b. Cieba Tops Lodge
While in the Amazon Rain Forest area, we stayed at the Explorama Cieba Tops Lodge. They have a total of five lodges, all of varying degrees of comfort. They range from this, being the nicest one, to a location in the middle of the jungle which is used by students and other people conducting research. Although not nearly as nice as other hotels we stayed at, this place was great considering their location some 45 miles from the nearest city, that all their supplies, including fuel and drinking water, are delivered by boat, and that they generate their own electricity. The only air conditioning was in the rooms but with lots of screening and fans, it was never uncomfortable. Some pictures of the place.

The boat fleet. The only way to go anywhere from the lodge.


The Amazon at our location. Rather wide!!

A couple of the lodge mascots. The first, named Pamela, is a Spix’s Guan, and the second, name unknown, is a macaw who speaks pretty good Spanish. Pamela seemed to show up all over the complex including looking in the window of our room.


The dining room and lounge.




The hammock house. A place to go for a little nap.







A reminder to watch where you walk. This was a monitor lizard but could have been a bushmaster or fer de lance, two of the highly poisonous snakes in the area.

Our room.


Fresh flowers daily.

Every day when we came back to the room, the towels were in some sort of artistic arrangement.

That’s it for this first installment. The next update will cover other aspects of our visit to the Rainforest. Hope you enjoyed!!

Hi H&C, We like the pictures. I think the map showing where you are is a very good idea. I got lazy and stopped putting it in our blog but it really helps let people know where you are on the journey. Think about you a lot. J&J
Comment by jjfunk1978 — April 8, 2009 @ 4:00 pm