amazon sunsets

as we head off into the sunset of our cruise time on the Amazon River- I thought I would post some sunset photos and some other miscellaneous photos-

I was surprised to find these fairly clear toucans among my photos when a did some close cropping of a river bank photo-

then two of the five of us got ambitious and went kayaking at sunset- or at least Ray paddled and Aaron went along- LOL

then we got a pretty nice sunset-

with Venus in the sky on the horizon-

this was one from another night-

and when we did see the blue sky - it was lovely-

but more frequently this was the view as we went down the exterior (no interior) stairs to dinner- or lunch - or sometimes even breakfast- LOL

several nights by the light of the moon- were quite lovely- so we did see both the Southern Cross and the big dipper in the night sky! Cool!

our home away from home - as the cruise draws to a close and we get ready to head back to Quito. 

but there is one more photo waiting for us at the dock-  a fancy guy all dressed up for the gals!

and we are off- parting ways with our super traveling companions of the last five days: Patrick, Ray and Aaron (we will cross paths with Patrick in about a week from this day in Guayaquil at the Hilton Colon as we were headed back home to Chicago and he was nearing the end of his trip and anxious to get back to his family in Switzerland... small world....

black water river exploration

off we went in the afternoon (yea! no rubber boots) in our canoe and headed down stream to find out if we could see any wildlife on the black water river we would be exploring.  Our trip lasted several hours and we saw a sloth way up in a tree- allegedly saw a caiman (never did see him nor did any show up in the photos I zoomed in on afterward of where he was supposed to be) and at least twice we saw one or more river dolphins humps (not the actual whole mammal but the hump)

do I sound underwhelmed?  I was!  on a dollar per animal sighting this would trip would not be even moderately priced.  The bang for the buck was astoundingly bad-
we spent tens of thousands of dollars to go on safari in Botswana and Zambia and Zimbabwe and saw thousands and thousands of animals- here we spent tens of thousands of dollars and saw three animals (two river dolphin humps and a sloth - or we were told it was a sloth)  and maybe a dozen birds until the money moment at the parakeet clay lick (on the last full day) but more about that later. 

however- I will say this - the scenery on the black water river was spectacularly serene! first we stopped to pay the fee and then we stopped to pick up a native guide and then we were headed up stream---

this was where we saw the river dolphin humps but they were both too far to photograph in this light and too quick to submerge again to catch them digitally anyway--- :-(

here is a post card of one to see what they look like:

it was raining big drops but cleared in time for us to rool back the "roof" or our canoe so we could see the jungle canopy a bit better (relativity being everything)

Below- the photo where the caiman was supposed to be- but I sure can't find him...LOL

the sloth- LOL- if I showed the whole photo and not just the cropped part you would never find him--- I knew where to look!

and as we always did- we returned to the boat to have another meal- and a word about these meals-

the meals always had soup - a staple of the Ecuadorian cuisine- and then a meat course and then a dessert.  Although the photos may not look like much the food was very good and the soups were excellent! So kudos to the chef and kitchen staff on a job well done!

more adventures to follow - or what will have to serve as adventures---

nobody's home

so off we go in our canoe one morning of our Amazon Manatee Explorer voyage to visit the home of a local family- this is a relative of one of the boatmen who has been working on our boat.  we arrive and Raul got off the canoe and assisted us in the jump across the muddy bank and up to the path into the jungle-

he asked us to wait while he went to the "house" and then came back shortly to inform us that they were out (had the "door closed"- photo to follow) but that we can walk around the grounds to see some of the way they lived-

they had a dog and a couple of cats and lots of chicken (a cash crop) but not much else- oh - I forgot, lots of laundry which it is a huge ordeal to dry in the rain forest/jungle they live in- they do have some drying area under cover but not enough for all the laundry they had... but as usual the photos are worth a thousand words or more--- so on to those starting with the path to their "house" and their "closed front door"

if no one is home then they put a sheet of corrugated metal over the steps or the ladder they use as their entrance-

the chickens were feasting on bananas and also on Styrofoam chips- LOL- there is a reason it is called "bird brain" LOL--- the puppy was happy to see us but kept wanting to jump up and as you can see the "yard" was a sea of mud... so he got no one to rub his head or play with him...

a machete is an absolute necessity here-

they had begun an addition to the house along side the kitchen platform- the poles are from the jungle as will be the roofing material for the thatching-

you can see the cat head in the background but he/she didnt' make an appearance-

 this one walked on the roof for a better view of the intruders-

these jugs carried all the necessities - cooking oil, fuel for the "car" (boat) and perhaps even fuel for the "stove"- the laundry was done right from the river bank-

we headed back to our floating hotel and had an excellent lunch-

next up - an afternoon on the black water river (oops I promised that last time) guess I forgot- oh well--- next time - really!