Coca City

Our wake-up call came early, but we were awake even earlier. Just excitement, I guess. Showered and dressed, we put our bags out for the bellmen and went to breakfast. Saturday breakfast wasn’t as varied as what was available the day before, but we had plenty to eat.

We boarded a bus for the 45 minute drive to the airport. This was a more sedate trip — our 2 a.m. cab driver had considered speed limits and red lights as merely advisory. This driver had a bit of traffic to contend with. We noticed a number of things in daylight that we had missed at night.

Also missed, in our sleep-deprived stress when no one was waiting for us at the airport, was just how nice Quito’s airport is. It’s new, beautifully designed, efficient and environmentally friendly.

Our flight to Coca was not full by any means. Nor was it lengthy. In 30 minutes we were back on the ground. But the difference in airports was stark. Coca’s runway runs parallel to its Main Street, and there are probably not 100 yards between them. The back of Main Street businesses and residences are literally adjacent to the airport fence. This terminal made the Waterloo, Iowa terminal look like an enormous palace.

It was indicative of Coca, a city of about 45,000 that is, to put it kindly, a dump. It was reminiscent of China in architecture and cleanliness. It’s an industrial city, mostly supporting the oil drilling industry in the Amazon Basin. An Ecuadorian army base is just across the river.

We walked around briefly. In a small market, indigenous people were selling live fish, freshly dead chickens, and all sorts of produce and “medicines” gathered from the jungle. Our tour director purchased a few things for us to taste. We passed on the giant larvae.

After a rather long time waiting for, we know not what, we were issued life vests and placed aboard a motorized canoe for our next 45 minute ride down the Rio Napo, one of the larger tributaries to the Amazon. 

There were only a few signs of habitation along the way — just a few primitive huts and people fishing from much smaller canoes. We were surprised to see so little wildlife, only a few birds.

We turned up a narrow creek, barely wide enough for our boat, and made our way very slowly into the jungle to Yarina Lodge. We disembarked and climbed a long set of stairs up to the main hall. 

Lunch was interesting, consisting of local area foods, plus meat and rice. After an orientation briefing, we had time to settle into our cabins. Ours is quite large and obviously intended to be a family cabin with extra beds for kids. We will sleep under the biggest mosquito net we’ve ever seen!

We met in late afternoon for a short, but very hot and sticky nature walk in the jungle. They insist that we wear long sleeves, long pants, and we are issued our own pair of (somewhat ill-fitting) rubber boots. Water bottles and hiking sticks were recommended. Quite the outfits! 

We saw a few bird species and some monkeys, and also learned a bit about the ecology of the plants, trees, and soil.

Dinner was a different menu, but once again a lot of local foods. On kind of the spur of the moment, our tour leader offered the opportunity for a nighttime jungle walk for any who might be interested. We would have to suit up again, but all but one group member came for the experience.

The walk was essentially the same route that we had taken in the afternoon, but the experience was much, much different. The jungle is alive at night! We saw some very large spiders and equally large insects that were their prey. We encountered several species of tree frogs, including a pair of large ones, mating. Frog sex is always entertaining. 

We got a glimpse of a small caiman (sort of like an alligator), and watched a 6 or 7 foot long anaconda trying to slither up a tree to get to a bird nest. Our tour leader was quite excited about the anaconda, as it is somewhat rare to see one around here.

At one point, our tour leader asked us all to turn off our flashlights and to simply stand and remain silent. The darkness was total. Even looking straight up, only a couple of stars could be seen in the few gaps in the forest canopy. But the jungle was filled with sounds -- frogs, monkeys, birds, insects, a cacophony.

The nighttime walk was definitely worth getting the gear on, and was the highlight of the day. More nature beginning with the sun in the morning.