The Jungle Book
Monkeys, mosquitoe bites, floating down the Napo River, hiking through the rainforest, jungle boys, poisonous snakes, and exchange students. Doesn’t that sound like the recipe for the perfect week?
The Jungle adventure began on February 17 with my bug spray and sun screen in hand. So, here is what happened during one amazing week in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador:
Day 1: The taxi picked me up from my house at 6 a.m and I quickly said goodbye to my half-asleep family. After driving three hours, we arrived at the Quito VIP airport and ran over to where the other rotary exchange students were. It was so great…we hadn’t seen each other in over three months! The flight was quick…15 minutes up and 15 minutes down, but it was the first time I had ever been in a VIP plane so that was pretty cool . The plane landed in the city of Coca with the heat and humidity there to greet us. The next step on our trip was a three hour boat ride on the Napo River to the lodge that we would be staying at. Once at the lodge, we dropped of our luggage in our rooms and took a short walk to the top of a hill where you could see for miles. It was so beautiful…I couldn’t believe that I was really in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador!
Day 2: A day in the Amazon starts early; breakfast was at 7:00 a.m…ugh. I was hoping I would get some extra sleep on this trip! After eating pancakes and scrambled eggs (not what I expected to be a traditional Amazonian breakfast…) we walked to the local high school. Most of the kids in this school live in dorms there because they come from out of town to study. The teachers divided us into groups and we all got to do a different activity with the students. I got to make bracelets that the kids would then sell to raise funds…I was quite pleased because the other group got the wonderful job of cleaning out the pig pen. Hah. After lunch, we crossed the river and walked to the house of the local healer called a “shaman.” Supposedly he was going to take out all of our bad spirits, so we all eagerly lined up for our spiritual cleansing. It was quite the experience. In the evening we went swimming in the Napo River for hours and once the sun had set we headed up to the hotel for dinner. Did I mention…I love the Amazon?!?
Day 3: The motto of the day: Let’s get to work. We started out the day with a small community service project that left my arms sore and my back aching. We dug sand out of the river and hauled it in bags half a mile into the rainforest where the indigenous community uses it for a variety of purposes. Fun, right? We repeated this process until lunch time…where another treat was in store for us. We got to experience a traditional meal from the Amazon: tilapia cooked in banana leaves, fried yucca, heart of palm, stinging nettle salad, and just wait for it…live grubs. Yum. After I got over the initial fear of eating a live bug, I realized it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting! Just another experience to add to my book, I guess. After that delicious lunch, we went on a two hour hike through the Ecuadorian outback. It was so beautiful despite the fact that all us were sweaty and tired. After we emerged from the rainforest, there was a chiva (a bus that has seats on the roof) waiting for us. At that point, the universe was on our side because it started raining and we all welcomed the cold water. Once back at the hotel it was dinner and then into bed…we didn’t even protest our early bedtime that day because we were all so exhausted!
Day 4: This day was a bit more relaxed, which suited us just fine as we were all a bit tired out from the previous day. In the morning we experienced a little more of the Amazon lifestyle by going to a nearby town where they hold a weekly market. They had everything you could possibly need there since for most of the locals it is the only place that they can buy food and toiletries for the week. After spending the morning at the market and eating lunch, we changed into our swimsuits and then came probably one of the best parts of the week! For the whole day it had been pouring and the river had risen about 5 feet. So we went on a quick boatride about a mile upstream from the hotel, put on our lifejackets, and jumped out of the boat. Then we just drifted down the river, letting the current take us wherever it pleased. It was so much fun! How many people can say they’ve drifted down the Napo River in the Amazon Rainforest? At night we built a fire, danced, and then told ghost stories…I didn’t want the day to end!
Day 5: Time to say goodbye to the Amazon and head back to Riobamba. We packed our bags and once again went on the three hour boat ride to the city of Coca where we boarded the plane. After a quick stop in Quito to eat McDonalds we drove back to Riobamba and it was back to our normal Ecuadorian life again.
I can’t wait for our next trip to the Galapagos!
Alex
