Rainforest Journey: Visit to the Llushin River Project
Part Five: Over the River and into the Mud
I awoke this morning, and had some breakfast, then packed up my things. A part of our group were away, so this gave me some time to explore the surroundings. Just in and around the community property, I saw dozens and dozens of unique plants. I also noticed a few large spiders hanging about—but I didn't get too close. On the field, several boys were playing soccer feverishly. One of the boys seemed more interested in what I was up, as wandered about looking at plants and taking a large number of photos. He was particularly interested in my camera. I gave it to him he enthusiastically snapped of several photos with it. I am glad he had a chance to shoot with it, but I had to stop him for fear of draining the battery, which is not difficult in very humid conditions. I went to far end of the community and found a large opne-air hut which was their official school. I met the school teacher inside preparing for class.
A Jeep crossing a suspension bridge on the way to the Rio Pastaza
The rest of the our travel group arrived, and we then packed into the vehicles. You could say this was literally an expedition, with the three of us from the U.S., our guides and several of their Ecuadorian friends, Paul from El Otro Lado, and most of the Santi family, baby included. We drove out westward on small roads in the large and flat Rio Pastaza basin. We came to a small branch off the main river, where we got to the end of the road. We pulled our packs out of the cars and began the march over to the main river which was far wider than I had imagined. Along the main bank of the Rio Pastaza was a long dugout canoe: our way across. The elder Don Rafael and another indian took our entire group across the river, but not at once. It took at least 6 trips. He exhibited some amazing stamina to get us safely across in the strong current! Eventually, we all made it to the other side, but it took a couple hours. We pulled on our packs and made our way along the dry rocky parts of the riverbank. We got to a dirt road, or perhaps mud road would be more accurate. There were spots that were flooded, and we relied on downed logs to get across the difficult parts. Not once, someone's boot would get stuck in the mud, and another would come along to release it not without a loud suction noise. Loaded packs on our back made that a real concerted effort.
We came to a rest at wooden buildings surrounding a field—it was a school. One of our guides hired someone to have their horses carry our packs the rest of the way, which was a huge relief as it was already getting strenuous and darker. We began hiking onward with a lightened loadthis was a huge relief to me. We passed through some open cow pastures (many forests in Ecuador are cut down for cattle raising) followed by a tall stand of trees. Darkness fell as we hiked along the trail and into an upward incline. I whipped out my headlamp which couldn't have been more useful in this situation. I am not sure how I would have made it up some of these trails without the use of both hands to steady myself where the trail was steep and slippery. We continued for an hour or more in the darkness. We came to a stream and small pool where the trail dipped between hills. I drank lots of water. I was fairly tired at this point and was hoping the camp would not be too far now. After the rest, we hiked up a steep trail and could hear voices ahead. The red glow of a fire lighted up the path ahead of us. At last, we were at our camp. Here we found shelter and a nicely warm fire burning.
Our crossing point of Rio Pastaza looking westward toward Banos.
I was astounded to find, Dona Lucia and her daughters here already considering the strenuous hike we made in the dark. Apparently, they had made their way up another trail to set up camp ahead of us. It must have been a shortcut. They were awaiting us with food and warm tea which we gladly accepted. Our packs nor the horsers were anywhere to be seen, but I was just happy to rest my tired body to be worried. Jonathon arrived later and told us, the other trail had been so muddy in parts, that the horses weren't able to make it very far with our packs. In a feat of strength and determination, several of the indians went back down to bring up our packs to camp—in the dark and on slippery trails! More signs of their amazing strength and determination. They were excellent hosts, and would often help us before we could even ask, as if they were always a step or two ahead of us. Exhausted from the trek, I slept very soundly that night.
Coming soon: Part Six: Take Me to the Llushin River
When he's not helping TRC, Tom Vincze designs and builds web sites and grows all sorts of exotic plants you might find in places like Llushin Valley.