Unique Amazon Sustaintable Comunities Encounter In Ecuador W

Airport meet and greet. Transfer to your accommodation at Garden Hotel San Jose de Puembo. (Suite category) Depending on your arrival time- This day we could organize a lunch and cooking class: “You have to taste a culture, in order to understand it” – Deborah Cater. Ready to learn how to prepare one of those delicious dishes that you will learn to love along your journey? Take a cooking class with a local chef. This is a culinary tour dedicated for those food lovers, with no previous cooking experience. Take home the knowledge of an unforgettable experience in flavors, colors and products that Ecuador has to offer, so you can share back at home with your loved ones. Begin with a visit of a local food market to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for today’s menu according to the Chefs buying list. Then go back to restaurant kitchen where the chef will give you some tips and history before, he shows you how to prepare those local and savors dishes. Enjoy your own crafted local and traditional meal with your companion. (L or D)

Meet at the Lobby and transfer to the airport to take your flight to the Amazon Basin. The journey to the jungle Lodge begins in Quito, Ecuador's capital city. From here, a 35-minute flight takes you over the Andes Mountains and snow-covered peaks to soaring over 8500 feet (2600 meters) into the Amazon Region. The flight destination is the port town of Puerto Francisco de Orellana, locally known as Coca, where you will be met by a bilingual guide and taken to a private dock. Here we will pause to use the restrooms before boarding a covered motorized canoe for a 2-hour, 50-mile (80-kilometer) trip down the sediment-rich waters of the Napo, the largest river in Ecuadorian Amazonia. During the ride, it is easy to spot handsome shorebirds such as herons, kingfishers, spoonbills and ospreys between the scattered native huts as you travel steadily away from civilization. Home base for an exciting jungle experience. After settling down enjoy typical traditional dinner. The Kichwa ancestral cuisine, taste the delicious flavors, accompanied by fried cacao and exquisite “mayones” or “chontacuros” (palm worms). Refresh yourself with exquisite manioc chicha, a beverage made of manioc fermented with sweet potato. (B/L/D) Overnight at Napo Lodge

Early breakfast and then head in the motor boat to one of the highlights of Yasuni biosphere Reserve, the parrot clay lick in the riverside of River Napo, bring your binoculars and camera lenses to see flocks of blueheaded, yellow-crowned parrots and even dusky-headed parakeets, from the boat. Then walk around 30 min, through “pericos” trail to reach the blind in the forest with a direct view to the amazing parakeet clay lick, which brings visitors face to face with up to 11 species of parrots and parakeets (including parrotlets and macaws), sometimes even mammals like howler monkeys, tapir and peccaries come to this place to drink water and get vital minerals for their body. We end this morning with a visit to the intercultural interpretation center "Kuri Muyu" which means golden seed in native language, handled by the women of the community also knows as “mamakuna” learn about the kichwa culture, crafts, customs and traditional use of natural resources directly from the people of the aboriginal community. We return to the center of the community to have lunch at the dining hall and take a break in the lodge before hiking one hour in order to climb up the observation tower reaching 35 meters above the surface with high chances to spot a variety of birds, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, toucans, parrots and sloths. Time for dinner followed by a unique activity at Napo river, onboard the ancestral catamaran to know more about their legends and traditional chants, while women grill some delicious snacks in the fire.  (B/L/D) Overnight at Napo Lodge