September 7 - Into the Amazon

Our alarm failed to sound this morning, making for a frantic dash back to the airport. We took a 25-minute flight east into the Amazon Basin, landing in Coca. Coca is a small port town on the banks of the Napo River. We boarded a 45 foot long motorized canoe, and began to speed up the Rio Napo. The Amazon forest encroached onto the silty banks, at this time of year the water lies over 20 feet below the vegetation. We were on our way to Sacha Lodge! We spent two hours in the motorized canoes at nearly 35 knots, and then came ashore on wooden boardwalks that led us two miles into the jungle. The path ended at a small dock in a very narrow swamp, where dugout canoes waited to carry us into the lagoon. As we waited for the guides to load the canoes, a high-pitched chirping noise began to come from the trees. A troop of Spider Monkeys came to greet us! We sat low in the canoes as the guides paddled us into the open water, revealing an expansive black lagoon surrounded by dense forest. At the opposite side, the thatched roofs of the lodge came into view, our home in the Amazon for the next four days! More to come soon...