The Cuyabeno Reserve is one of the less touristy jungle trips in South America. In order to get to the reserve we had to take an eight hour overnight bus, followed by another few hour bus ride and a three hour boat ride. On our five day four night tour were three other couples. We'd previously met and arranged to do the trip with an American couple we had made friends with in Quito. During the slow boat ride to the camp, our guide was constantly spotting wildlife - loads of birds, monkeys and a sloth. Whilst describing one creature to us our boat glided silently under a branch. Around two feet away, above our heads curled up on the branch, was a tree boa! Simon jumped as the snake passed over our heads! Thankfully it was sleeping and had little interest in us. We passed underneath it a few times so everyone could have a look and get a photo. Our camp consisted of a dining area, chill out area with hammocks and several wooden huts. Our room had mosquito nets over the beds and a basic bathroom en-suite. We settled in and had dinner. That evening, after grub we went on a night walk in the jungle. Everyone had their torches and wellington boots on. Although the sun had gone down, it was still humid. We heard monkeys and spotted the eyes of caiman (small crocs). Sadly we only found small creatures, mainly insects. A giant ant roaming on the floor became desert for both out guide and Simon. We passed sooo many spiders! Some were poisonous, but most were harmless to humans. I loved the tree frogs - despite them not being as colourful as I imagined, they still had funky feet! After an hours walk we headed back and I was feeling mighty itchy after seeing all the creepy crawlies!! On our first morning in the jungle, we braved a cold shower before our day trek. The boat dropped us off at the Laguna and we walked round for a few hours looking at the various plants and wildlife. Our guide showed us lots of medicinal plants. After wading through the swamp and nearly losing our wellies we found more insects. Our guide placed his hand over an ants nest and let them run up his arm. After a second he rubbed them all off and had successfully hidden his human scent - perfect for hunting. We also found a bug which I was told about by my Geography teacher during school but never believed - I can't remember its name but it lays its eggs inside human skin. When ready to hatch the skin bursts open and baby insects swarm out!! Yuk yuk yuk! We munched on some more massive ants and smoked twigs - (jungle cigarettes). After a few hours exploring we made our way back to the boat and returned to the lodge for a few hours. On our first evening we went piranha fishing. Simon caught a piranha and a giant tetra. In the Laguna there are around twenty species of piranha, and only one or two of these attack humans. Despite this knowledge, we felt uneasy about swimming in the lake after seeing the size of their teeth. After fishing we were shown a bird in a tree that was apparently like gold-dust for bird-watchers. It looked like a stump in the tree and it didn't move when a stick was pointed in its direction as it is apparently blind during the day. It wasn't until we saw the birds mother that we believed the bird existed! We sat in the boat and watched the sun set. As we made our way back to the lodge for dinner we did a bit of caiman hunting. We spotted a few of their eyes reflecting the light from our torches, but they were mainly small ones. The nights entertainment was provided by the guides who sang and played musical instruments. On our second full day we went to visit a Shaman. Apparently he's quite famous and has been around the world healing people. Our guide translated when the Shaman explained the learning process. It took him many years of understudy to be able to diagnose and help others. The Shaman wore his traditional clothing which consisted of a feather headset, a feather through his nose and various beads, shells and teeth around his neck. After explaining how he helps people he demonstrated on me part of the ritual he uses in diagnosing patients. Before we left the Shaman gave us some jungle beer, to drink. It was slightly funky but reminded us of a fruit cider. After our visit to the Shaman we went to a local village. Although the set-up of our visit was majorly touristy it was still nice to see a little bit of village life. We dug up some cassava
(jungle potato) and watched the lady grate it before draining all of its natural water. She then cooked the remaining dry cassava on a hot plate and made two types of local bread. I munched on mine with a local jam and Simon smothered his with a local chili spread! We then had free time to wander about. Sadly all the villagers, apart from a few children, were out. Everyone laughed as they watched the village monkey play fighting with the dog, jumping off branches onto his back. Very few members of our group chose to take a dip with with the pirahnas and caiman. If they weren't enough to put us off we were also told about the candiru fish that are attracted to urine and invade the urethra - usually getting stuck! That evening back at the hut we began to spot the tarantulas crawling around in the thatched roofs. Our guide showed us one and I asked what would happen if it fell, wanting reassurance that I was safe beneath it. Apparently it was highly unlikely to fall but if it did it would die. Seconds later it fell, and survived!! Simon ran into our friend and tried his best to get out as quick as he could. It was so funny, I can't deny that I was scared, but I distracted by Simons reaction! The tarantula began crawling round. After watching it for a while we left it alone but found ourselves searching every roof before feeling comfortable. During dinner we spotted two tarantulas making sweet love. During desert we watched the female eat her male lover for protein! Nice! Simon had little sleep during our third night, not from spider nightmares but because from a severe case of diarrhoea. He skipped a meal and stayed well away from chili condiments. Sadly on our fourth day he was still too ill to join the rest of us out on the boat. The motorised boat took us to the Laguna where we hopped into a paddle boat. We spent a few hours rowing around the Laguna. Although everyone arms ached it was a much better way to spot wildlife as there was no motor to scare the creatures away. The first wildlife we spotted was dead! It was a giant ugly fish that had been half eaten by a caiman. It was rancid! We popped into two other lodges. One had the worlds smallest monkey (pygmy marmoset or pocket monkey) as a pet. It had been rescued from a market and returned to the amazon. Sadly it had become too accustomed to humans and now spends its days in the lodge with tourists and guides. The monkey was climbing on our shoulders and eating orange segments. It was sooo cute!! Another lodge was home to a boa constrictor. Despite being wrapped up high in a tree we could see that it was massive! The guides at the lodge also gave our guide some bark wine. Unfortunately it was nothing like western wine and burnt as it trickled down our necks. After spotting some pink dolphins swimming around, we went in search of the anaconda. Although they are nonvenomous, they are capable of killing a human through constriction. Our guide hopped out the boat and climbed all over the a broken tree searching in holes with a torch. Sadly we found no anaconda but we had a lot of fun searching. We munched on papaya for energy, eating the skin and seeds too. In the evening we did more caiman hunting. This time we found one that was just under three meters, which is pretty big for a caiman. Our guide had spotted it and two other boats came to have a look. As others were clambering in and out of our boat making it rock to and fro, I became really apprehensive about falling in!! Luckily the caiman was pretty tame and just watched us watching him. On our last day our friend spotted a scorpion in the bathroom sink. It was small and black but had apparently just eaten so had little venom in its skin. The venom is used to paralyse its prey before devouring it. The guide moved it outside and our friend later picked it up and ended up getting stung! Luckily the venom caused only little swelling!! Our boat ride back to the bus was definitely eventful! We were travelling at an average speed but were met by another boat carrying four locals speeding round a bend. The collision was virtually head on! There was a split second as we all saw this boat coming towards us and no-one knew what to do! Luckily our guide pushed the boat away from us as it skimming along the side of our boat causing it to stay on one side! He ended up falling in the water and wrecking some of his guidebooks and binoculars! It was very surprising that no-one was hurt! Needless to say we were all thankful when we returned to dry land!