Trying to put the last few days into words feels impossible. I learned so much about the world and myself, I just feel privileged to be able to experience it. On Thursday, May 11th, we went deep into the Amazon rainforest, traveling 70 miles by a motorized canoe, which took about 5 or 6 hours. It was a beautiful day and the other people on the boat were keeping me entertained; I would have been okay being on the boat even longer. Once we got there, we basically just ate dinner and played uno. We had to use candles and makeshift lamps (putting our phone flashlights under water bottles to make them light up) because there was no electricity.
I was thankfully able to wake up early the next day naturally to the light sound of rain and birds chirping, it was such a peaceful moment. After breakfast, we were greeted by the people in the Waorani Tribe, and they gave us names in their native language. It is not a written language, but the name they gave me is pronounced like “Témada,” which means butterfly. We started the day off canoeing to a place where we could swing on vines. Some of the men who were in the tribe came with us and they just found natural vines where we were able to swing on them across a small body of water. At first, I didn’t think I could go there and back but I had so much fun doing it.
After lunch, we went to the tribe to see how they live and what they like to do for fun. As soon as we entered the property, there were beautiful parrots. The tribe was so welcoming and clearly excited to show us what they use to hunt, for example a blowgun and a spear. We tried both, and I was not good at either. Then, one of the women painted our faces with a type of fruit in the way that they had theirs painted. It was unexpected because it felt and looked so much like real paint, yet it was completely natural. It was humid out, so we all decided to go for a swim in the river. Once I got over the small fear of what could be in the river, I had so much fun just being able to relax for a little. We then came back to take pictures with the whole tribe and bought jewelry from the women in the tribe.
We canoed back to the tribe after dinner; I have never seen such beautiful stars in my life. The sky was so clear and all we could see were hundreds of stars. The tribe showed us their dances and then invited us to join in. The women were in the middle of a circle and the men were surrounding us walking in circles doing a chant. Since they showed us their songs, they wanted us to show them some American songs. The first thing people thought of was “I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys. Nobody had it downloaded, and since we had no service, we just started doing acapella. Colin was the one singing the “tell me why” parts; it was really funny. The next song we showed them was “You Belong with Me,” by Taylor Swift. And then finally, Rick suggested we sang “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond to represent Pitt, which luckily, I had downloaded. It was a special moment that all of us will remember for a really long time. They started playing the casual music that they like to listen to, so everybody danced. The men in the tribe would ask the girls in our group to dance with them. Everybody started dancing and taking turns with people; it was easily the best way to bond with people that I barely knew a week prior. This was the most special night of my life in ways that I can’t even comprehend myself.
The next morning, I woke up early and talked to the other early risers about what a crazy night it was. However, I had no idea how crazy that day would be either. We got back on our canoe to come back to the Iyarina Lodge, and it was a nice trip for the first 30 minutes. Then, it started downpouring for almost the entire rest of the trip. It was an entertaining boat ride because when the floor started to flood, some of us used our rainboots to scoop the water out. It was quite rough in the moment but definitely a story I will tell for a long time.