About 9:30 PM, I joined Larry and a few students for an ecology hike to Explorama Tambos, the most primitive of the Explorama camps. This consisted of a clearing in which were a number of small elevated wood platforms, each covered by a palm-thatch roof. It is meant for those who really want to rough it in the rainforest. En route, we released the boa at the same tree in which it had been captured. We were back in time for lunch: noodles alfredo with fried plantains, and flan for dessert. At 1 PM, we walked back down the trail to ExplorNapo Camp, where we would spend the next three nights.
ExplorNapo was not materially different from ACEER in terms of facilities and services. The guest rooms and facilities were virtually identical, if laid out differently. The Dining Hall was situated above the docks, while the living quarters were a short distance south, across a small stream spanned by a thatch-covered foot-bridge. About the only substantive difference was the presence of a well-stocked bar and bartender in the Dining Hall. Nonetheless, I really liked it much better than ACEER. Part of the reason may be that the area around the guest rooms had been opened up more. For example, you could sit on the balcony fronting the rooms and enjoy a clear view right down to the Sucusari. By comparison, the proximity of the rainforest at ACEER had seemed positively claustrophobic.
Once we'd been assigned rooms, I took a shower and cleaned up. The entire group had the afternoon at leisure, so I went down to the bar and ordered a pisco sour, a drink I'd last had on my 1990 trip to Chile. It was every bit as enjoyable as I remembered! Dinner was served at 7 PM and featured tough but flavorful beefsteak.
Afterwards, we went out for a night cruise in a pair of long, low outboard motorboats. It was wonderful to be out on the water in the dark, with a big full moon shining brightly above, as we crept slowly up the ever-narrower Sucusari. It was especially magical when the engines were cut and the pilots merely poled the boats along. It was silent, and at the same time incredibly noisy with frogs and various insects calling.
At one point, we pulled up alongside a flooded shrub. Someone shone a flashlight and there, roosting on a twig not six inches from my nose, was a small fat bird! Hardy identified it as a Black-chinned Antbird. It just sat there; I could have reached out and grabbed it. I cursed myself for not bringing my camera and ring-flash. Who knew I'd be able to get such a shot? I commented that if our feathered friends were always so accommodating, I might actually consider birding as a hobby. Later, we saw a larger relative, the Warbling Antbird, as well as some bats roosting in the trees.
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