lives most of their waking moments
as there was barely any meat on their
bones. Ah well.
The next morning, after no spi-
der encounters (much to my relief)
we were up at 6am ready for a boat
ride around the yellow tinged lake...
hence the name ‘Limon’-cocha. On
route to the small boat we saw some
wild monkeys playing in the trees,
and although the others weren’t that
amazed, I was so excited! My first ever
wild monkey sighting. We walked out
on the wooden jetty to the boat, and
then our guide held it still while we
all hopped in. The lake looked magic,
the morning haze hovering above the
water and all the native birds waking
up and chirping to us. It was unbeliev-
ably tranquil, despite the humming of
the tiny outboard motor slowly push-
ing the boat along. When we got to
the end, we came across a local man
catching Piranha with his bare hands
and throwing them into a bucket with
another couple of fish he’d managed
to grasp. Brave man!
Back on the road we headed to
nearby Coca, a much bigger town with
a knack of ripping off the tourists!
Sadly, a tour to see the pink dolphins
would entail a few days on a boat and
several hundred dollars per person,
so we passed and the next morning
it was off to Gran Selva Lodge. We
crossed the Napo river to the Southern
shore and followed a dirt road maybe
120 km or so. Sadly, the corrugations
were too much for my rear Wilber’s
shock, which decided to spill its guts
about 20 km before we reached our
destination, so I spent the last hour or
so travelling at an unbelievably slow
pace, bouncing up and down like a
pogo stick trying not to lose traction
on the gravelly corners. Fortunately, it
wasn’t all dirt and as we hit the tarmac
we stopped at a small ‘tienda’ to get
some refreshments, only to find Kel-
vin’s rear tyre was flat...more refresh-
ments required! On fixing it, we head-
ed off, but within five minutes Kelvin
lost control and only just managed to
keep the bike upright. We discovered
the inner tube had completely split,
with a 6-8 inch tear in the middle! The
pressure was on to get it fixed pronto
as we could see the storm closing in.
We made it to the lodge just in time,
and literally as we pulled into the car
port area the rain hammered it down,
and it went on for ages.
For the next few days we chilled and
enjoyed the Amazon with Karin and
her husband. Each day was something
new...chocolate making, Amazonian
communities, animal rescue centre, a
jungle hike with a crazy looking green
insect that landed on my head, and my
first Tarantula meeting...at a distance!
Plus, they had a pool we could cool
down in, which was much needed. The
time flew by and before we knew it, we
were back on the road, me bouncing
all the way. Luckily, I had managed to
track down Diego, a RaceTech shock
specialist in Quito, so that’s where we
were headed, and it was time to say
Pic: Michnus Olivier
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