Semana Santa Adventure in Ecuador

This may have been our most travel intensive Semana Santa yet!

Our final destination was Sacha Lodge, deep in the Amazon Basin near the Napo River in Ecuador.

               
                But to get there, we needed to take a flight from Bogota to Quito.   Then a flight from Quito to take us over the Andes to Cola.  From Cola, we headed by boat 50 km (and 2 1/2 hours)  along the Napo River until we came to an unassuming dock.  Once ashore, we walked 30 minutes through the jungle to the Pilchicocha lake...

Where we finally arrived at Sacha.  We immediately put on our swimming suits and headed to the lake for a swim.  Never mind the piraña and caiman also sharing this lake... we learned that the pirañas are scavengers of the already dead and the caiman seemed to be interested in hanging out near the bbq that gets fired up twice a week (Wednesdays and Sundays).  So, yes, we swam with the most feared (at least from a Hollywood perspective) animals in the Amazon.

 But the lake was just too beautiful and inviting to stay out of.  An interesting water fact about Pilchicocha is that it is a black water lake.  It looked like English Breakfast tea... you could only see a foot or two below the surface of the water.  This is because the dead leaves and branches that fall into the water release a compound that decomposes and then turns the water a deep black color.  A downside may be that you can't see the caimans and pirañas coming to nibble on you, but an upside was that the acidity of the water is too high, making the lake an inhospitable place for mosquitos to lay eggs.

 Pretty evening in the Amazon

Although only 2% of what we know as the Amazon is found in Ecuador, we were thoroughly blown away by the awe-inspiring sights and sounds.  I feel a little overwhelmed by the task of justly writing about our trip... so more installments to come of our time in the Amazon.