The skies were very much cloudier today and we've just seen the weather forecast for the northern part of South America and it looks awful - heavy rain and thunderstorms are the order of the day so I have a horrible feeling our 4 hour trip along the Rio Napo will be less than pleasant. We've brought our "safari suitcases" with us as these are soft bags and easier to store on boats/small planes etc but they are not as watertight as the Samsonites. Having seen the forecast we've tried to line the insides with bin liners (thanks for the tip Al) in the hope we can keep our clothes a bit dry.
Estevan picked us up on time and as we were nearing the airport casually asked if we actually wanted to take all our luggage with us to the Amazon for 3 days as we could leave a bag with him and he'd drop it at our next hotel. Really kind of him but we wish he'd mentioned it before as we could have sorted the stuff methodically, instead we knelt on the floor in a quiet corner of the airport and frantically tried to move stuff from bag to bag - no doubt forgetting something vital.
Being an internal flight, security was very lax and we were soon boarding the plane. Although its only a 35 min flight we were still pleased to find we had front row seats with plenty of legroom. Amongst the others to board were 3 very, very tall people, looked like father and sons and it turned out they were part of our group. Lovely lads, Vittorio, Danilo and Frederico, the former is an ex basketball player and now an agent and the middle one plays professionally for Denver **** and also for the Italian National Side. Youngest son is hoping to get picked for an American team. Their heights are 6'8'', 6'10'' and 6'7'' respectively.
After collecting our one bag we were transferred a short 10 min ride to the river where we boarded a motorised canoe which held about 40 people, just us 5 at the front but a bunch of what we assume to be staff at the back. The two hour trip wasn't particularly interested as we may our way down river, zigzagging from side to side.
After that we transferred to a paddle canoe for another 1 1/2 hours which was far more interesting although light was fading so not easy to see/photograph. A monkey and another guy travelling with us but on a private tour.
Boat billed Heron
The lodge from the approach across the lake in fading light.
