A 20 minute van ride, five hour bus ride, another 20 minute van ride, 10 minute boat ride and a bit of walk gets me to Shiripuno Community Lodge where the Kichwa tribe lives in the Amazon jungle. The past three days have been jammed packed with learning how the locals live here. Activities include a cultural dance on the beach complete with bonfire (and the limbo), a three hour trek through the jungle, a night walk in an attempt to spot insects and spiders (why would I want to know what could be in my bed?!), cooking lessons, craft making and more.
Accommodations are certainly rustic, but we do have electricity and (cold) running water. The heat and humidity are exhausting - though probably not as bad as NYC in the summer. Sleep has been scarce. I feel like I've done and seen so much during the three days in the Amazon, it will be best captured in Random Highlights...
Random Highlights
Watching "Let's be Cops" in Spanish during the bus ride
Eating hoof soup in Tena (yes, a cow hoof was in my soup; no, you don't actually naw on the hoof)
Trying chontacuro (beetle larva!) - tastes like really buttery popcorn
Bonding with tour members over Pilsner grandes
Reading in the hammock
Watching leaf cutter ants march through the jungle
Feeling like I was in summer camp making beaded bracelets
Not being half bad at shooting a blow dart
Surviving the Amazon
