The Queen With The Frozen Heart - The Monster Awakens

A stony monster rose from the mountain in the twinkling light of the stars.

Sisa could not understand how it could possibly be Amarun.

The monster had the head of a snake and the feathered wings of a bird and a long feathery tail.

It looked like a statue of the feathered monster from the tales told to children to scare them.

Slowly she moved towards the stone figure.

The play of the shadows and light made it look alive and moving.

Like it were still breathing.

She touched the stone and for an instant it felt like feathers in her hands.

She heard the sound of the drums that Kuyllur was playing.

His brother, Lusiru, sang in a monotone voice and danced around the stony monster.

He was smoking a cigar made of fresh tobacco leaves and puffing the smoke over the figure.

The waving and weaving of the smoke over the statue made it look even more alive.

Like it was breathing smoke from its nostrils.

Sisa shivered and grabbed the stone harder.

Again she could feel the feathers and the beat of a large heart.

Scared she kneeled in the earth next to the monster and waited for what would happen.

Lusiru took a large swig of the bottle he had in his hand and sprayed the alcohol from his mouth over Sisa.

He kept chanting and waving the branches in his hand.

Dispelling the smoke and strong alcohol around in the night.

Weaving his footsteps to the beat of his brother’s drum he danced closer to the statue and puffed more smoke over it.

Then he took another swig of the alcohol and sprayed it over the stone monster.

He waved the branches in the air and urged the monster to wake up.

Urged Amarun, Sisa thought.

It was not a monster, it was Amarun.

Finding courage from the thought she stood up and walked to the stone figure.

Slowly she touched it again, feathers, warmth and a strong heartbeat.

She climbed to its back and grabbed hard.

Lusiru screamed to the air and hit the monster to the head with his branches, urging it to wake up.

Sisa felt the monster shaking under her.

Then it raised its huge head to the sky and roared.

She grabbed harder and got hold of a handful of feathers.

Opening its wings Amarun leaped to the sky.

To be continued...

This is the thirthieth part of the story.

To read the first part of the story, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 1  

To read the second part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 2 

To read the third part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 3. 

To read the fourth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 4. 

To read the fifth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 5.

To read the fourteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 14

To read the sixth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 6

To read the seventh part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 7

 To read the eight part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 8

To read the ninth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 9

To read the tenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 10

To read the eleventh part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 11

To read the twelth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 12

To read the thirteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 13

To read the fifteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 15

To read the sixteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 16

To read the seventeenth part, go to the The Queen With The Frozen Heart 17

To read the eighteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 18

To read the nineteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 19

To read the twentieth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 20

To read the twenty first part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - The Night Of The Black Moon

To read the twenty second part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - To The Enchanted Night

To read the twenty third part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - At The Mouth Of The Cave

To read the twenty fourth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - The Visiting Star

To read the twenty fifth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - Time To Leave The Home

To read the twenty-sixth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - A Suitable Wife

To read the twenty-seventh part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - Down In The Dungeons

To read the twenty-eight part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - Savouring The Chicha

To read the twenty-ninth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - Flying With The Stars

Orchids' Paradise - Monkey Forest Resort in Archidona, Ecuador

"Orchids’ Paradise" - Monkey Forest is a resort located in the Canton of Archidona in the province of Napo.

It is near Tena, and just three hours from Quito.

Orchids' Paradise is a peaceful and comfortable place that also helps to conserve the environment and biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest.

Truly a unique space designed for people who love nature.

The conservation of flora and fauna are part of the facilities and you can observe several species of monkeys in complete freedom along with native plants such as wayusa, ishpinku and ayawaska.

The Amazing Plants and Animals

It is my son’s favorite place for a swim during the hot days which we have too often.

I enjoy the beautiful pools but also the gorgeous views and nature paths.

The trees and flowers surrounding the facilities are amazing and I truly enjoy taking pictures of all the life teeming in the forest.

There are many different animal and plant species living on the grounds.

One of the monkey species is chorongo or brown woolly monkey.

The chorongo is also called Humbolt’s brown woolly monkey and it is the second biggest monkey of the new world.

They live in groups from two to 70 individuals.

One of them got a bit too friendly but finally calmed down and wanted to play with us.

Brown Woolly Monkey

The woolly monkeys’ heads are rounded and large, the body is heavy and the tail is prehensile and naked at the bottom

The brown woolly monkeys have a highly developed thumb and short, thick fingers.

Their coat is short, thick and woolly and the coloration of the head is darker than the rest of the body.

They form family groups, with a social hierarchy where the dominant male has priority access to females and food.

They are fruit eaters, their diet consists of fruit, leaves, seeds and some insects, which makes them important seed disperser agents.

In Ecuador chorongos are found in the Eastern Subtropical and Tropical planes.

You may find it around the Napo and Aguarico rivers and is common in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve and the Yasuní National Park.

In general they live in the Amazon region of Brazil and east of the Andes in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.

Their natural predators are the harpy eagle and jaguar.

If you ever come to Tena – Ecuador, I recommend visiting "Orchids’ Paradise" - Monkey Forest Resort.

The Queen With The Frozen Heart - Down In The Dungeons

The delicious smell of cooking food wafted down the dungeon corridors.

The men around the king stirred in their cells, it was such a long time since they had eaten.

- I am old, he heard a muttering voice, hundreds of years old and nobody respects me. Who needs to carry food to the prisoners? Killa, of course. No, there's no one else around to do it. It has to be me. No respect for the age...

The aroma of the food grew stronger and the king could hear sounds of something being dragged on the cave floor.

- So which one of you is the supposed king, a grumpy voice asked from the darkness.

The men waited in silence, they had not given him up, even after all that had happens to them in the jaguar men's hands.

- For goodness sake, Killa swore, your son sent me, Amarun. I'm supposed to be here to save you.

King could see the old man dragging large bowl of food.

- My wife sent this to you, he explained, you'll need all your strength to escape.

- To escape, the king repented his bursts instantly.

- Yes, we are here to save you and get you back to your families, the old man sneered, I have bowls for you here somewhere. You need to eat fast so you'll ready when Iluku says it's time to leave. I'm Killa, by the way, nice to meet you and all that.

- Killa, one of the warriors shouted in surprise, the man from the moon?

- Yes, that's me, Killa preened, and who are you?

- I'm Rumi, the man stammered and blushed.

- And I am Umasiki, the king interrupted, what I would like to know is, why should we trust you?

The men in their cells took a step back and waited in silence.

- You don't need to trust me, Killa started serving the food, just eat and be ready. It won't be long anymore.

To be continued...

This is the twenty-seventh part of the story.

To read the first part of the story, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 1  

To read the second part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 2 

To read the third part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 3. 

To read the fourth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 4. 

To read the fifth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 5.

To read the fourteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 14

To read the sixth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 6

To read the seventh part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 7

 To read the eight part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 8

To read the ninth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 9

To read the tenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 10

To read the eleventh part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 11

To read the twelth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 12

To read the thirteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 13

To read the fifteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 15

To read the sixteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 16

To read the seventeenth part, go to the The Queen With The Frozen Heart 17

To read the eighteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 18

To read the nineteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 19

To read the twentieth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 20

To read the twenty first part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - The Night Of The Black Moon

To read the twenty second part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - To The Enchanted Night

To read the twenty third part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - At The Mouth Of The Cave

To read the twenty fourth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - The Visiting Star

To read the twenty fifth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - Time To Leave The Home

To read the twenty-sixth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart - A Suitable Wife