The Amazon was an ABSOLUTE blast. We hiked, swam, ate, played and even danced! The rooms we stayed in were beautiful! My only complaint was how hot it was. It was humid as its ever been and just so sweaty hot. I was dripping from the time I stepped off the boat… to the time we landed back in Quito and I could shower.
It was well worth the experience though. It was definitely once in a lifetime and I took full advantage of that!
The pictures tell the stories far better than I could ever articulate… So, I will let them do most of the talking in this post!
p.s these are ALL out of order?! Blogger messed up my order... So with no actual flow to my weekend in the Amazon... let's begin:
Maggots... or Grub.
 |
| Yes. They are alive. |
 |
| Yes. Sam and I did each eat one. (Actual picture of that... coming later in the blog?!) |
 |
| How I felt after... |
 |
| Kiss the cook! |
 |
| About to float down the Amazon in our lifejacket diapers! :) |
 |
| A night hike! Me, Janessa and Linnea. |
 |
| Us actually eating the grub. I love Sam's face. |
 |
| Arriving in the Amazon! Leah and Janessa. |
 |
| Riding on a really high truck... to take us to our canoe/boat that brought us to the lodge. |
 |
| Just monkey'n around. |
 |
| They loved her backpack! And just rummaged around! This is Brandi!! |
 |
| Mikele and Leah! Thus begins our motorized canoe ride to the heart of the Amazon!! aka The Yachana Lodge! |
 |
| They gave us a packed lunch. And my hair was going a lil crazy in the wind/humidity. |
 |
| The boat stopped for a bathroom break. It was a long boat ride! |
 |
| I love my friend Leah. :) |
 |
| These are kids from a local tribe/village a few minutes walk from the lodge we stayed at! I love Amazonian babies almost a much as my city, Ecuadorean babies! |
 |
| Sam, Me and Janessa Hammocking. |
 |
| I LOVE SAM!! So pumped she's going to be in Provo!!! |
 |
| Prettiest view EVER? |
 |
| The random parrot who let us pick him up! |
 |
| Abel took me on a spin on his motorbike! |
 |
| A ginormous tree!! |
 |
| Me and Sam arriving in the Amazon! |
 |
| Just a scorpion on my face. NO BIG DEAL. |
 |
| Me and Janessa climbing the giant tree. This picture is US to a T. |
 |
| Or maybe this is more like us?! |
 |
| A cleansing ceremony from the Shaman. |
 |
| Just some war paint! |
 |
| Learning to shoot blow guns... If things go south and I have to hunt/kill for my food at least I'm prepared!! |
 |
| Some of my very best friends. |
 |
| Mikele and janessa and our warpaint. |
 |
| I could never learn to throw that dumb spear. So, I won't be as good of a hunter as I thought... darn. |
 |
| Another local boy. As you can tell.... we love kids. |
 |
| Teaching him American picture signs. :) |
 |
| Wearing my backpack! |
 |
| LOVE this girl. |
 |
| We spent like 3 hours one night with the local kids... we taught them a bunch of american games. |
 |
| I have never been more happy anywhere. My two months in Ecuador were the best and happiest of my life. |
 |
| Nothing compares to being with these kids. |
 |
| She was adorable!! |
 |
| I LOVE THIS PICTURE! |
 |
| More bathroom pictures. :) |
 |
| One of our hikes. :) |
 |
| THAT IS AN EARTHWORM! |
 |
| Stretching the Earthworm out! |
 |
| Photoshoot with our guide!! |
 |
| Our beautiful Amazonian living quarters!! |
 |
| Playing with the local kids... this is one of their games!! |
 |
| Just riding the boat... it was our main form of transportation in the Amazon. And I loved that!!! |
I cannot believe you ate a maggot... swam in that nasty water, let a spider climb on your face, didn't shower for days and held that gross earthworm,just many confirmations that I was so right in not going!
ReplyDeleteBut, I am so glad you had a great time. But, nest time don't eat any gross bugs, I don't care what the guide says.