Sunday, July 8 - Returning to Tarapoto

Bob and I managed to get up at 3:30 AM, and listened to a torrential downpour outside.  We got our suitcases onto our cottage front porch by 4:15 when the rain miraculously lightened so that we and the luggage could make it down to the bus without getting soaked.  We sadly departed from the Owlet Lodge, a truly wonderful and unique place to stay with wonderful food and an efficient and caring staff.

Pancakes on the bus!!

Looking for the wren in the rain

Our driver slowly worked his way down hill through the heavy mist.  We stopped at Garcia to try once more for the Bar-winged Wood-Wren, but it was raining too hard.  We pulled off above Afluente where we found the cooking van parked and the guys already cooking.   It was raining harder, so we decided to eat in the bus - rolls, peanut butter, cream cheese and jam were brought on board and we made sandwiches, and then the cooks produced plates of pancakes and syrup!  Totally amazing what they can produce even in the rain!

We drove on a few hours to Moyobamba and turned off to the Waqanki (Quechua for orchid) Hotel and orchid gardens where the young man running the resort lead us through a lovely tropical garden to a two-story tower from which we could see many species of hummers feeding at 5-6 feeders. 


Golden-tailed Sapphire

Long-tailed Hermit

Rufous-crested Coquette

We saw several new species at this lower elevation, such as  White-necked Jacobin, Brown Violetear and Long-tailed Hermit.  Finally we left and walked back through the garden of heliconias, bananas and orchids to find our drivers and cooks had set up the tables (underneath a high metal roof this time!) and once again produced an unique and delicious meal.  This time we sat down to a lunch of causa, a Peruvian shepherd’s pie of yellow potato crust surrounding a mixture of avocado and tuna salad decorated with hard boiled egg, tomatoes and cucumber! 

the hummer tower

pink banana flower

Causa

Our wonderful cooks/drivers

After lunch we settled into our seats on the bus and dozed while our driver took us for several hours into Tarapoto to the  Hotel Rio Shilcayo, a lovely tropical resort.  We had about 90 minutes to relax and clean up before gathering again in the open air restaurant for our farewell dinner. We started with a round of Pisco Sours followed by a variety of dishes from hearts of palm salad,  palta rellena (stuffed avocado), gingered chicken soup, to local fish with garlic sauce and several bottles of wine!  I was hit by a wave of fatigue and left for bed early.