; I got lost for a few minutes. I was absolutely terrified, thinking I would've never been found again. Nick was the only one to run fast enough to catch up with the pigs. After a full day of activities, we went back to the lodge were Dona Nelsy cooked our meals. The food was delicious and all homemade; vegetable soups with popcorn, plantain empanadas, freshwater fish and mashed corn. With an icy cold beer, it was the ideal ending to the day.