Today, Monday May 15th we woke up at 8 for some breakfast at the lodge, and Skip and Rick told us to get ready for a river hike, whatever that means. They told us to wear our boots and prepare to get wet. We all boarded some trucks and drove down the road to the…
Tag: Plus3 Ecuador
Trials and Tribe-ulations
At about 2pm on Friday 5/12, we left our lodge in the Amazon visit the Waorani tribe nearby. They came back with the boats for a quick 2 minute ride. Upon arriving, we were instantly greeted by a bunch of beautiful macaws in a tree that we got to hold and play with. They were…
The End To A Forever Lasting Experience
We knew it was coming and the time is officially here, the final blog. I am currently writing this in the Quito airport waiting for our 5 hour flight back to the states. Before I go on and talk about the past 3 days I first just want to say, what an experience! I will…
Swimming in the Pacific
Day 11 was the day I had been waiting for: beach day! We all had breakfast and then headed over to Machalilla National Park. We started by going on a short hike up to a lookout point where you could see the blue and beautiful Pacific Ocean. We also went to Playa Tortuga (Turtle Beach)….
Drowning and Monkey Business!
It’s crazy to think we’re nearing the end of our trip! On our last day at the lodge, we went on a pretty sick river hike. We were right in the middle of the Amazon, walking through what was not actually a path. At a certain point, I couldn’t even reach the bottom and we…
Exploring around the Rio Napo
Day 8 was more of a relaxing day which was much needed. We got time to work on our final presentations and my group decided to create our own rose company called Kawsaypac. That night, we went on a night walk which was more like a bug hike. We had our flashlights and tried to…
Ecuadorian Critters
After a crazy and exhausting adventure deep into the Amazon rainforest, we took it easy for the next few days, relatively of course. Sunday, May 14th, was Mother’s Day so we all made sure to call our moms and catch them up on everything that happened when we had no cell service. We also worked…
Up the River and Back Again
Day 5, 6, 7: Visiting the Waorani Nation In the morning, we left the lodge and took an hour and a half bus ride before a 70 mile canoe trip up the Rio Nushino and Rio Curaya. It took about 7 hours to get to the Waorani community we were visiting. It was long, but…
Days at the Shore
After a long day of travel, we finally arrived at Puerto Lopez. The hotel was very unique and cool. It was like trying to navigate through a maze because when we first arrived it was dark and the setup of the rooms was quite confusing. After killing about ten cockroaches in our room, we headed…
The River of Dreams
From Saturday, 5/13 to Tuesday, 5/16, we ventured into the depths of The Amazon Rainforest to stay with one of the many indigenous tribes called the Waoranis. In order to get there, we had to take a 6-hour motorized canoe ride through the rainforest. It was definitely as awesome as it sounds, both the way…
Vamos a la Selva
Our time spent with the Waorani nation was by far my favorite part of this entire experience. We left early in the morning as we had a 90 minute bus ride and 6-hour canoe ride through the Amazon Rainforest ahead of us. We were lucky enough to have slightly overcast weather for the majority of the…
My name is Coyote Peterson and I am about to enter the sting zone.
After some needed rest, we had breakfast and then a presentation was given from the locals for our Pitt group and a group from University of Arizona. There they told us what is important to them in their life and how our cultures and priorities are different. For example, one of them said that their…
Back to Civilization
Our first day back at Todd’s lodge was a free day to work on our projects. We pretty much relaxed all day. At night we went on a walk around the lodge to look for bugs and spiders that don’t come out until night. We saw a lot of interesting critters. Our next day started…
Getting in Touch with Nature
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…
Feeling Like a True Adventurer
This was the most action-packed and memorable day of the trip. On the morning of day 6, we met some of the people in the Waorani tribe which we would be visiting later and were all given Waorani names. Mine was “O-nai” which means flower. After that, we headed out on the canoes to I…
Canoeing in Rain or Shine
Before I finish and post the exciting rainforest blog, I wanted to dedicated one to days 5 and 7. They were both travel days but not by typical car, plane, or train: by canoe! We were on the canoe for about 5-6 hours on both days. Day 5 was a bright sun but perfect weather….
Paradise in the Waorani
After returning from the fishing trip we had lunch and about a hour to ourselves. With no internet my only option was to go exploring around the cabin and I found some cool butterflies and frogs. Then back on the canoe ride to visit the Waorani’s home. At the entrance of their home was a…
Ecuadrenched
Day 7 & Day 8: May 13th and May 14th After the most unreal and amazing experience, we began heading back into civilization. After breakfast and packing, we left early in the morning for our hours long canoe ride. Just as we left I said “I hope we get to experience a little bit of…
Ecuaday to Relax
Day 4: May 10th. This was our most relaxing day so far, which was very much needed after our long and tiring day yesterday. We woke up the calming sound of the river, birds, and trees swaying at Iyarina Lodge. After a group breakfast, we were given our rain boots which would help us for…
Meeting the Waorani Tribe
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….