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The open plan of the dormitory meant that there was not much proivacy; once someone was up, everyone was up. The other guests were on an earlier schedule than we were today, but when they got up at 5 a.m., we were awakened as well. We laid in the dark until 5:45, while the other group ate their breakfast. We packed with the aid of our headlamps. The other group of guests left via the river at 6 o'clock.
We were all packed and ready to go by the time our 6:30 breakfast was ready. We had a quick breakfast of yogurt, granola, fruit cup, hard boiled eggs, bread, cheese, and juice. The guys had already loaded all of our gear onto the motorized canoe. When do they sleep? At 7:10, we hit the water. We found familiar sights around every turn; happy memories of our three days of kayaking. It was like replaying the entire paddle in high speed reverse. It was also rather bittersweet, as it was the last day we would spend with Felipe, Arturo, and Ñame. The trip was drawing to a close, and today was the first of three days which would be spent traveling home. It was a full two hours in the motorized boat upstream before we passed our wooded camping spot. It made us realize just how far we had paddled on that last day. Luckily, the sun wasn't out today and it was pleasantly cool, because it was going to be a long ride. We enjoyed the scenery and saw blue morpho butterflies, some of “Craig’s favorite butterflies” (we didn’t know the name of the species but they were quite pretty), chattering squirrel monkeys, a small hawk, macaws, and a striated heron (recognized from a painting in our Casa Aliso room). Felipe, Arturo, and Ñame slouched in their seats and took naps. Eventually we got to Ñame's Huaorani village, near where we had camped on our first night of kayaking. The other group who had left the lodge at 6 o'clock was there, but they were just leaving. We greeted the Huaoranis at the river's edge and then walked a short way along a trail through the woods to Ñame's family's house. It was a large A-frame building with a palm roof. Inside were blow dart guns, hammocks, even a porcelain commode (which wasn't hooked up to anything). We met Ñame's father Karoway again, as well as the woman who had raised Ñame as a mother. She had a lame foot from a snake bite (which in all rights should have killed her) as a young girl. Her mother had treated her with a jungle plant, and though her foot was badly injured, she survived. Years later when she was grown and married, her husband Karoway was bitten by the same species of snake. She remembered the plant that had cured her as a child, and she administered this to Karoway, saving him from certain death. Survival is no joke around here; there are many real dangers. We met Ñame's sister Yolanda and her large healthy-looking 9-month-old baby Nampa, which means dart or arrow in their language. Some of the women and girls were dressed traditionally in woven knee-length skirts, with necklaces of palm fibers, seeds, and animal teeth which encircled their torsoes and covered their breasts. Feather headbands wreathed their long black hair, and they wore orange makeup around their eyes. They sang a song for us, chanting, holding hands, and stepping forwards and backwards. Most of the younger generations wore jeans or shorts and T-shirts. Karoway showed Craig their blow dart gun and he hung up a plantain as a target. Craig hefted the gun, which was much heavier than the Waira Churis' had been, and he hit the plantain on the first shot. Karoway was skeptical if this was merely beginner's luck, so he had Craig try again. Two in a row. Craig came to represent! He earned the respect of the Huaorani and I was proud of him. Craig handed out handfuls of animal crackers to all of the kids. Felipe and Arturo like to bring animal crackers because they are a treat for the kids but do not rot their teeth like candy does. Kids held out their hands to receive their rations, and some enterprising kids realized that if they cupped the crackers into the front of their shirts, they could hold more. Felipe handed out cooking oil to the adults. Craig and I had brought a few notebooks and pens which I handed out to various children, which worked out well because school would be starting up again soon. We also gave them a frisbee, which the older kids started to play with immediately. Various women set some items out for sale, woven from palm fibers. We looked them over and selected several items, trying to spread our purchases out among different sellers. We bought a necklace, a bracelet, a woven plate, a small woven purse, and an arrow decorated with macaw feathers (we would definitely need to pack that one in the checked luggage!) Our boat driver had moved the boat downstream a bit, closer to where we were, so it would be easier for us to climb aboard. Several Huaoranis came aboard as well, and they loaded in a broken boat motor which they wished to transport upstream. We had learned less about the Huaorani than we had about the Kichwas (both the mountain and jungle dwelling Kichwas). It was hard to tell how the Huaorani really live day-to-day. Is what we had just seen indicative of a subsistence lifestyle, augmented by occasional tourist money? Or is their day-to-day reality more like that of the Waira Churis; living in modern