In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle

Aislinn and I at sunset. You can see the river that our second accommodation overlooked. It was beautiful. Below us are Garrett and Greg in one of the waterfalls from our Monday hike.

A couple of us, suited up in our boots, lathered in bug-repellant, and ready for a hike.

Vida Verde, the language school which I am attending, offers week-long excursions into the Amazon. Two weeks ago, our entire ChACE group took such an excursion. Basically, the way it worked was that our teachers came with us. Every morning we had our normal 4 hou

r classes and then every afternoon we embarked on some sort of an adventure. It was honestly one of the coolest things I have done in my life and an experience I don’t think could ever be replicated. I’ll lay out some highlights for you by day:

Sunday

Early Sunday morning, we took the roughly 5 hour bus ride into the jungle. If you think you have ever experienced car-sickness, what you actually experienced is car-sicknesses’ very distant cousin. This bus ride was horrible! It felt as if we were riding in a downward spiral for roughly the last two hours of the trip. I, who am notorious for my weak stomach, was miraculously saved by Phil’s motion sickness pills. However, others in our cohort (cough, Garrett) were not so lucky and unfortunately some yacking happened.

Upon arriving at our first location, we hiked roughly 10 minutes into the forest, where we encountered our cabins. Literally our cabins were in the middle of a jungle looking out onto a scenic, meandering river, and an indigenous family makes their livelihood by hosting foreigners at said accommodations. This first camp sight had no electricity, which was awesome. Every night we ate our dinners at long tables by candle light and played traditional Ecuadorian card games such as “cuarenta” until bed time. We also learned that when Ecuadorians play the card game spoons, the loser has to perform “una penitencia,” or a penance, in which he or she will inevitably embarrass him/herself. I highly recommend this twist to those of you who like to play spoons. I found myself doing an interpretive dance which included push-ups in front of the ChACErs, our teachers, and a large indigenous family.

Monday

Our first major activity was an amazing hike THROUGH waterfalls. I emphasize through here because we did not hike along, or around, or next to the waterfalls but literally right through them. This involved using ropes to scale rocks while the waterfalls were running all over us. It was beautiful, mentally challenging, scary, fun, and exhilarating all at the same time. On this hike our guide also pointed out indigenous plants and how they are used. He also painted my face with one of these plants. It was wonderful!

Me in traditional face paint.

Tuesday

The next day we visited a lagoon in the afternoon where I clearly took advantage of the great sunbathing opportunities and laid on a rock for most of our time there. That night we departed for the second place we would be staying. We took a roughly one hour ride in one of those little trucks you would recognize from an African safari. The sun was setting, the wind was blowing in my face, and I was in the Amazon. What more could one ask for! After eating dinner and having a drink at the “bar,” I decided to retire to bed. These new rooms had electricity but I still took full advantage of my flashlight to perform a pre-bed bug check. I was greeted by a GINORMOUS cockroach. I quickly grabbed Aislinn, mi compañera de cuarta, and between the two of us, we crushed that thing. I went back down to the bar to shake off my jitters before going to bed. Well, when I returned a termite colony had congregated around the dead cockroach and Aislinn and I had some more work cut out for ourselves as we worked to remove our little friend and his cohort. If teaching doesn’t work out, I’m considering opening up my own extermination business. Thoughts? Lauren and/or Angela, I am sorry if you are gagging right now.

Wednesday

In the afternoon on Wednesday we hiked through “canyones.” I still can’t figure out exactly what this translates to in English but I think it means “caverns.” This hike involved some crazy maneuvers through rocks and lots of it took place below ground level. The most intense part, however, came when I literally, hiked through a BAT CAVE. Despite how scary this might appear, it actually wasn’t too bad.

Thursday

Thursday happened to be my birthday! Not many people get to say that they celebrated 24 years of life in the Amazon jungle, so I consider myself extremely lucky. I was definitely missing all of my family and friends that day, but the group in Ecuador was awesome. That day we floated down a river on inner tubes and visited an indigenous community. The community’s simple lifestyle, the remoteness of the area, and their self-reliability all truly impressed me. The people we met there seemed genuinely content with their lifestyle and I think us Western, fast-paced people could really gain some wisdom from these people. That night, I was surprised by a cake, serendad in both English and Spanish, and enjoyed some beers and a game of Kings at the “bar.” Overall, it was a great day. Right before going to sleep, I made my second cockroach kill. This time, with great finesse.

Friday

Friday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and departed home. I was sad to leave but very grateful for a phenomenal week filled with breathtaking hikes, “breathtaking” bugs, delicious traditional food, relaxation, and great time bonding with the other ChACErs.