Day 5 & Day 6: May 11th & May 12th
Day 5 (May 11th):
Early in the morning we ate breakfast, packed our stuff, and began our 6 hour long journey into the Amazon Rainforest to visit the Waohrani Nation. The Waohrani is an indigenous tribe of Ecuador that we were going to stay with.
We were so lucky and privileged to have this opportunity and connection to the tribe to be able to visit them. Todd’s grandfather had met a leader in the tribe and formed a deep connection with the people, which is how we were able to meet them.
We took a 2 hour bus ride, stopped at a local convenience store to pick up snacks, and headed to the boats. We were split up into two canoes. To be completely honest, I was not looking forward to this long boat ride into the jungle as I thought it would seem never ending. However, as it began I never wanted to the boat ride to end! We saw the most beautiful of trees, monkeys, birds, and it was amazing. I had never seen so much greenery at once. The sun was beating down on us the entire boat ride, and we were lucky to see a rainbow! Halfway through, we stopped for lunch at Gomaton and ate packed sandwiches and then contuined onto the journey. Normally I do not like tuna salad but I was so hungry I didn’t even care. We saw a variety of trees, some were insanely tall and towering over us. The river was not too deep, and we only had to pull over a few times to refill gas tank. It felt like 2 hours at most, as the beautiful views kept us entertained. I think were going about 15 miles per hour.
Eventually, we reached. We grabbed our bags, and climbed a few flight of stairs, and were greeted by parrots which were their pets. This lodge in the forest had been built by Todd and his family for people like us to come visit the tribe. There was no service, no electricity, no warm water, but it was still pretty cool. We were so deep into the forest, it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It got dark pretty cook so we used candle lights, and makeshift lamps from our phone flashlights to light up the table. We played uno, and ate dinner in the dark.
This was the craziest place I had ever done my skin care, and had to use 1 hand, no mirror, and a bottle of water to do it, but it worked! We fell asleep to the sound of crickets, frogs, trees rustling, and rain. We were all so exhausted and had no problem falling asleep. It did not feel real sometimes how we were literally in the middle of nowhere.
Day 6: May 11th:
We woke up to the rainforest yk raining. It was the most crisp sound and unlike any other rain I had heard before. The trees looked beautiful in the rain. We ate breakfast, and began on our adventure for the day. Before we left, some family members from the tribe came to greet us and introduce themselves. As an ice breaker, they gave us all indigenous tribe names based off our real names, mine was Daowa.
We took a short canoe ride into another part of the jungle. There was no path so they were using the machete to cut the way for us, so our heads wouldn’t be hit by the trees. I thought it was funny how casually people here carry around machetes. We were walking through thick mud, trees, and branches coming out of nowhere.
They showed us how they used the vine to swing around and get across the river. Then it was our turn. Unfortunately, some people … like me are just not meant for this so as I swung across the river on the vine I just happened to body slam into the mud. While I did make it across, I was covered in mud. It was pretty painful, but I was okay. It was interesting to think about how this was not some manufactured activity or swing they put up for us. It was a literally vine that they just knew from expereince would be able to carry us all across this river. One of them was able to climb all the way to the top of the tree, and used two leaves to slide back down and protect his hands from being cut. It was so simple, yet nothing I would have thought of.
After some more swinging around on the vines (not me though), we headed back on the canoe ride for lunch.
I asked Skip what these huge nests in the trees were and he said they were carton termite nests. They were absolutely huge, and I never knew that termite nests looked like that. He showed us how the create these tubes to come down and drink water. He grabbed a couple and showed us that once you create a hole in their tube they send down these soldier termites to guard the area before they can rebuild it. It was made out of cellulose. Skip showed us on his magnifying glass how the soldier ones have big heads with nozzle on it. It was so cool.
Then we headed over to the indigenous community. We were greeted by more parrots, and had the opportunity to hold them. Their wings were clipped so they could not fly, but eventually it would grow back and they would be able to. We saw where they lived and and their homes and the tribe was very friendly and welcoming.
They showed us how to use blow guns which was a form of defense for them. We each got to try. Unfortunately, mine did not hit the target. The blow guns were huge and taller than all of us. Then they gave us all tribal paintings on our face to welcome us. The face paint was just the juice of a fruit that grew nearby. It felt so much like real paint, but it was just fruit. The girls got this batman style look on our faces and the guys got 3 dots. Every couple minutes, I had to remind myself that this was real and their daily lifestyle.
Some of the group went for a swim in the river, then we came back and bought some jewelry and pottery from the tribe. All of the ingredients were handmade and found in nature which I found so cool. They were so proud of their work.
After taking some more pictures, we headed back to clean up and eat dinner. After we ate, it was time to head back to the tribe. It was a bit scary taking the canoe ride in the dark, since we could not see a single thing. We also were sitting on the edge of the canoe not inside so at any point we could have fallen off.
Once we arrived, we sat down and watched them perform the traditional Waohrani dance for us. The men were walking in circles chanting, and the women were in the middle singing doing other dance moves. Then we joined in. It was such a joyous moment being able to be apart of their culture and everyone was just smiling and taking in this unique once in a life time experience. It felt so unreal. After they performed their songs, they wanted to hear some of ours.
This was my most proudest Swiftie moment. We sang You belong with Me by Taylor Swift for them, I am sure we turned them all into swifties. Then we sang “I want it that way” by the Backstreet boys, which was acapella since we had no service and since we are all such amazing singers it sounded just great. Then lastly, as we are from Pitt we had to sing “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond Pitt version for them. It was such a special moment and feeling that I will never forget being able to share our culture, and school pride.
After that, we just all started dancing to their music and had so much fun. Everyone was smiling and laughing and it was definitely my top moments of the trip so far. The men in the tribe asked us girls to dance with on each them, and we took turns. It was such a bonding moment for us even though we were unable to verbally communicate with them. It was one of the coolest nights of my life and I will never forget the feeling. Me and Sami asked the little boy in the tribe to dance with us. His grandmother had to make him, but I think he had some and liked being spun. After dancing for a while, we headed back.
While I thought the night was over, it became so much more amazing. I can’t even express into the words how beautiful the night sky was. We sat in silence on the canoe ride back all just taking in the view. I was trying to take it all in and it felt so unreal, which pretty much sums up the entire experience of the day. I had never seen a prettier sky. It looks stunning on the camera, but it could even come close to the real beauty of it.
After we got back, we all showered and got ready to sleep. As we were about to sleep, we heard a rustling and I shined my light on the wall. A huge white rat was crawling up towards the ceiling. Me and Sami thought there was a mouse in our room so we screamed the loudest scream of my life and accidentally woke up all of Waohrani nation. The guys came running in, and turns out the mouse was on the other side of the net and not in our room, but it was still frightening.