Hoy les voy a contar como hacer un Tour de 4 días y 3 noches por el amazonas en la Cuyabeno Reserve de Ecuador.
The Amazon is so vast that it can be visited from various points in South America. While the largest portion is located in Brazil, it can also be explored from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.
En Ecuador, los recorridos más comunes de la selva se hacen desde la Reserva de Cuyabeno y el Parque Nacional Yasuni (aunque no tan fácil de desde este último).
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Book the right tour from Quito
Quito is full of travel agencies offering tours with different options. They all offer more or less the same itinerary for each day spent in the jungle, and at a similar price. There are packages for 3 days and 2 nights, 4 days and 3 nights, and 5 days and 4 nights. What may vary from one agency to another is the lodge where you'll be staying. Each one has an agreement with a specific lodge, although if one is full, they'll offer you another.
It's worth noting that these excursions can also be booked from other parts of the country, such as Baños, but this guide is based on departures from Quito.
Prices can vary between £$S 260 and £$S 320 for one person, depending on the number of days chosen (negotiable). They generally include overnight stays at the lodges, all meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and round-trip transportation from Lago Agrio to the lodge.
What's on our own is transportation from Quito to Lago Agrio, approximately U$S 12, and the return trip. To do this, we must travel on a long-distance night bus. It departs from the Carcelen Terminal (the northern terminal) at approximately 11:00 p.m. Keep in mind that some metropolitan buses that go to the terminal stop operating after 9:30 p.m. In that case, you'll have no choice but to take a taxi. The trip from Quito to Lago Agrio takes approximately 6:30 hours.
The itinerary that I booked and that I will detail below is 4 days and 3 nights, staying at the Cuyabeno Dolphin Lodge.
Day 1: On the way to the Cuyabeno Reserve – Laguna Grande
Tomorrow
I arrived around 5:30 in the morning. Everything was still dark and closed. I had to kill time until 9:30, the scheduled time for the van to pick us up.
I tried to get some sleep in the terminal to make the hours pass more quickly. It was hard to fall asleep with one hand on my backpack to avoid any opportunistic guests. Around 9:00 a.m., I headed to the meeting point set by the agency. They're usually hotels on Lago Agrio's main avenue.
At 9:30 a.m., the vans from the various agencies begin to arrive. There, you'll meet the guide who will accompany you for the next three days.
The trip from Lago Agrio to the Cuyabeno River Bridge takes two hours. All groups from the various agencies get off to take the boats that will take us into the Cuyabeno Reserve, toward the Lodges. You can take the opportunity to use the restroom, eat, and stretch your legs. There is usually a lot of tourists waiting for their boats and to return to the city.
Once we depart by boat, we slowly make our way deeper into the Cuyabeno Reserve. Everything around us begins to resemble jungle. The trip takes approximately two hours, depending on where our accommodation is, but it's a beautiful journey to enjoy. The boat navigates through narrow channels, branches of the river, taking us deeper and deeper into the depths of nature. The further away from civilization we are, the more animals we begin to see. On these trips, we'll encounter a wide variety of birds and monkeys.
Late
Upon arriving at the Lodge, we are assigned our rooms, we rest for a while and in the afternoon we begin the first excursion, going to the Laguna Grande to swim and watch the sunset.
From the Lodge to the lagoon, it can take a 20-minute boat ride, more or less depending on your location. However, the time allowed is equally enjoyable. During these tours, the guide always tries to look for animals in the surrounding area, including alligators, piranhas, monkeys, birds, and even small anacondas.
Take advantage of every trip to explain the characteristics of the flora and fauna of the Cuyabeno Reserve. They are usually very receptive to our questions. Take advantage of this opportunity and clear up any doubts you may have. We're not in the Amazon every day.
Laguna Grande It's just like its name suggests, a large open space of water surrounded by jungle, where there are no animals willing to eat us while we swim :D. It's usually the ideal place to see sunsets in the jungle, and if you're lucky, some pink dolphins.
