We left for the airport on Friday morning (after we had slept in...and even though this only meant until 8:00 it felt SO GOOD). We took a rickety old 30-seater plane for about 20 minutes over to an extreme climate change. We got on the plane, and it was chilly. We got off the plane, and it was scorching. The sweatshirts came right off and my flip-flopped feet finally began to thaw. What a great feeling that was.
Our guide, Abel, was waiting for us with our very own chiva. What's a chiva, you ask? The South American version of a double decker bus. We enjoyed the two hour drive to the jungle atop this lovely vehicle. I almost got decapitated by some Amazonian tree branches, but don't worry. All of me is currently securely intact.
Riding on the chiva
After riding in the Chiva for two and a half hours, we got on this motorized canoe. After a couple minutes on the Napo (the 6th largest tributary to the Amazon River itself), we arrived at Yachana.
Our towels were folded so nicely. Every room had a sweet hammock on the porch, and I spent as much time as possible sleeping in our hammock during siestas. The rooms were great, with hot and running water. We found a little 8-legged friend on Night #1. I freaked out...luckily Kelsey stayed composed enough to find out that it was already dead, and subsequently toss it outside, where it rightfully belonged. We also befriended a little lizard/gecco (not sure) who we took the creative liberty of naming Lizzy.
This is Yolanda, the pet parrot at the lodge. She just came one day, and never stopped coming. They treat her like a queen. She gets every meal on a plate, and you can find her swinging herself in the hammocks. She got all sqwuaky (not sure on the spelling on that, so I just went with all the possibilities) and ruffly feathered when I came around. Not sure why because I fed her a LOT of bread.
On morning #1, we woke up to the loudest thunderstorm I'd ever heard. Welcome to the rainforest! I normally love thunder, but this thunder actually made me a little nervous, it was so loud. It made our table shake at breakfast. We wore these super stylin' ponchos on our hikes in the rainforest that day. Fortunately, I've been everything but in style the last 3 and 1/2 months, so this was nothing new.
Oh yes...it's a machete. I know, I look like a crazy person who shouldn't be allowed to hold a machete. Luckily for all those around me, I put it down as soon as the picture was finished being taken. I didn't enjoy being responsible for such a dangerous weapon.
I'm not sure how to caption this one. Just me being me.
We saw these little monkeys on Day #2. They looked uncannily similar to squirrels, except with longer, skinnier tales. And they liked bananas a whole lot more. On that note, I'm not really sure why I thought that the monkeys wouldn't actually like the bananas. I thought it was just one of those mythical things that everyone who doesn't live in the jungle had come to believe. Nope. Monkeys like bananas.
Guys don't worry, it's a millipede, not a centipede. You might be worried because centipedes are apparently very poisonous. I learned that in the jungle :).
We saw a shaman on Day #3. He cleansed us by waving that bushel of I'm-not-sure-what all around us. Before starting all of this, he blew pot everywhere. I smelled like drugs for the whole day, and then my bag smelled a little when I got home. He whistled a little tune to accompany the plant shaking, then rubbed it all over me, and blew it away.
I'm sorry but.....I just didn't feel a difference.
Who knew I was a blow gun professional? I sure didn't. We aimed sharp little chopsticks at a wooden tucan, and I hit 3/4 right on the bullseye (see below). I'm thinking about making my own blow gun, because apparently I can take anyone down with it. Watch your back.
That tucan is SO dead.
We also learned how to throw spears. This, I must admit, is not one of my fortes. It just kind of flew through the air with absolutely no direction, then landed with some feeble bounces quite a few feet shy of the target. I'll just stick with the blow gun.
We went bird watching on the chiva. The jungle is breathtaking, and I kept on needing to remind myself that it was real. Our guide was incredible, and could find birds who were miles away with his telescope.
While hiking in the jungle, I ALWAYS had my hood on. Spiders in the Amazon are super NAST.
We had a cooking class on Day #3. It was a surprisingly simple recipe to make some seriously delicious fish. We just sprinkled salt on these, wrapped them in the leaves, and set them on the fire for about 25 or 30 minutes. It turned out to be some of the best fish I've ever tasted.
Preparing our fish
The finished product. I had no idea that I would scarf this entire fish down in 5 minutes flat. It was SO GOOD.
Deboning a fish is actually really easy if you just take it slow. Granted, these fish weren't particularly large. But still, I like to think that what we did took a lot of talent.
Our guide, Abel. He knew everything there was to know about the jungle. To give you an idea, when he was 8 he was hunting a crocodile, and now has a scar half a foot long on his hand to show for it. Whenever we'd be hiking, we'd ask him to find a certain animal or bug. He'd say, "Ok, hold on. Let me call." He'd actually pull out his cell phone, say something in Kichwa, then hang up. Less than ten seconds later, he'd find one. We'd say "How'd you do that so quick?" to which he'd respond, "I call them on the telephone." I guess I can't argue with that.
