Viren Wadhwa writes about traveling up the Zabalo River to go fishing with our Cofan guides:
Our next activity while camping was fishing. Soon enough, we loaded our canoe with about twelve students and fishing rods and set out up the river. Little did we know that it was going to be a while until we actually started fishing. Fifteen minutes into canoeing, we found a huge log and tree that had fallen over which were obstructing our path. Out came the machetes (the long knifes) and the guides chopped the log, making sure it submerged in the water. They did the same for the trees and got rid of a few branches.
After ten minutes or so, we were on the canoe again. We were all eager to get to the fishing spot, until Vasanth asked us, “What if there is one more huge log on the way?” There it was, not even five minutes had passed after we started again and there was another huge log obstructing the entire path so that our canoe could not pass. By the looks of it, I knew this one would be a much tougher task, involving a chain saw. When I looked around, there was no chain saw.
We made our way back to the camp site to get one and the guides started to cut the huge log. Since this log was a little submerged under water it required a little chopping with the help of a machete: our guide had to look for a spot where the log wasn’t under water so he could use the chain saw to cut it. After much trouble, we saw some hope when we noticed the log (that was cut) started to submerge under water and our canoe just made it over. After about twenty more minutes (about an hour in total) we finally reached the fishing spot and we started to fish happily.
