Travelling companions

Most of the rivers which take the melt waters from the eastern side of the high Andes feed down into the Amazon basin, so our trip began with a short flight from Quito to Coca where we started our trip down the lower river Napo.
Early start on Monday morning with some last minute packing and a quick breakfast before our airport transport arrived at 7.30am.  Met two of our travelling companions in the lobby - a German couple Martina and Rudolf - and after an easy journey through the morning rush hour traffic we arrived at the airport with a couple of hours to spare. Luckily the new airport is much more comfortable than the old one - I remember being herded around like cattle in an old barn and having to play musical chairs when the flight was delayed on our Galapagos trip in 2008.
This was much more civilised - plenty of space and seats, a couple of decent cafes, a few shops and a flight that left on time.
Unfortunately we were seated in the midst of a group of geriatric Americans who insisted on acting like teenagers on their first school outing. The old dear next to me - who was dressed more like a high school student - was in and out of her seat like a jack in a box to swap body lotion, sunblock and bug repellent with her pals and then up to the locker to get her sweater and then her sarong and then her jacket because she felt cold - all this in a 35 minute flight. Linda, on my other side was extremely impressed at how I managed to ignore her numerous attempts to start a conversation.
Thankfully when we joined our guide outside the airport in Coca they were not going to the same lodge.
While our group turned out to be 24 strong as we boarded the motorised canoe for our trip down river at least they all seemed reasonably normal - in addition to our new German friends, there were a French couple, two Australian ladies, and an English mother and her 21 year old daughter , while even the Americans who made up the numbers seemed quite well-behaved!
Even with cushioned seats, the 2 1/2 hour journey was more than enough - because the water levels are so low, we had numerous stops to negotiate our way through the sandbanks - so we were all very glad to arrive at the river jetty which served the lodge. From there we had a 20 minute walk followed by a 30 minute canoe ride (paddled, this time) to the lagoon where the lodge was situated.

Just time for a cooling drink and a quick change before we were introduced to our guides and headed off for a canoe trip around the lagoon to spot the variety of birds that were starting to appear.