260m
Once again an early start, however, this time before breakfast. Bruce was nice enough to get a coffee for Jan, and Fran had her cup of tea. We boarded the canoe with the hope and expectation of getting to see macaws close up, getting their daily dose of sodium from eating tree bark. I had thought that we would be going to witness this from a clay cliff, but Christian, one our Swedish group, informed us that when he and Alexandra went, they were disappointed to not see any birds.
A short boat trip took us to a small jetty, and a five minute walk in our stylish gum boots took us to a secluded house, with two huts set up with benches. In front of us were two dead trees covered with ‘tasty’ bark, about 18-25m tall, surrounded by low scrub and banana trees. We were quiet, we were patient, and three blue and yellow macaws turned up and perched on the top branch of a faraway tree, surveying the scene.
Eventually, as if on cue, a number of red bellied macaws started landing on the tree furthest away from us and started to feed. Then, one would fly around the nearer tree and fly back. Then two or three until eventually two landed on top of the nearer tree to feed. By this time another 4 boat loads of tourists had arrived from distant eco resorts, some being woken up at 4:30am to make it here on time. Ha! The benefits of having your hotel being transported on a boat!
Soon the log was covered by up to eleven red bellied macaws, all chewing furiously. Then there was movement, and the flick moved rapidly off the top of the log as the three larger blue and yellow macaws took over. Obviously, if the red bellied macaws were safe, it was ok for the blue and yellows to feed. And feed they did, chewing off large sections of bark.
We returned to the boat for a late breakfast and Reuben informed us of the rest of the morning’s activities. We visited a local community to see how they lived, the handicrafts that they created, the food they ate and the plants they used in both their cooking and for medicines. Unfortunately, the handicrafts were all made with local seeds or wood which would not make it back into Oz, or pottery which would probably not survive to make it back to Oz. We were provided with a cup of herbal tea made from the leaves of a local plant and a plate of palm hearts, cassava, plantain, catfish, crunchy cacao nut and an option of a live or cooked ‘bug’, fairly similar in size and look as a witchety grub. While the catfish was fine, most of the rest was exceedingly bland, and the bug was like very juicy roast pork, but not the texture.
A return to the boat for lunch and then we were back out for a ride in the speed boat up a small tributary for our last walk. We entered the Yasuni National Park and found out that there were still a number of oil drills operating in the park, and had been since the 60s, and talking with Kevin, he informed me that they were closing the last deal with China next year, and they had come into the country with the intention of getting what they could out of it, and no consideration about the harm. He also mentioned that China had offered to cancel the debt that Ecuador owed it if they would hand China the Galápagos Islands. Apparently UNESCO and a few other organisations found out and banned the deal. It is sad that talking with Kevin, the thoughts of the future of Ecuador are quite bleak as he hopes for the success of the country as it is tied to the US greenback, but uncertain how they are going to ever reach financial success. We discussed how Ecuador is not known enough on the global map, and I mentioned that at least several of my friends were now interested in coming here, rather than simply Peru. It is a shame as Ecuador is a stunning country, and cheap for most things, but needs a strong government who can be firm enough to get there. Javier mentioned that the country spends $9 billion per year of subsidies for the country.
We arrived back at the boat and were given a slideshow of our trip by Reuben, and a strawberry daiquiri to complement the show. It was unfortunately also our final meal with Bruce and Jan and as we have such an early morning tomorrow we’re unable to stay up too late.