Ecuador: Day 3- Llaucana, Puerto Napo

Llaucana, Puerto Napo

Despite the unfavorable weather today, with heavy rain in the middle of the night and persistent clouds of heavy rainfall in the morning, we proceeded to the forest in Puerto Napo.

This was the entrance to the forest we visited, which happens to be situated on private land owned by a conglomerate of landowners, among whom Olivier is one. It is located at the fringe of the Amazon and is a primary forest area.

This was the level of the small stream before the downpour where we saw lots of a Moth species on the riverbank

Oli and his magic portion of fish sauce

The weather took a turn for the worse and started to rain. Howver just before it started to rain heavily, Oli spotted the Dusky Owl-Butterfly (Caligo illioneus) perched majestically on this leaf. We had previously observed this species in flight, where the vibrant blue iridescence stood out prominently. However, we were completely awestruck by its sheer size when we saw it perched on this leaf. We hurriedly took our photos before the rain intensified and rushed back to the car. It was quite an unexpected encounter!

We waited in the car for the rain to stop, passing the time by engaging in a cheerful conversation with Oli. We discussed the planned trip and shared with Oli our expectation of what we also hoped to see in Ecuador and the delicious food we were looking forward to trying in Ecuador. It was at that moment that Oli suggested visiting his sister's restaurant to try the Ceviche.

We headed to the restaurant instead and had the most delicious lunch!

Oli's sister

We headed back to the forest and water level of the stream had reached the highest level. Thanks to the experience of Oli, we got back from the other side of the river when he anticipated the rain and knew the water level would rise.