Jungle love, it's driving me mad, making me crazy... - Steve Miller

Once again it has been a while since my last blog, and once again this one will be based off of mostly pictures. This blog is based off of the field trip we had to the Amazon at the end of October. We travelled to the province of Napo for four days and saw some really neat projects taking place. I should tell you now that though I think the Amazon is beautiful, it just isn’t the right location for me. The humidity and bugs are enough to keep me up in the mountains. The experience though is one that I won’t soon forget.

This is Sue. She greeted us during our first night in our hostel in our bathroom.

This is Sue's partner Allan. He was hanging out on the wall above our shower. He wouldn't budge, and it took me awhile to work up the courage to finally wash my hair. I talked to him the whole time...I figured that way he was less likely to attack me.

 Our first visit...

This is one of the first projects we visited, a series of small agricultural initiatives taking place out of one community. This is the plot of Patricio and his wife. The plants you see here with the red stems are yuca plants. From this an energy-filled called chicha is made. The process of making this drink involves the women, (and women only, for chicha-making is a woman's job), who masticate the cooked yuca in their mouths. The chewed yuca is then fermented, and when it is ready, given to the men in the fields as they work. Contary to popular thought, the thing to worry about when drinking chicha is not that the yuca has already been in the mouth of another person, it is the cleanliness of the water that is used during the process. I myself have not had a chance to try chicha, but I have heard countless stories of its benefits to the men working in the fields.

On another note, after telling us her many duties in the household and on the farm (raising and caring for her children, tending to the crops, cooking, making chicha), Patricio's wife told us that she was "only a wife". What value is given to a woman's labour here?

Trekking through the Amazon...sweating buckets by now.

This is what your chocolate looks like before it is processed, packaged and put on a shelf. The beans themselves are covered in a slimy film, which is delicious to suck on. Tastes kind of like mango!

Patricio hacking away at a bamboo tree. Inside there is water, clean as filtered water. Tasted like I was sipping right from a well. Oh the wonders of nature!

Big amazonian tree!

Just as we returned to the community it began to rain. A glimpse of one of the daily torrential downpours that happens in this part of Ecuador.

These kids we adorable and so excited to model for us. Moments after they were swining on this wooden pole, it snapped in half. So funny! We all knew it was coming.

The boy on the far left in the above picture, Dario, took this picture for us. Good with a camera I'd say!

Our second visit...

Beautiful tree.

These women are part of a women's cooperative that makes artisan jewlery using the resources they have around them. The beads and string are 100% natural. Here they are preparing to harvest this pole of its material that will make string. The fibres of the string are incredible strong and durable.



After a few steps in between, this is what comes of that stick; natural string.




Here the women are using fruits to colour the string.



This strings of beads decorating this bowl is the result of the above process.

The women are really proud of their cooperative. Part of the reason for its existence is to raise money in order to buy back land that was taken from them. Things are always much more complicated than they seem.

After observing the work of the women's group, and buying some of their products, we were treated to some traditional dances by the community's children.

This is what happens when you give kids your camera. Countless of pictures were taken...this was one of the better ones.

Luch time! Yuca on a leaf anyone?

Yuca and chicken soup, with most of the chicken still intact. Not unusal to find a foot hanging around in there. You could say it give the soup a good kick!

Our last visit...

This is the last place we visited. It is an animal conservation and an incredibly cool place; come here to hang out with monkeys, turtles, parrots, ants, ferrets.

One of the first creatures I saw as we made our way into the conservation area.

The ants go marching two by two, hoorah! hoorah!

No zoom needed, they really were this close! Often they would use your head or shoulders as stepping stones to get to their next destination.

"The jungle is the future of the world. Don't let it die".

Eating some bananas.

"Say no to the traffiking of native species, they aren't pets".



Polly want a cracker?



Just before we left the animal reservation, I got stung by a bug. Nothing more than a bee sting, but I took it as a sign that I am better off where things that can sting and bite and make you itch don't thrive. The amazon was beautiful, but just not for me. I was happy to return to the cooler climate of the sierra, and be high up in the mountains once again. But I do love snakes!!!



This is a type of boa that we encountered while eating lunch at a hostel on our way back to Quito. The discovery channel was there filming some sort of commercial, or program and the snake trainer let us hold him too!
This one is for you mom!