We visited the Amazon as part of a several-month tour of South America. It was difficult to decide which part of the Amazon to go to but we chose Ecuador as it fit most conveniently with our plans. It’s worth noting that Ecuador is not the most common choice for an Amazon experience as you’re likely to get better wildlife spotting opportunities in Bolivia or Peru. I’ve provided some information on alternative options here.
Our Amazon trip turned out to be one of the craziest experiences of the whole South America tour. We were based in Quito as we were also visiting the mountains whilst in Ecuador. (As an aside I would highly recommend a visit to the Quilotoa region of Ecuador if you’re in the country… one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on Earth). It started with us booking an ecolodge called “Hakuna Matata”… the name seemed a little out of place but, what the hell, it looked nice so we decided to roll with it. Looking at the map it didn’t seem to be located too deep in the rainforest, within a day’s drive from Quito. Thus we made the spectacularly foolish decision to hire a car and drive to our accommodation.
At the car rental place it quickly became apparent that we were getting the deal reserved especially for gringo tourists. We were given a Pontiac GTO from the early noughties, covered in dents and scratches. We tried our best to mark them all down / take pictures (I’m sure the staff found this hilarious). Little did we know that they wouldn’t even care about checking the vehicle when we returned it a few days later. Begrudgingly signing the paperwork, so began our journey to the Amazon in the most unsuitable vehicle imaginable…
It’s worth pointing out that we had already travelled a fair bit through Ecuador before we made the decision to drive down to the Amazon. What we’d experienced were brand new, beautifully laid, wide open roads. We’d been told by locals that this was part of a wide ranging social improvement plan by the Ecuadorian government, and so naively we assumed that this covered all the major roads leaving the capital city. The journey indeed began with fresh new roads and at first the drive was a breeze. However as we descended deeper into the rainforest it became clear that the new highway project had only reached so far. You may be picturing bumpy, muddy, narrow lanes but the reality was more scary… The new road seemed to have been completed in patches. As we drove along fast, winding lanes with steep drops to one side we’d suddenly turn a corner and be faced with a JCB in the middle of the road, or otherwise a patch of road with no tarmac but just a layer of gravel that would send the car into a skid. Truly terrifying stuff!
Towards the end of a long day’s drive, mostly spent fearing we wouldn’t survive the journey, the scariest part was still to come. We’d breathed a sigh of relief after seeing a sign for the Hakuna Matata but before that one last obstacle stood in our way – a river. To cross this river it was necessary to use a bridge made up of two adjacent planks of wood suspended with rope. My poor boyfriend navigated precariously over it in the awful car – looking back I’m genuinely amazed that I trusted him enough to stay in the passenger seat. However he handled it like a pro and I was immensely proud of him. Finally the journey was over and we had reached our accommodation.
We were visiting in the low season and when we arrived at the lodge we were the only guests there. We were completely spoilt and pampered by the staff and really felt like VIPs. Admittedly it was a little bit disconcerting and we were relieved when other guests started to arrive and the resort felt more alive. Hakuna Matata was a beautiful and comfortable place with a lovely palm tree shaped pool; we were very happy with our choice.
We booked a guided Amazon tour via the resort and were lucky enough to be given a private tour. Our guide explained that he was indigenous to the area and had grown up in the forest – this made all the difference to the type of tour it turned out to be. He took us to a small village where we were to catch a boat, and as we waited for our transport we watched witchetty grubs being skewered and barbecued alive. We couldn’t miss sampling them and they tasted great – not too dissimilar from smoked bacon. We then jumped into our boat and travelled for a long while down an Amazon river tributary deep into the rainforest. Having disembarked we spent a day exploring the rainforest, our guide pointing out unusual plants and wildlife and telling us stories about his childhood experience in the forest. He found some live ants that he used to eat as his version of sweets… known as “lemon ants” because they pop in your mouth and leave a lemony sherbet kind of taste. I can say from personal experience that they were yummy! One of the most exciting parts of the day too was when the guide found a tiiiiiny frog – it was barely the size of a fingernail but fully formed in frog shape, so amazing!
We were also lucky enough to visit Amazoonico animal sanctuary (where rescued animals are rehabilitated and reintroduced into the wild) and a local community-based tourism project where we learnt about traditional foods, games and handicrafts. I even got to try a blow pipe used for hunting and I was a pro! (Definitely not a fluke…) The whole tour was a really fun and varied experience that we’ll never forget.
We’d had an amazing few days in the Amazon and the only thing hanging over us was the thought of the drive back to Quito which we were dreading. It had rained quite a bit during our stay at Hakuna Matata and the rickety bridge crossing was just the start of it. A few hours into our drive we started to pass small waterfalls and landslides running across the road that were gradually increasing in severity and inconvenience. As we navigated along a winding road, with a tall rock face to the right of us and a steep slope to the left, we hit a traffic jam. It was at a standstill and no traffic was coming past in the opposite direction either. We sat there for half an hour or so wondering what was going on and other people were clearly thinking the same as they got out of their cars and wandered up the road. My boyfriend decided to do the same so I waited in the car whilst he went to investigate. He was gone a good half hour and when he came back the prognosis wasn’t good. There was a huge landslide blocking the road. We weren’t sure what to do but he’d seen a recovery crew arriving with heavy machinery so we were hopeful that if we waited we’d be on our way soon.
The hours passed… luckily we had an iPad loaded with sitcoms that gave us something to do. We were also kept entertained by the fruit and food sellers that were going from car to car… “Naranja, mandarina, maracuya, pina!” We seemed to be in the middle of nowhere so couldn’t work out where they had appeared from, there was even someone selling hot empanadas! After about 4 hours without moving we were getting really stressed. It was starting to go dark, there was a storm overhead and I was having visions of sleeping in the car and getting washed away in another avalanche.
Eventually the traffic started to inch forward slowly. As we were in such a long queue of traffic it took us a while to get to the site of the rockfall and when I saw it my first thought was that there was no way we were getting through. But they waved us on regardless. We had to navigate around the diggers and pass through a torrent of rainwater coming down from the mountain – as we went through the water came up as far as the windows of the car and brought with it a whole bunch of rocks smashing into us. There was a lot of swearing in those few moments but somehow we made it through.
After that ordeal the rest of the journey was comparatively painless and we made it back to the car rental place in time, very happy to crash in our comfy airbnb bed that night. When I think back to that road trip, although it seemed insane that we went by car, the only other option would have been by coach. In all honesty I think it would have been terrifying in a large vehicle driven by a crazy Latin American driver, so in the end I’m glad we did take a car. At least I can now 100% confirm that my boyfriend is not lying when he says he’s a good driver!
Hidden Corners 