25.08.09 Shangri-La Lodge, Just Outside Tena

Shangri-La Lodge, Just Outside Tena, on a hillside overlooking Rio Napo- East of Quito- over the Andes and into the Amazon Jungle

The jungle is defined by it’s noises at night- clicking crickets, tree frogs and the faint rumbling of the river as it rumbles over the rocky floor. By day it’s beauty abounds- lush vegetation, leaves as big as the span of your arm, moss-covered vines dangling, carrying droplets of water from the canopy above. Our lodge is wooden with netting ‘windows’ which allow the magnitude of different noises at night into our little cabin. Although you may think this would distract us from sleep, for me the noise has a soothing effect and lulls me into a happy slumber, a complete antithesis to our final night in Quito (La Mariscal is the party district). This place is overwhelming and soothing at the same time. The air is warm and the soft breeze floating in off the darkened trees, as I sit here writing, is a welcome coolness compared to the heat of the day.

We discover the art of canyoning this morning. It’s all to do with strengthening your arms as you push yourself up through crevasses and waterfalls. We walk the riverbed in gumboots, splashing and clambering over rocks. Alex, our jungle guide, demonstrates holding a baby tarantula, points out a tiny tree frog and passes an empty crab shell along the line for us to hold. The riverbed is surprisingly sandy (it’s really only a narrow stream to tell you the truth- with high ‘walls’ where the rock has been eroded by the water.
After Almuerzo (lunch), we’re trucked up the road, upstream from our lodge, to ‘tube’ (or rubber ring) the Rio Napo.

The river is wide and calm with minimal rapids, so it’s a comfortable ride. Unfortunately I lose a shoe while swimming, however walking barefoot to the jungle village is an experience I would like to repeat and become expert in, as it makes me feel like one of the natives and will hopefully toughen up my soles. We are led to Santa Monica’s President’s house to hear of the local customs. The village is named after the President’s wife, Monica, as great respect is given to her for bearing 15 children. We are offered ‘keechwa’- a staple of the villagers’ diet- made from yucca. It’s sour tasting but is said to have great health benefits and can be fermented to make strong alcohol, which they prepare for their fiestas.

Grubs are not normally my favourite dish but today I tried a cooked one. It tasted salty with a chewy texture and a hard shell. The youngest of the President’s daughters cooked them for us, wrapped in banana leaves- roll on all insects! We are invited to buy necklaces and bracelets made by the women of the village for only 2 dollars, the proceeds of which they’ll buy their staples of salt and sugar. A good cause if ever I saw one. Of course, Santa Monica is not far from the town of Tena, so people wear normal clothes and there’s even a dirt road leading to the main one, so it’s not a ‘tribal’ existence as you might expect, but they do live in the jungle, self-sustained by small plantations of yucca and banana, and the men do hunt for food, as they’ve always done. But they have recently acquired electricity, so they won’t be plunged into darkness at 6.45pm every evening.