At the Quito airport - Aeropuerto
Mariscal Sucre
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The Quito skyline from our room
at the Hotel Alameda
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Liza with Peter English of VENT
in Quito
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Forget jetways - walking to our plane
for our flight to Coca
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View of Antisana (volcano) from
the airplane (photo by Peter English)
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Welcome to Coca! Behind all those
weeds, the sign says "Bienvenidos"
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Coca is an oil company town with
a bit of a rough reputation. We asked
if one could walk between the dock
and the airport; the reply was, "that's
farther than you want to walk in Coca."
"Is it dangerous even in the daylight?"
one person asked. "No," our guide
replied, "it's just ugly."
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Coca's main street
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Yasuni National Park occupies
a fair chunk of the area, borders
subject to arbitrary shifting
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We hung out for awhile at La Mision,
a hotel in Coca on the Rio Napo,
where we got our first looks at (tame)
Black-headed Parrots...
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...and Orange-winged Parrots
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The broad Rio Napo
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About an hour down the Rio Napo
in Pompeya Sur, where this truck
took us ~55 km down the Maxus Rd
(built by an oil company that went
bankrupt)
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Destination was the Tiputini 2 bridge,
where after a short birdwatching stop...
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...we got into another boat for a
two-hour ride down the Rio Tiputini
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The Tiputini river (photo by
Peter English)
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Our destination - the Tiputini Biodiversity
Station, built by the University of San
Francisco in Quito on land purchased
by Boston University
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Another view of Tiputini (photo
by Peter English)
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At TBS, one could really feel
"away from it all"
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A beautiful heliconia in the
rainforest at TBS
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If you want to see canopy birds
in the rainforest, a 130-ft tower built
around a Ceiba tree is just the ticket,
unless you don't like heights, in which
case don't look down through the steps!
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Victor Emanuel mans the scope
in the Tiputini tower shortly
after dawn
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More views from the tower (photo
by Peter English)
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ditto...
|
ditto again
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Robert peruses his field guide
outside our room, while Liza's
boots stand guard
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Robert on the trail at Tiputini
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Afternoon canoe ride -
Disney jungle cruise, eat
your heart out
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Reboarding the boat starting the
journey to Sacha Lodge
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Liza and Robert on the boat
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Not bad for a big canoe
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Peter English of VENT
is happy to be in the jungle
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Victor scans the shoreline
from the boat
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Once again at Pompeya Sur - after
getting thoroughly soaked in a downpour
on the boat ride
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Liza soaked and not bothering
to dry off
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First look at Sacha Lodge
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Sacha Lodge
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A raised (and rickety) walkway
leads to the cabins at Sacha
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Our cabin! So no giant
cockroaches here - only bedbugs
and smaller cockroaches that
flew :-(
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Robert on an afternoon boat ride
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Liza, Robert, and Victor in the
boat
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View of Sacha from the boat
dock
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Robert and Liza standing
in the lake
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Group on the boat
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Sacha sunset
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Happy New Year!
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Victor and Robert
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View from the boat
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Another boat shot |
Returning to Coca, which
interestingly looked better than
when we left! |
Robert and Peter supposedly
looking at a Laughing Gull,
which would have been only
the third record of that bird
in eastern Ecuador |
Final group dinner |
Musician Wren (photo by
Peter English) |
Fasciated Antshrike (photo by
Peter English) |