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The night sky lit by the full moon before me; I gazed out my bus window at the outline of the Andes mountains. Soon that picture-like view turned to jungle as far as the eye could see. This is the part of travel that I truly love; getting back into raw nature. Witnessing the beauty of God’s creation; untouched and thriving on its own. We made our way ten hours down a road that changed from mountain to jungle, pavement to dirt, winter temperatures to summer. Rest stops were made few and far between; wherein the men lined one side of the bus and the women the other. Unable to sleep, I simply stared out my window, listened to my favorite tunes, and thought about the unknown which lied ahead.

Into the Unknown

Jeremy Curl
2006-08-28 12:28:09

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The night sky lit by the full moon before me; I gazed out my bus window at the outline of the Andes mountains. Soon that picture-like view turned to jungle as far as the eye could see. This is the part of travel that I truly love; getting back into raw nature. Witnessing the beauty of God’s creation; untouched and thriving on its own. We made our way ten hours down a road that changed from mountain to jungle, pavement to dirt, winter temperatures to summer. Rest stops were made few and far between; wherein the men lined one side of the bus and the women the other. Unable to sleep, I simply stared out my window, listened to my favorite tunes, and thought about the unknown which lied ahead.

Arriving in Coca early the next morning, I made my way over to the restaurant that my contact (Luis) supposedly worked. Lucky for me, Luis was there and took me over and introduced me to a local guide (Marcos). Marcos and I sat in his home and discussed options and prices. Of course, the prices were more than I had been led to believe. After much arguing and bartering, we came to an agreement. We would be leaving together the following day via local transport (10 hours) to the town of Nuevo Rocafuerte; which sets on the banks of the Rió Napo. This river is one of the larger tributaries of the Amazon, and would be my home for the next week. In Rocafuerte, we would stay the night and head into the Yasuni National Park the following morning. We would spend the next two days in the park and camp over night in the jungle. The rest of the agreement was that he would provide all food and water for three days and boat me down river (1 hour) to the town of Pantoja (Peru/Ecuador border) on Wednesday. After settling our plans, I went straight to my hotel to get some well needed rest.

Thinking that I was the only gringo in town, I soon discovered that I was wrong. Marcos had hunted one down and talked him (Phillipe) into joining us; I guess he needed to make up for the ...