We’ve had some crazy adventures over the past few days. On Thursday, we left Todd’s lodge and embarked on our journey to the Waorani Nation. The canoe ride was about 5-6 hours. Luckily, we didn’t get stuck in the rain on the way there. But the sun was beaming down on us, and everyone got pretty burnt. One of the boats had an about 8-year-old at the front using the stick to help guide the boat. Our boat broke down a few times but luckily our driver knew what he was doing and was able to repair it. When we arrived at the lodge, we had a candlelit dinner and went to bed. There was no electricity or wifi/service at the lodge, so my phone was dead for almost the whole time we were there. I don’t know the last time I went three days without using my phone. The next morning, we woke up and met the tribe at breakfast. Some of them spoke Spanish and some of them only spoke their native language. They told us their names and then we went around the table and told them ours. Next, they gave us all our own Waorani names. They gave me the name Dayuma, which is the name of the first Waorani woman who made contact with outsiders many years ago. After breakfast, we took the canoes down the river to go on a short jungle walk. The men leading us for this walk chopped their way through the forest with machetes and led us to an area with some vines to swing on. They showed us how to swing on the vines and even climb the vine to get into the tree. We all tried swinging on the vine across the river and jumping off at the end. Then we headed back to the lodge for lunch. After lunch, Todd talked to us for a while about his story and the history of the lodge. Then, we took the canoes to the tribe’s community. When we arrived, there were parrots in the bush that we all took pictures with.

They showed us how to show blow darts out of a blow dart gun. The blow-dart gun was a lot bigger than I expected. We used a bamboo stick as our target. They also showed us how to throw spears. Then they painted our faces the way they do it using a fruit. I was surprised to see how dark the pigment was considering they used a fruit. Then we played soccer with them and went swimming in the river and went back to eat dinner. After dinner, we took a nighttime canoe ride back to the tribe. This canoe ride was relaxing and there were many bright stars in the sky. When we got there, they performed their traditional welcome dance and let us participate as well. Then we sang a few of our favorite songs for them. After this, they turned their music on, and we had a big dance party in the hut with them. It was so much fun.

We then headed back to the lodge to go to bed. Sleeping at the lodge was relaxing because you could hear all the sounds of nature. But the walls were thin, and we also heard surround sound snoring. Our last night at the lodge was eventful. When Sachi and I went to bed, I thought I heard something scurrying around. We obviously couldn’t see because there were no lights, so I asked her to turn on a flashlight, and suddenly, we saw a huge mouse facing us and crawling up our wall. Originally, we thought it was inside the room so we both let out a scream that woke up the entire lodge and about ten people ran into our room to see if we were okay. It turns out the mouse was crawling outside the mesh and was in fact not in the room. All was well and we went to bed. The canoe ride back to the lodge was not as relaxing as on the way there. Sachi and I sat on a broken bench for the whole 5 hours, and it hurt so bad. It also down poured on us the entire time. I’ve never been so drenched in my life and everything was soaked. Our boat started filling up with water, so we were scooping water out of the boat with our boots. Even though it sounds miserable I had a lot of fun lol!