Coca, El Rio Napo, y personas carismáticas.

Captain´s log, Day 12: Day two in Coca. Living out of various internet cafes for clerical purposes. Though it is the dry season, it has been a regular Amazonian deluge all afternoon. No matter, as people are extremely conversational, and I have plenty of Brazilian-visa arrangement challenges to keep me occupied. Plan Yasuni is go for tomorrow.


Let´s talk about international travel for a minute. Here`s a bit of a picture-book run-through.

In Ecuador, $10 will get you two beds, (because it`s the tropics, mercifully) cold showers, and Scott Pilgrim in Spanish on your TV at night. Hotel San Fermin in Coca pictured.

$36 will get you luxury accomodations, a tiled bath set in your floor, three walls of a fourth story view of the city around you, a fridge, a walk-in closet, free internet access in the hotel lobby computer room for 24 hours a day, and an incredible buffet breakfast of local fare. Pictured; Hotel Auca in Coca, Ecuador.

$36 for a room. Waorani portraits and coffeetable books about Yasuni and Anazonian tribes on most floors.

In addition to the portraits, there is a lovely gated and walled garden that`s lit up at night with small stone benches and wrought iron garden tables tucked into the lush foliage. I couldn't manage to get a good picture. Here's another Waorani portrait, though!

Coca has certainly changed from 2007. There is more of it, and more Amazonian tours coming through it. This logo is all over the city`s trash cans, parks, and tshirts.

This poster reminded me of my Monteverde bird poster! If I didn't have so much travel ahead, I would look for one.

I decided to partake in one night of luxury before Yasuni tomorrow. I regret nothing. This is the lobby of the Hotel Auca. It´s gorgeous...and they have an open karaoke bar from 9 to midnight on Thursdays and Fridays. See if I can't sing me some Carlos Vives with a few Pilseners...(just kidding I'm going to bed early because BIRDS TOMORROW).

I mentioned earlier that Coca has some lovely parks. On top of the fountain that lights up at night, the juice and snack bar, the really tempting rotating jungle gym and line of tire swings, the central park is well suited to cater to curious tourists. There is a bunch of Napo, Quechua (Kichwa), and Waorani lore on a number of plaques in the park.

And awesome labels for all the plants for curious biologists! Go Coca.

These hanging Heliconia may be the best I've yet seen in my travels.

I really liked this story. Moons and NIGHTHAWKS (like potoos)...total Nikki bait.

The public school is right across from the central park. On the outside walls, members of the community and classes from the school have painted a number of environmentally-minded murals.

Very poignant, especially given the conversations I had with a number of people who live in Coca. Explanations to follow.

Another street view. There is an absolute ARMY of taxis here. It`s how the majority of people get around with heavy bags here.

More new things about Coca: I was reminded by a local that the marina walk is only half a decade old. It used to be a beach. She (the woman I spoke to) had mixed feelings about it, given the departure of the birds who used to live on it, and the dearth of fish at the riverfront near Coca these days.

I mentioned quail eggs in the last post. They sell them boiled with salt or pepper as a street snack here.

International travel. Those of you who know me know I love to talk to absolutely everyone, and that tendency has certainly taken me far in my travels. It`s why I was able to get a one-day tour to Yasuni, lunch included, for less than seventy dollars. Or why I knew where to get the best Sancocho (soup with thick, hominy-type corn, yucca, and a piece of some kind of meat or fish) in Coca last night. I can`t say I can complain about my freshly made guyaba juice, sopita, seco de pollo with rice, cabbage salad, patacones and yucca for $4 tonight, either. Just an hour ago I was in an open-air restuarant where half the clientele cried 'GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL' with the futbol announcer. The outside view of the lit storefronts, the teenage couples (some still in white polo and blue skirt or khaki school uniforms) being secretive in the park, the kids squealing around the playground and chasing each other around the fountain, and older men playing at the stone chess tables; the thrum of music from every street corner, the exhaust of dozens of motorbikes, and the streets still sweating off the rain. Coca, Ecuador.

Before I go any further with the imagery, I`d like to talk a bit about two long conversations I was able to have with residents today.The first was with the lovely Quechua couple who have ownership in the Witoto Tours agency in Coca, and lasted two and some hours as the skies opened up and gave us a dose of serious Amazonian lightning. The second was with a local agricultural vet, yelling over the din of about three hundred chickens of various ages in the grain and ag. med supply store across from the open street market.

(Okay, maybe everything is imagery in places like Coca.)