As the sun sets, darkness takes over, and our world begins to take on more life. Sounds are heard that weren't heard before. Sailing during the day has another attraction. The guide takes out a flashlight and shines the light around our boat, looking for vermin. At night, we're more likely to encounter small alligators and snakes.
Finally we return to the Lodge for dinner and bed after a long day.
Day 2: Trekking through the Cuyabeno Reserve – Flooded Forest
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We had an early breakfast and went out for a walk. 3-hour trekking in the jungle.
The hike isn't difficult at all. It's flat throughout and swampy in places. During the walk, the guide will tell us about the animals that live here, their habits, characteristics, and eating habits—a real-life biology lesson. We'll encounter spiders, all kinds of monkeys, birds, giant ants, and a wide variety of insects we'd never see at home (luckily :O).
After finishing the trek, we return to the Lodge, have lunch, and rest for a while.
Afternoon – Evening
In the afternoon we go to Cuyabeno Flooded Forest, so named because it has many trees and plants rising directly from the water. It's near Laguna Grande. A boat ride through the forest is very pleasant.
It's also usually a good place to look for boas or caimans... if you're lucky. In our case, we found a baby anaconda and not much else. A torrential downpour suddenly began, forcing us to turn back. It was impossible to see anything in those conditions. Abrupt weather changes are common: one moment it's sunny and clear, and the next a massive storm hits. We had to return to the lodge without going out for the rest of the day.
Day 3: Visit to communities and trekking
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In the morning it is the turn of visit one of several indigenous communities who live within the Cuyabeno Reserve. The Siona was the chosen one, but maybe you get another one, they rotate the different groups of tourists so that the communities do not collapse.
They show you how they make yuka bread and explain how they live there, but honestly, I wasn't very interested. Everything is pretty set up for tourists; nothing seemed genuine. Sometimes the village shaman gives you a talk, for a fee. US$ 5 as a contributionThe only authentic experience I felt was a soccer game we had with the kids there and those in our group. We played for a while and then went into the river to cool off.
Late
In the afternoon, we returned to the Large lagoon to watch the sunset, get into the water and look for bugs and animals.
With each outing, we never know what we might encounter. Sometimes, along the same route, an animal appears that wasn't there before. On each outing, the guide is always on the lookout.
Evening
At night we did 1 hour of Night trekking along the “Saladero” trailA very good experience. The sounds of the jungle and the insects that appear at night are more intense than what we saw during the daytime trek. Spiders and bugs were everywhere (don't imagine Indiana Jones 2, either). Don't worry, they don't usually bother us :D
To conclude, we returned to the Lodge, had dinner and ended the last night.
Day 4: Birdwatching and Return to Quito
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Last day of the tour. Early in the morning we do bird watching, which is nothing more than taking the boat along the same old rivers. But since it's so early, around 7 or 8 in the morning, there are more birds, and the guide takes the time to look for them with binoculars and explain the variety of birds we're seeing.
At noon, we took the boat back to where it all began, to the Cuyabeno River Bridge. I experienced this journey with a certain sadness. It had been several days completely disconnected from civilization, from roads, cars, pollution, filth... everything that man brings with him.
Except for the accommodations, which fit in perfectly with the surroundings, we were surrounded by nature the entire time. Listening to the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, hearing the birds singing, and the sounds of any animal nearby—everything made this trip an unforgettable experience for me.
The tour ends in Agrio LakeThey'll drop you off there, and you're on your own again. To return to Quito, you can take tourist buses that drop you off at your hostel (they're more expensive), or take regular long-distance buses like the one we came on. The complication with the latter is that it drops you off at either the northern or southern terminals in Quito very late, around 11 p.m., so we'll need to take a taxi to get to our hotel.
And this is where we have come to an end with this story.
I hope you found this information useful, and if you have any questions, please write to me in the comments.
Remember that if you liked the images in the article, you have a whole Ecuador photo gallery to see.
Greetings and see you next time, travelers!
