Day nine started a little bit before six in the morning but only because everyone cooking downstairs woke me up. Breakfast wasn’t until 7:30 so I tried to go back to sleep but wasn’t really successful. For breakfast we of course had juice and coffee, but the main meal was oatmeal and buns. After breakfast the Waorani took us up stream by canoe to a couple of these giant trees in the middle of the forest. They showed us how to swing from the vines and one little boy started climbing some of them. You would have thought he was a monkey with how high and fast he was climbing. They cut out steps in the tree so you could climb them as a ladder to get a better swing. It was so much fun. The mother also shared a story of how when she was a child, they would cut down the trees with rocks and then plant yuca and plantain between the grooves at the base as a garden. In one of the trees, between the grooves, there was also a little bat hanging by himself.
When we were done listening to stories and playing in the trees they took us fishing. Unfortunately, our boat only caught one fish but one of the other ones caught like twenty. They were all tiny catfish. The sun was so hot that we didn’t stay out for too long and eventually went back to the cabin for lunch. Lunch was HUGE. We had pasta with a red sauce of some sort with either pork or beef. We also had juice and side salad. It was so good though, and I was completely stuffed by the time I was done eating. After lunch we had a little bit of down time, so I went upstairs and laid on the table because I felt so sticky and gross and didn’t want to sit in bed.
Eventually it was time to canoe down river a little bit to where the Waorani lived. The little boy I mentioned earlier wanted me to take so many pictures of him and he even took pictures of us. I would learn later that he really wanted to become a vlogger and was having people take videos of him throughout the day. They had two pet monkeys that were really cute. One’s name was Nemo and I didn’t catch the name of the other. Most of the time they hid in the trees while we were there but later on Nemo would come out and let me pet him for a couple seconds. They also have a pet tapir, but I think she went to the forest to give birth a few days prior, so we didn’t get to see her. They also had a couple of pet dogs. The first thing we did was the naming ceremony. They used this plant called achiote to paint our faces and gave us names. For example, some people were warriors, the moon, the stars, or animals. I forget what my name was, but in English it translated to be a little green parrot. After our naming they showed us how to throw spears. No one speared the target, which was a banana stalk, but not to toot my own horn, I think I was one of the closest. I hit the ground about an inch away from it. After that we decided to split up into three groups and play soccer with them. My team decided to paint stripes on our arms with the same thing we painted our faces with. We won our first two games but after that we decided to combine and split into two big teams for one last game. It was so hard trying to run around because the grass was so muddy and we were all barefoot. I think Matt hit the ground at least five times along with a bunch of the other guys. By the end of the last game, it had started raining which just made it even more fun. I was also so excited when we saw a group on macaws flying overhead in the distance while we were playing. I’ve always loved macaws and dreamed about seeing them in the wild. Unfortunately, they were in the distance so I couldn’t really see their colors, but you could hear them squawking and tell that’s what they were.
After we were all muddy from soccer we decided to all swim in the river which was so much fun. The little boy wanted to play tag, so we all played. The Waorani are such good swimmers that when they were it, they would dive underwater so you wouldn’t know where they were. Some of the guys also started playing chicken and it was just so much fun. One guy brought us these fat bananas to try, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a better banana. It was perfectly ripe but so sweet and delicious. He also brought us little mini ones to snack on. Eventually we had to get out to go back to the cabin for dinner. We had cheese and potato soup with side salads. Someone also cooked a bowl of peccary for themself but there was some left over, so I tried a piece. It was fine and just tasted like smoked pork.
After dinner we had about an hour before we had to go back to the Waorani so I tried to take a nap. It was only half successful. But soon enough we were back on the canoes and when we got off, we waited for them to get ready. When they were ready the men showed us one of their traditional dances and asked the men in our group to join them. After showing us a dance from their culture we had to show them one from ours, so we danced to Party in the USA. We also sang Sweet Caroline for them. After the dancing was over the mother brought out a bunch of handmade weavings. There were coasters, baskets, bags, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. Some of the jewelry had beads made from things in the forest and all the colors of them were natural. One of the necklaces Matt bought even had peccary teeth on it, and one of the necklaces the Waorani was wearing had rows of caiman teeth which was really cool. I bought a few bracelets but that was it. After that we said our goodbyes and canoed in the pitch black dark back to the cabin. It was honestly scary with how dark it was but they’re very skilled at driving the canoes. They told us we wouldn’t see any caiman since it was raining, and they don’t come out in the rain. Once we got back, I showered and immediately went to bed because it was really late and we would have to get up very early.