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| The famed "stinky turkeys" sitting outside our hut! |
Napo Wildlife Center was perhaps the greatest surprise of this journey. It was an "add-on" though I found it to be both peaceful, calming, inspiring and lots of fun especially with the wonderful group of 6 others experiencing together.
We were all fortunate to be part of this dynamic, adventurous and fun mix of folks.
We call ourselves STINKY TURKEYS, a hoatzin of the Amazon: blue face with maroon eyes with a spiky creast.
TONY WILLIAMS, a Mechanical Engineer who loved to “sell” products. It sounded like he owned an engineering company and retired from a healthy and lucrative career in hydraulics.
Married to
STELLA PIRIE (Willams) for 35 years, she was giggly and quite fun and he was sarcastic, dry and full of humour. From what I understand from Stella she was what we call Chief Financial Officer for several companies and did quite well for herself. They have great stories of life experiences, travels and their quite spoiled dogs.
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| Our deluxe hut #15, on the water second from the left. Very nice... |
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They were traveling with
DEREK JONES who was a retired banker and his new bride of three months,
NORMA TEAKLE, a retired medical professional of sorts. They were newlyweds who met, as they say “on the internet” several years earlier. Derek is the straight guy to Tony’s humour whose own sense of humor leaves nothing to desire. Equally quick and finger pointing to Tony dragging him to South Africa to meet a lion, face to face. Literally. Norma always looked crisp and lively at all social portions but hearty in the hikes, walks, and even at our invitation to dance with the tribal women.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyn as we begun to call them were an interesting couple from Wales, both recently retired dentists, who ski, swim, cycle, photograph and are well traveled,
ANDY and
LYN HAWKES. Andy is initially more sociable though Lyn holds her own if it’s after 11am, a self-proclaimed non-morning person. She swims twice weekly and admittedly stays clear of alcohol consumption on those days! Andy performed a root canal on a cat, allowing only Lyn to assist.
TONY WILLIAMS, a Mechanical Engineer who loved to “sell” products. It sounded like he owned an engineering company and retired from a healthy and lucrative career in hydraulics.
They were traveling with DEREK JONES who was a retired banker and his new bride of three months, NORMA TEAKLE, a retired medical professional of sorts. They were newlyweds who met, as they say “on the internet” several years earlier. Derek is the straight guy to Tony’s humour whose own sense of humor leaves nothing to desire. Equally quick and finger pointing to Tony dragging him to South Africa to meet a lion, face to face. Literally. Norma always looked crisp and lively at all social portions but hearty in the hikes, walks, and even at our invitation to dance with the tribal women. 
Mr. and Mrs. Lyn as we begun to call them were an interesting couple from Wales, both recently retired dentists, who ski, swim, cycle, photograph and are well traveled, ANDY and LYN HAWKES. Andy is initially more sociable though Lyn holds her own if it’s after 11am, a self-proclaimed non-morning person. She swims twice weekly and admittedly stays clear of alcohol consumption on those days! Andy performed a root canal on a cat, allowing only Lyn to assist.
The 8 of us dined, explored and listened intently to our Naturalist Guide, LUIS ESPIN who is one of the more experienced guides with Napo. I felt fortunate to have him as he never missed an opportunity to educate, share or answer questions or engage in conversation. Even at 20+ years in the tourism industry, he was still reading up on astronomy and constellations. He was expert in guiding us through this tiny tributary our first night as we arrived at Napo only by moonlight (an occasional flashlight) 
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