Yasuni

I{m in Coca again, back from Yasuni national park, which has been great. the highlight of the trip to yasuni is one of the main highlights of my trip to Ecuador. we went to some clay licks, and we sat and waited in a bird hide, and after half an hour of patience, and hearing parrots in the skies overhead, the parrots began to descend to the clay lick, in fluttering rainbows of red and blue and yellow and green, dozens of them swarming the clay, and drinking in the nutrients, noisily squawking to each other, just ten metres or so away from us. it was increadible. most of the parrots are predominantly green when not in flight, although they may have blue heads or orange cheeks, but when they fly, their underwings reveal a beautiful array of colours, and if you can catch a photo of them in flight, their wings blur up and down like curved symmetraical rainbows as tehy fly towards you. it was utterly stunning and we all stayed quiet and watched them in awe. it was something i´ll remember for the rest of my life as an amazing wildlife moment.

we also went on watlks throug hthe forest, and frequently heard parrots overhead. our guide - Hector, who owns the island we visited 5 weeks ago - would poipnt out the parrots as they flew overhead "dusky headed parrots!" "scarlet macaws!" "yellow-winged parakeets!" but many of them were just dark silhouettes against the bright sky, so cannot compare in beauty to when we saw them at the clay licks. they are noisy, squawky birds who announce their presence frequently, and there are dozens of species in the Park.

Hecots also took us on forest walks where he expaoined differnt uses for the trees, folk tales, and got us doing things like weaving baskets out of leaves, and climbing trees with a vine rope around your feet. we also tore through the forest as we saw saki monkeys and another type of monkey in the trees overhead. the weatehr was cool (25´C) and a bit drizzly, but that can be preferable to the scorching heat of the day. i´m going to be mightily cold upon my return to england - brrr!

also on the walk, hector found a tree which contained grubs resembling a shrivelled penis - 3 inches long and nearly an inch wide, skin coloured, with a little black head, and they wriggle about from side to side in the most disgusting way. it´s a common jungle food, and you can see them in markets , skewered and wriggling about on barbecues which is enough to turn your stomach. imagine eating them raw... we didn´t have to imagine though, as he offered them out and several people (not me - i´m veggie, remember!!) took up the challenge. they bite you, so you have to crush their head before shoving the whole thing into yout mouth. puke-inducing stuff!! it{s pretty gross and maybe cruel to eat them like this, but it´s proabbly not as cruel as grilling them alive, although i imagine they taste better cooked.

what else? we went on a wander through the swamps near our camp, and i got a few great photos of frogs, and a snake which was apparently venomous, plus there was another big black snake which went under Mark´s tent at about 10pm, and everyone had to poke about nearby, trying to get it to come out so that he could go to bed in safetey. it was over a metre long, but that one, apparently, was not venomous.

we were sleeping in jungle hammocks, which are like hammocks with mozzie neta attached, and as we were setting them up and tying them to trees, Hecotr said we could set them up in the comedor (thatched hut) if we wanted. i weighed up the prospects of being jungle woman, versus the certainty of being dry during the wet season, and plumped for the latter. i was glad of this, because it pissed it down with rain, nad a load of people´s hammocks filled with water, and they migrated to the comedor floor during the night, so that when i woke up in the morning, the comedor looked like a refugee camp, with bags and bodies all over the floor. i was pleasantly dry and had slept well. prudence triumphs over jungliness!

the next day, we went to an "jungle interpretation centre" though quite why it needs interpreting rather than just understanding and appreciating, i never did find out. we found out about Quechua everyday life, and about some of the threateneed species that live underwater. we are on hte banks for the Napo river, a massive tributary half a mile wide, which feeds into the Amazon, but it´s easy to forget about fish, mammals and reptiles in the water that are threatened, vulnerable and endangered.

we also found out about how the evil oil companies are moving ever more into the heart of the area, drilling for oil, and felling forests, building roads, and displacing local communities in the process. it seems so wrong. but i want to power my car, and buy petrol at a reasonable price, and i want to be able to fly around the world and see othroug countires, and we have discussed whether we would be willing to give up petrol and electricity if it meant saving the Amazon, or whether we´d sacrifice the Amazon if it meant beaing able to power the world, and it´s a very difficult questions (you thgink about it). at least we can recognise that we are slightly hypocritical, beause we want the best of both worlds. i don{t know what the solution is. no one wants the rainforest to be cut down, but to do without the power we´ve come to expect and rely on doesn{t seem a tenable option either. it´s a tricky one, and it´s not goint to go away any time soon - it seems easy enough to think that maybe the decision is in the hands of world leaders ,or oil companies, but we are the ones demanding the oil, so maybe it´s in our hands too... but i´m not willing to give up my car... ugh! it gives me (and now you) a great deal to think about.

We are heading back to our usual camp now, where we will clean everything up, g oon a few walks for fun, and then we are heading for Quito (via Tena), then England. eek! it seems like a very long time ago that i was in England, but it will, in mayn ways, be good to be home, although i will miss this place and this life loads.