Day 5 - Wild Sumaco Lodge

 This morning the "girls" group of Ali, Rhona Carole and Cat went with Paulo, one of the guides for their turn at spotting the Cock of the Rock.  This allowed us a sleep in, and extra hour with breakfast at 6.30am.  The "boys" group of me, Kenny, Jeremy and Guy went to see Antpittas.  These are not particularly spectacular looking birds, but are quite rare.  They feed on dead worms and the lodge has a feeding area for them.  We waited ages from a viewing platform that looks down a steep drop to the bush at the bottom.  We saw one scurrying through the bushes, but not enough to photograph, and after a brief discussion do we stay or do we call it a bust, we decide to stay another half hour.  Within minutes, one appeared and we did manage to snap the elusive dull little guy.  It was totally worth the wait 🤣

Jeremy almost tipped his tripod and camera over the edge.  He spent ages faffing to set it up, the platform was quite narrow and we had to sit two legs on the edge and have the other between our legs.  He had the back leg tilted forward, which made the whole thing rather precarious, and it was only a matter of time before it tipped.  He grabbed it in the nick of time.  It would have had a softish landing, but I wouldn't have wanted to scramble through the undergrowth to get it.  There are snakes about, not common, but still a risk, and the guides always carry a snake stick on our walks in the bush.

We walked back up to the lodge and the guys started to set up the lights for humming bird shots, and another set of lights for the various critters they had found for us to photograph. I have mixed feelings about this kind of setup, but I guess as long as the critters aren't harmed ....

Setting up the horned beetles shot

Ali found this guy right outside the door of her room.  Wouldn't want to step on him in the dark with bare feet.

The girls returned from Cock of the Rock, and of course, saw twice as many Cocks as we did.  They also got TWO empanadas each!!! We were given them fresh the day before while waiting for humming birds, and they were hot and crunchy and delicious.  We'd reported how good they were, some kind of plantain filling, so it was a double blow that they got two each!

They also managed to see the owl that is sometimes there, we missed out on that too.

The rest of the day was spent on the deck photographing the woodpeckers, humming birds, monkeys, oropendulas (birds with a yellow tail), tanagers (birds) and slime mould spores, alternating inside with macro shots of horned beetles, frogs & salamanders.

During the afternoon, the owner of the lodge, who happens to be Swedish, turned up with a large earthworm.

Yup, it's a worm

I'm guessing he is fond of the wacky backy, because there are wafts of it regularly throughout the day and into the evening. I'll have to wash all my clothes before I come home else I'll set the dogs off at the airport!

Every trip has "one" and this trip it's Kenny.  Always getting the camera settings wrong, always faffing about.  He had me splitting my sides laughing today.  Had complained about an upset stomach. Needed laundry done. We said there was a bag in our room you could leave your laundry in and they would do it for you. Next minute he's trudging in with his undies.  Not discreetly tucked in his hand, holding them up by the waistband 🤣🤣🤣 Blue and white striped boxers.  He saw me sitting on the deck, and quickly scrunched them into a ball, as if it wasn't half obvious.   Then he had to go and ask the girls to wash them!!  Their English is better than my Spanish, but combined with his cut-with-a-knife accent, I was beside myself laughing at the situation 😆   I'm a terrible person!!  I pity the poor sod who had to deal to those stinkers.

This evening we went on our usual night walk for critters and found frogs, katydids, spiders, walking sticks and made it back to the lodge just in time before the rain came down.  It has rained off and on the whole day, real heavy downpours on the tin roof so you can hardly hear yourself think, then it stops and fines up.  The rain always leads to an increase in bird activity, I guess it's too hot for them otherwise.

It's our last night here,  so we have to pack and have our bags ready to load on the bus by breakfast at 7am.

The food has been fantastic.  Lots of fresh fruit and veges every day, with a whole range of foods.  Breakfast this morning was scrambled egg, Fava beans and chopped sausage and zucchini bread toasted with butter and jam.

Breakfast

The coffee is delicious. Grown on the lodge land and roasted by them as well.  Bringing my jeds coffee bags was coals to Newcastle!

Lunch was chicken with a soy sauce, a lime mousse and dinner was fish with another delicious dessert. Something like a sponge cake but it was very moist, as if it was soaked in a something. Seriously good.  I've put on 5kgs already I think.

Here's a picture of Carole at the humming bird light setup. It started to rain while she was perched there, so we took her an umbrella 🌂