By: HomeontheHighway

HomeontheHighway — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 21:01:00 +0000

We use a buttload of gas, and yes I think about the irony of bitching about oil companies while consuming thousands gallons of their products. (Note my truck also burns about 1qt of oil per 1000 miles!)

Still there are ways to extract oil without complete disregard for the environment. One day I will proudly drive around a robo-sun powered 4×4 once they are designed and I can afford one, until then, Ill bitch and moan about big companies destorying our world like every other privleged white guy on the internet

By: pjwheeler

pjwheeler — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:27:00 +0000

Gee, sounds like a great trip. I had to chuckle about your rant on the oil companies leaving their mess…that does suck. Sadly, there is a market for their product. No, that doesn’t eliminate their responsibility to provide the product without environmental damage. But it has been proven time and time again that if there is less of a market for something (or better yet, no market), the problems associated with producing that product will be less (or non-existant). Drugs, and the American appetite for them is a great example. As is gasoline.
Just out of curiosity, how much fuel do you think you yourselves used during this trip?
Something to think about, and that you never thought about, right?

By: Dave Zimmerman

Dave Zimmerman — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Great post, James. Quite an experience!

By: Upa Chalupa - Travel Blog on Facebook

Upa Chalupa - Travel Blog on Facebook — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 01:02:52 +0000

Great post! What an experience!!! 😉

By: Badrul Isham Ismail on Facebook

Badrul Isham Ismail on Facebook — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 05:52:35 +0000

Both of you are an inspiration for us who are in the process to follow your footprint. Congratulations on your 365 days on the road. All the best ……

By: James

James — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 01:47:13 +0000

Plenty to be had in the jungles, lets go!

By: enzo

enzo — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 23:32:00 +0000

Really cool post. I want a peccary!

By: Home on the Highway - San Francisco to Ushuaia, Argentina in an 87 4Runner - Page 15 - Toyota 4Runner Forum

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:49:38 +0000

[…] Getting out to the deep amazon jungle on your own is a bit difficult. The primary form of travel in the Amazon is via the millions of rivers and water ways that wind through the jungle. There are very few roads and access via automobile is rare. We always regret not installing deploy-able Pontoons on the 4runner in situations like this… I looked at our map of Ecuador and found the Cuyabeno National Park which appeared to be the most remote Amazon jungle area that we could actually drive to. Well you could not really drive INTO the park but you could get damn close. At the end of the road we would have to hitch a ride in a motorized canoe to actually make inside the parks boundary. We hooked up with a cheap jungle lodge company in Quito that would agree to let us drive to the jungle ourselves. We had less than 24 hours to make it all the way across Ecuador to a random bridge in the jungle where there would (hopefully) be a canoe waiting to pick us up. No big deal. We hauled ass from Quito that afternoon. We crossed up and over the Andes mountains into a thick fog. We broke through the fog to see the low-lying Amazon jungle below us as far as the eye could see. We dropped down from the mountains into the hot misty jungle. By this time night was falling, we found a spot to post up the night in front of an old clapboard house on stilts. This construction was typical of the area, reminded us of the homes seen along the Caribbean coasts of Central America. Up in the morning and back on the road. We were zooming past miles and miles of oil pipelines and drilling rigs. I usually try keep my personal politics off the blog but feel this needs to be shared. Ecuador is home to one of the largest oil reserves in the Americas. For over 25 years Texaco/Chevron and PetroEcuador have been pumping the hell out of the rainforest to the tune of 1.5+ billion barrels. Great for gas prices but absolutely devastating to the environment. The oil companies have been leaving behind their drilling waste products in large open pits in the rainforest. These pits overflow in the rainy season causing widespread contamination to the water table, soil, and farms of the local communities. There has been ongoing litigation in Ecuador between the 30,000+ locals effected in the rainforest and the oil companies who have exploited it. There is a great documentary called "CRUDE" which goes into much more detail on this situation. The movie is available streaming on Netflix. You can watch the trailer HERE on youtube. HERE is a short 60-minutes piece on the issue as well. I encourage readers to watch these segments and learn about the exploitation taking place, this kind of crap would absolutely not fly in the U.S.A. Eventually we arrive at a lonely bridge in the middle of the jungle. We see no one. Crap! Did we miss the boat? We park and start looking around. We go underneath the bridge where we discover a toothless old man snoozing in a canoe. We gently nudge him awake. He sits up and I see he is wearing a Cuyabeno River Lodge t-shirt. Score! This was our guy. We stash the truck at the old mans shack, load our stuff into the canoe, and hit the river. The small 5 horsepower motor slowly idled our canoe through the thick forest canopy. The morning was full of jungle sounds, frogs, monkeys, birds, insects. The sound of the jungle in the morning is something you must experience to believe. We travel for around an hour or so via canoe seeing nothing but dense rainforest. We come around a bend and rising up out of the jungle is the "Cuyabeno River Lodge". The lodge consists of one large primary building and about 10 separate open-air cabanas. We unloaded our stuff and were directed to our open-air cabin. Complete with hardcore bug net (very necessary out here in the jungle) Home Sweet Home. After a quick 30-min rest up the main bell sounded. We headed back up the clubhouse and met, Diego, our jungle guide. We also met a great group of ladies who have been volunteering with a street children education program in Quito for the past few months. They would be part of our group for the next few days. First order of business. Suit up! We were all given a pair of knee-high rubber boats AKA Wellies to hike through the jungle with. Our guide tells us, "It's pretty wet out". (This would prove to be an understatement…) Geared up we headed out into the jungle. Read the rest of the jungle book and lots more pics on the blog at Welcome to the Jungle – Cuyabeno Reserve | Home on the Highway […]

By: Home on the Highway on Facebook

Home on the Highway on Facebook — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:36:53 +0000

Tas ftw

By: Erick VanMalssen on Facebook

Erick VanMalssen on Facebook — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:28:36 +0000

This post was awesome :bowdown: that pig was bauce.

Comments on: Welcome to the Jungle – Cuyabeno Reserve