This
page provides additional info on the Doug's 2014 Amazon Basin/ Ecuador
trip(some details may change). This trip is 10 days, the exact dates not yet
determined, but we usually go in late October and costs about $2100, varying
with the cost of jet fuel.
As presently planned, in October, 2014 myself and about 10 photographers will
travel to Quito, Ecuador. We will photograph the capital city of Ecuador,
then head south along the Andes mountains, down the PanAmerican highway then
off on what is called the Sigehos Loop to end up at a lake in the top of a
volcano; Quilotoa Laguna. Yep; that's the crater lake you see pictured on
the "Trips Page". This lake is high and shrouded in mist, very photogenic.
If you like you can hike down into the crater.
We'll probably stay there until dusk then head on to a place called Posada de Tiqua. This is a working farm, a hacienda that is 125 (not a typo) years old... and they accepts guests. We'll stay there for two nights. Everything we eat is raised on the farm and it's delicious. At night we'll drag out the tripods and shoot the stars. At 12,000 feet, the clear, pollution-free, humidity free air makes for great astral photography. In the morning photograph the ideginous farmers milking cows, with steam rising of the hot milk, back lit by the rising sun. Mid day you can hike down to the sort of village to a small school. The indigenous kids there are glad to see you and they love to have their pictures taken.
After the second night we'll load up and go on to Pujili and it's indigenous market. This is not a tourist market; it's local farmers doing what people have always done.
From there we will travel to Banos, which isn't the Spanish word for bathroom...it's the Spanish word for bath. The hot springs that naturally flow out of the volcanos have been used for bathing for centuries. By here we are seriously dropping altitude. And that means waterfalls, steep gorges with cable cars, and beautiful valleys.
This will take us most of the day, but we will finally turn off the road and follow a dirt road through the jungle, eventually crossing a river; the Rio Arajuno, a tributary of the great Amazon River. There, a canoe will be waiting for us, to take us up river to the Arajuno Jungle Lodge. The lodge was built by Tom Larson, a 20 year veteran of the Peace Corps.
It's a small, remote place. Sometimes we see three-toed sloths in the trees, all sorts of amazing insects, many birds. While the lodge is remote, it's comfortable. The bungelows are quaint, each has it's own shower. The lodge has it's own water filtration system, solar panels for electricity, and even hot water.
For several days the lodge will be our home base as we venture out to hike the rain forest, spend a day with an indigenous village, and a day visiting an animal sanctuary. Finally we'll take the canoe back to the bridge, pick up our bus again and take a different route back, over the South American conteniental divide, through the cloud forest and back into Quito, then head out for the United States the following day.
While
there is a lot of other info in the links, please feel free to
email me or call me if you have any questions; 918-688-9606(I'm
in the central time zone).
If you want to go with us,
email me today
Updated November 5,2013.