The End of the Road - Shushufindi, Amazonic region.

Shushufindi is a 'city' (it's not very big) lying in the western part of the Amazon basin. Growing up as a 'Petrolera', (where they drill for petrol) the city is as far as you can get into the Ecuadorean section of the Amazon with a car.

The edge of civilisation

I wasn't in Shushufindi for vacation or an Amazon adventure. Unfortunately it was for work! We have a couple of projects going on in the city, one restaurant under construction, one hotel which we are looking at starting construction, and one hotel in design process. Obviously for these projects we need to speak to the various owners, check on constructions and take site surveys.

Site office, a couple of palm trees and a tarp

A model of the restaurant (made by me!)

I'm not going to exaggerate and say I saw crocodiles or Piranhas, or rare Amazonic monkeys. The creatures generally stay away from the human population. The creatures that is apart from the vast amounts of creepy crawlies, most of which apparently 'leave a nasty bite' or 'if it bites you you might need an amputation'. Joy. Luckily apart from a few vicious mosquito bites we were all ok. I saw plenty of lizards, giant butterflies, 'wasps' (as big as horses I swear), parrots and parakeets, and some small spiders. Luckily no Tarantulas. I can't deny, I was terrified of seeing one.

The amazon, being the rain forest, does what it says on the tin. It rains, alot. It's also very very hot and sticky. 38 degrees and damp is not something i'm used to. Luckily our hotel was well air conditioned, however this also has the downfall that when you go back outside it feels like you are stepping into the fiery furnace of hell.

A wooden car ferry crosses the Napo River, an Amazon tributary 

As for foods in the Amazon, as you can probably imagine it's the kind of place where they eat all manner of what us westerners would consider to be disgusting things (they actually are). I don't realllly get this as there is a tonnes of absolutely delicious food out there. Different fruits you could never imagine...

Cacau, (chocolate beans!)

'pollo del campo' or chicken of the countryside, 'Guanta' (described to me as a kind of giant rabbit of an animal, I can only assume hare, but none the less tasty tasty), and much much more.
So, why on earth the people like THIS, I will never know.

This is 'Gusan'. It's basically a wichetty grub like you see on I'm a Celeb. I decided to try it, as i'm not squeamish about the fact that it's a bug, and though well if all these people are eating it, it can't be that bad.
I was wrong.
With a kind of salty, crispy but hair skin initally I wasn't that enthused but the skins taste was really awful. I bit into out, and oh my lord. Out oozes a kind of oily white mush that makes up the entire interior of the bug. I can't describe the texture other than saying a mix between gone off milk and 'man juices'. And with a taste like I cant describe.
The lady in the restaurant told me it was good for your health, but I can safely say I shan't be trying that again.

So my slice of Amazon adventure wasn't exactly fighting crocodiles and discovering un-contacted tribes (they do exist here!), but an experience none the less!

Luis the Architect, project owner, me!

Caio.