The jungle!

These past few days have far and away been my favorites of the trip. Monday morning, after waking up to the sounds of birds, frogs, and various insects, we ate a delicious breakfast including homemade bread and strawberry jam then headed out to our first health brigade. A 20 minute treck through ankle deep mud followed a 15 minute canoe ride and we arrived at a large room with a roof but no walls in the middle of a field.

The clinic itself on Monday was pretty poorly organized and it took over 3 hours to see about 20 patients, but we got through it and arrived home around 1 o'clock to our jungle lodge. After lunch, we had the option of visiting a local family. I wasn't sure what to expect but I decided to go and am very glad I participated.

At the house, a bamboo and palm wood hut held up on stilts, we were welcomed by a shaman and his family. He specialized in cleansings using a bundle of leafs from a zurupanga tree, whistling while he brushed away my bad energy. I very much appreciated that his method of cleansing didn't involve drinking jungle leaves that make you vomit or pouring liquid on my head like I'd experienced in Otavalo. Then, we got our faces painted with the inside of an achiote flower that contains a natural red pigment. The culmination of the visit was a jungle hunting lesson, where we got to try out our skills with a blow gun and a spear. Using the blow gun, made of palm wood with an arrow soaked in curari poison inside, I hit 1 out of 3 on the practice target. For spearing, I was told my form was actually pretty good, but I ended up hitting slightly wide right of the log we were aiming for.

Following dinner on Monday, we did a night walk through the woods behind the hotel. Using flashlights in the dark, we saw walking sticks, leaf bugs, and monkey tree frogs (the kind they use for the rainforest cafe logo). I also saw numerous spiders and got a little flying bug in my eye, but that wasn't quite as exciting.

On Tuesday, we were treated to a traditional breakfast called mojado, a fried egg on top of green plantains with a peanut sauce to mix it with. We then headed to another clinic, much better organized and faster moving since we had two real doctors rather than one. Carrie, Katie and I were in charge of the pharmacy and spent the morning hanging out pain pills, antibiotics, and tons of albendezol (an anti parasitic). We talked to all the groups as they came to fill prescriptions, so we had the inside scoop on the crazy cases of the day. There were two snake bites, a sad situation with a 27yo guy who was yellow from liver failure after being an alcoholic from a young age, and a little girl with an ant stuck in ear that had to be irrigated out.

I also got the chance to chat with the man who runs the Eco lodge, Juan, who accompanied us on all our activities all week. He's one of the coolest, most fascinating people I've ever met so talking to him is never boring. For starters, he fought in a war that killed 5 of his 12 siblings, has been stung by two stingrays and a cayman, and survived leptospirosis, a dangerous skin infection he had at age 12. He speaks at least 5 languages and can call many different kinds of animals. I also really admire the passion with which he runs his business, he cares so much about the environment and both the people who visit the lodge and those in the surrounding community. In fact, a large part of the profits goes towards funding projects in the surrounding area, including a local high school where the kids learn crafts and skills like farming to help provide a better life for their families. The goal of the lodge is to preserve nature and improve the jungle rather than destroying it, with power relying on solar energy and much of the food coming from local sustainable sources.

After the health brigade, we had an awesome lunch of steamed tilapia wrapped in banana leaves with fried yuca as a side. The traditional Ecuadorian food experience continued in the afternoon, where Juan put on a show of how they use local ingredients. We first tried hearts of palm that he chopped up with his machete then sprinkled with lemon and salt, which turned out quite delicious. We then moved on to something much more foreign...palm weevil grub. I can't believe it, but I actually was one of about half a dozen of us that ate a live one! We had to bite the head first so it wouldn't bite us, then it was just kind of chewy and didn't taste like much. The roasted version was much better, although I was expecting it to taste like chicken but it was much more like bacon. Even the girls who'd been completely grossed out by the live version agreed it was quite tasty once you got over it being grub. It turns out it's a rare delicacy for the locals, since it lives within the trees and can only be collected once every 3-4 months.

On Wednesday after breakfast, Juan spotted a toucan through his telescope and I got to marvel at it's beautiful colors and the grace with which it flies. We then headed to our final jungle health brigade. To get there was pretty simple: take a 15 minute ride in the canoe, cut through a corn field, walk down a stone road for an hour, and trudge through two streams. All of that while wearing scrubs and rain-boots! The clinic was pretty fun though and my team was in charge of eye exams. We only saw about 6 patients (the community has about 20 families total) but we were able to provide each one with a pair of glasses that significantly helped their vision. We then played with the local kids for a while, including a little 5-year-old named Merci who was the happiest child I've ever met and became my buddy for the morning.

After the same treck to get back to the canoe with the strong afternoon sun beating down on us, we all desperately needed to cool off. Juan had suggested we bring our bathing suits and we all cooled off in the Napa river, a tributary of the amazon, while we waited for the canoe to arrive. We got into the canoe just long enough to grab a life jacket, then hopped back in and floated down with the current towards the hostel. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading on the deck and watching the sun go down with some of the others. Following a very non-traditional pizza dinner, I joined my friends Carrie and Morganne for some star gazing. I've never seen the stars that bright before and as a bonus we were also treated to a lightening show off in the distance.

So on Wednesday morning, a group of about a dozen from my group had gone bird watching at 6am, but I'd decided to skip out since I was too tired to wake up. They didn't end up seeing any birds, but they did see some monkeys and I was very sad I'd missed out. I asked Juan at dinner that night if there was anywhere I could walk to if I got up early on Thursday where I might spot a monkey. Being the wonderful guy that he is, he did one better and offered to try and show me himself, but told me he couldn't promise we'd see anything. I invited Katie along and we met up at 6:15 then traveled along the river for a few minutes before arriving at a clump of trees on the river bank that didn't look too special. As we tiptoed along, all the sudden Juan spotted a monkey in one of the trees and soon there was a big group of them! We watched for a while both with our eyes and with the telescope to get a clearer view. Then we moved over a few feet and ended up mere feet from 3 of the babies! Katie and I stood fixated on the amazing scene in front of us, as they hopped from leaf to leaf and tree to tree. They were absolutely amazing and it was such a perfect way to end my experience in the rainforest.

Most of the rest of the day was spent on the bus, then we arrived back in Quito around 5 o'clock. I went to dinner and to see Harry Potter with three of the other girls and we had a nice relaxing evening. I can't believe tomorrow's our last full day and the program's just about over. We have a goodbye party tomorrow night that I'm sure will be a combination of happy and sad, as we prepare to separate following a month of sharing such wonderful experiences and making new lifelong friends.

Pic #2: Cleansing

Pic #3: My face paint design

Pic #4: Our transportation for the week