Day 9: Zamora, Amazon Once the group finished up with our delicious breakfast, we began our long road trip to the Amazon in Zamora! The scenery along the way was absolutely beautiful, lots of grass fields, cattle and beautiful mountain tops. Diego informed us that the grass that we saw before us was actually introduced around the Inca times, called cucouyou. The main reason for this introduction was for cattle. When the animals ate the grass, it made their milk creamier and better. Diego further explained that once this introduction took place, the Incas began introducing other species of grasses, planting it specifically for each species of farm animal.
Breakfast at the Victoria Hotel
Along the way we stopped for lunch in a city called Loja. Diego informed the group that Loja was one of the first cities in Ecuador to use renewable energy and recycle. Loja is considered to be one of the cleanest cities, similar to Cuenca. He further explained to us that Loja uses wind power as well has dam hydropower to produce energy for the entire city and even parts of Zamora. We stopped for lunch at a food court that had different options like Chinese, Italian, burgers, and some snacks. Once we were finished lunch, we continued on our long road trip to Zamora.
The beautiful waterfall
Along the way, we stopped and saw a waterfall that was right on the outskirts of the Amazon Rainforest, which Diego had the group take a photo in front of. It was a little scary being that we were sitting on a curb directly on the road. Just as Diego snapped the picture a large truck zoomed by us. We continued on to the lodge. Once we were checked in, we brought our belongings to our bungalows. In my mind I pictured a bungalow to look different but they were very similar looking to log cabins. Once we were all settled in, we walked down to the outside, dinner lodge. The area had a roof over our heads, a kitchen, bathrooms and a pantry. The dining area was wall-less which was amazing because there were several hummingbird feeders placed around the area and several different species of hummingbird’s were flying all around us. One even flew by my head so fast that I felt the air off it’s wings and my hair even moved.
The outside, dinner lodge
Hummingbird feeding
We took a very short hike up one of the trails at the lodge to see the gray tinamou, a very rarely spotted bird that can only be found in two very small areas in Ecuador. Some of the group stayed for a while but eventually headed back down when the tinamou didn’t show right away. Myself, along with four others remained. We were determined to see this rare species. Eventually the tinamou showed up and he was very cool looking (pictures below). Not what I was expecting it to look like but his coloring was very monochromatic- his entire body was a bluish/gray, including his beak and feet. Once we witnessed the sight of this rare bird, we returned to the lodge for dinner.
The Gray Tinamou (Photo taken by Greg Fischer)
After we finished up at dinner, we watched the hummingbirds and night life of the Amazon come alive. Shortly after, everyone but Greg and I returned to their rooms and got ready for bed. The two of us decided to search for frogs. It is said that the Amazon has the most beautiful and unique frogs. Unfortunately, we did not find any frogs but we did find a lot of interesting and even creepy insects. Of course, me being afraid of spiders found a lot of them. The one spider was very large, brown and hairy, it was hiding in a leaf of a plant. Another insect we found was what we assumed was some kind of species of grasshopper. At first we thought it was eating another insect but after closet inspection, we determined he was malting his skin (pictures below). It was a very cool thing to have witnessed. After not finding any frogs, we both decided it was time to head to bed.
The malting grasshopper (Photo taken by Greg Fischer)