 When I went to give my information and payment to the tour agency I visited yesterday, I started up a conversation with a woman who I found out co-owns the agency with her son and husband. She is native Quechua, and her parents and grandparents only speak Quechua. I told her of how I had read about Yasuni from the states for years, and how different it was to actually be here and see the destruction, to get people`s firsthand opinions. She ended up telling me the long story of how the fish had slowly disappeared around here or gotten smaller and less healthy as the city has expanded over the last decade, or how people visiting don`t understand that even though there are still trees along the river, all the animals have left. She lauded the teachers and biologists that visited the schools and the ecolodges along the river, but lamented on how they could never stay, and how so much more education and understanding was needed here for the city`s residents. She didn`t have much faith in ecotourism. Most of the ecotours focus on giving tourists what they want to see: bits of Amazonian culture, the charismatic animals. The people left with wonder for the forest, and no real inkling of the dangers it faces. She poured me warm cola in a plastic cup produced from the drawer of her wooden desk. I took it gratefully.

The oil companies, she said, were quick to give gifts for tight lips and averted eyes. She said that many Quechua families took housing materials, electronics, and money in exchange for permission to drill in their communities, not realizing the impacts of the drilling until it was too late. She feared that `Lo que no se ve, pronto se olvida`-that people of Coca will soon forget the old ways of life and how the rainforest used to be, and that it will all be lost and forgotten (she was fond of spanish proverbs, and used many throughout our conversation). I told her I wished that I and others could help, and that I would certainly write about her story and not forget it. We sat and listened to the rain for some time in silence. When I finally looked at my watch, I had been there about an hour and a half.

I re-vamped and re-routed the conversation by asking about the drink I had tried off the menu at a small restaurant called La Casa del Maito. Guyusa, I said. Almost like tea, but so much more. Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed a woven palm basket off an adjacent table. It was filled with leaves strung on a circular dry garland. At this point, her husband, who had been listening silently to our exchange for the entire past hour and a half, got up and launched into an explanation of first the small tree that bears Guyusa leaves. This evolved into an explanation of the various other artifacts around the cabin, an extensive correction of my terrible spanish verb conjugations by the both of them (for which I was also very grateful), advice on where to see which birds and in which part of the river various creatures were abundant, and eventually silly, touristy picture-taking for both their amusement and mine. This entire episode was spent with the wood-door windows shut against the rain, which continued with some ferocity on the corrugated-steel roof. It was magic. They told me that people here were chatismatic--lively, quick to help (or hinder, as she warned me about some of the local men who would see me only as a gringa soltera). and rich in culture. They were living proof.

These are the leaves used in the preparation of Guyusa, which is (apparently, as today has taught me) a traditional drink for many Quechua. It`s like no tea you've ever tasted: really hard to pin the flavor, because there seem to be three stages of it. Try some if you get the chance. It's incredible.

The wonderful spouse of my afternoon companion told me that when you catch pirhanas, they speak english. They say 'good! good! good! good!' when you pull them out of the water. I've not yet experienced this. I will have to listen harder.

He also explained to me how the Quechua use this type of leaf as a natural sandpaper. It really works, and is quite tough when dried!

I was shown where the best places for Jacamar and River Dolphin sightings are on the Napo and its tributaries. The river in the middle here is the Amazon, going to Iquitos, Peru, where I will be in February.

They INSISTED that I take pictures dressed up in traditional garb. It was still raining super hard outside, so I couldn't escape. They took the camera from my hands and had to pose with me.

Both of them. We all had a good laugh, and she gave me a bracelet made with palm seeds. I thanked them and insisted on paying for it. They were wonderfully kind people. Certainly `charismatic,' as she kept saying people are around here.

Really, though: If you ever find yourself in Coca, check out Witoto for Yasuni tours. Their building is currently the closest to the waterfront across from the Naval Armada building.

Feeling warm after the rain let up, and deciding I wanted to explore a bit more before heading back to another internet cafe, I headed towards the street market and found an agricultural vet. I was lucky enough to get to chat with him for a minute and ask about what happens with wild animals found being smuggled through Coca from the parks. He told me that the police usually handle it, and only once has he ever seen a wild animal---he couldn`t do anythnig for it anyway, it was too far gone. I`m sorry to say that I didn`t catch what kind of animal it was between the rapid spanish and the din inside the store, but it sounded like it was pretty big. I think he said he helped them move it from a truck, as if it were a multi-person job.

I got fewer pictures with my second encounter, too. The vet was quite busy, and my Spanish was quite insufficient, but he answered all my questions about (limited) local wildlife rehabilitation quite patiently. SO MANY POLLITOS. The noise of the hundreds of chicks and pullets almost drowned our vocies completely.

It`s getting late! Ten here in the lobby of the Hotel Auca. I should really be on my way to bed so I can get up for my 5 am boat to Yasuni tomorrow. Parting shots: here`s a bit of work I did for Yarina Ecolodge today! I realized that in listing only the birds I've seen, I've been short-changing all the awesome mammals and reptiles we've spotted. Most of what I have seen so far is in this google doc. Check it out!

An Ameteur English Guide to the Animals of Yarina

(The formatting got a little screwy when I uploaded it, but you´ll get the idea.)

Goodnight, all. Parrot clay licks, here I come.