society, but with a conscious effort to retain their customs and heritage? Has the oil industry provided easy money in exchange for being complicit in damaging their environment? It was hard to tell, but it is at least a good sign that someone Ñame's age is interested in learning and demonstrating and keeping alive native skills. We headed 20 kilometers back upstream to our put-in spot. It rained for about 5 minutes during the entire ride, not even enough to put ono ur raincoats. We arrived at just after 1 pm...6 hours altogether. Wow, we had paddled a long way. Felipe, Arturo, and Ñame unloaded our boat, tossing very heavy items (our large bags, propane tanks, coolers, etc.) to one another up the hill. Arturo got chairs out for us and set us up with a lunch of leftovers from the course of our river trip: fried rice, chicken, veggies, tuna, and deli meats. He is so good to us! While we ate they packed up all of the gear.We felt guilty, as if we should help, but Felipe shrugged it off. “We’re working. You’re on vacation. Enjoy!” They stowed the kayaks in a storage area and loaded the luggage into the truck. Then we drove an hour and a half to Coca. It rained, so we had to roll up the car windows. It was rather stuffy and damp inside, and Craig started to feel a bit carsick as we drove. Along the way, we saw a large snake in the road. While we stopped to get a picture out the window, a car sped by in the other direction, and the snake was directly in its path. We were shocked to see the snake “jump” at least 6 feet onto the safer shoulder of the road. It looked to us like a coral snake. It was probably good that we hadn't seen this until we were all done sleeping in the jungle. We arrived in Coca at 3:30 p.m. It's funny because the city sneaks up on you. You are in the middle of nowhere, you cross a bridge over the wide Napo River, and then the next thing you know you are in the city. We went straight to the Hotel El Auca. As Arturo drove into the gated property, we saw several macaws sitting on the edge of a dumpster. It was very amusing because the hotel had a well-manicured central courtyard with a picturesque perch and bunches of plantains for the birds, but they preferred to scavenge from the dirty old dumpster in the back parking lot. Felipe got us checked into our room (#118), and we all said our goodbyes. We set my camera on timer and got a photo of the five of us together next to some statues of Huaoranis in the central courtyard. There was a spider monkey in the nearby tree (another resident of the hotel grounds, along with the macaws) and Felipe warned that he might try to steal the camera. Felipe and Arturo would be driving back to Quito tonight (another 5 hours on the road). It was sad saying goodbye to them after sharing so many happy days together. Felipe told us that Ñame would be staying in Coca overnight and would escort us to the airport in the morning. He would pick us up at 9:30 a.m. It would be nice to see a familiar face in the morning. We waved to the guys and headed back into our room. Our simple room had air conditioning and we took some of our damp jungle river clothes out of our bags and hung them around the room on every available surface (the TV wall mount, etc.) to dry. It looked like our luggage had exploded. An employee came to the door to drop off a chocolate bar for the mini-bar. Oooh, a mini-bar! After he left, we looked at the offerings. This would be our first frosty cold drink in days. The prices were very cheap. Craig enjoyed a Pilsener beer and I had a strawberry soda. It was so cool and refreshing after days in the jungle heat and humidity! We relaxed for a while and took nice warm showers, another novelty after a few nights spent out in the wild. The shower doors were colored to look like stained glass macaws. After freshening up, we headed down to the ground floor and crossed the courtyard to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The hotel was definitely geared more toward local travelers than international guests, and not many of the staff spoke English. We took a seat at the Dayuma Restaurant, which was decorated to resemble the rainforest. Craig ordered a Pilsener beer and I ordered a peach smoothie. We noticed that other bottles of beer served to other tables had a napkin garnish (or "little hat") on the top of the bottle. We jokingly wondered why Craig hadn't gotten one. I ordered the Hawaiian chicken, which was a chicken tenderloin served with pineapple, peaches, cream, and plantains. Craig got chicken tenderloin in gravy with mushrooms and bacon. We tried to order him a side of plantains (a choice on the menu) but we were told we could only have fries. The menu said that Craig's entree would be served with a salad. Craig was debating the pros and cons of eating raw vegetables abroad, but it turned out he needn't have worried; he wasn't served one anyway. We just laughed, and joked that we weren't at Casa Aliso any more! For dessert we got a banana split with mora and chocolate ice cream. It was yummy! After dinner we crossed the courtyard and went back to the room. I wrote in the journal and we turned on the TV for a few minutes while we wound down. We watched part of a program on the Mexican Travel Channel, and then went to bed at 10:30. View Larger Map |
         
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