In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

Hola mis amores :) ¿Cómo están? Estoy bien, recuperando de mi viaje a la AMAZONIA el último fin de semana. Fue un viaje increíble y espero que puedo regresar otra vez en el futuro. Deben ustedes venir conmigo en el futuro, sería muy chévere :) Es importante reconocer que la Amazonia es muy diversa y hay muchas partes diferentes y yo solamente visité una parte en el Ecuador. Esto significa que mi experiencia no se puede generalizar a la Amazonia entera, y eso es muy importante. Por ejemplo, en la parte en que yo visitaba, no había monos (por lo menos, visibles) o animales "salvajes"en la selva, sino había una variedad de insectos, bichos, y biodiversidad. (If you can't read this b/c you can't understand Spanish...learn!)

Yachana Lodge - the place we stayed for 4 days. So pretty!

Some of the cabins that we stayed in -- we definitely didn't "rough" it, but I was okay with that!

One of the views from one of our late afternoon hikes 

Silhouette.

Me & my friend Maggie :)

Sweaty from hiking, but happy to be amidst such beauty :)

This woman was my hero. She was pulling that yuca out of the ground like it was nothing, when in reality it was actually pretty hard. She was also using her machete like a ninja to clear out the weeds.

This is how the indigenous women carry the yuca back to their communities...looks like a headache to me!

Oh you know, working the poncho!

One of the communities that we visited

The cooked yuca, before the mashing session began!

I was definitely getting into the whole mashing thing...it definitely felt good to get some of that pent-up anger out ;)

We are Death Eaters (Harry Potter reference, for all of the n00bs out there). 

The shaman in the local community with our guide

This was the part of our natural cleansing where the shaman blew tobacco smoke on us. Tobacco actually really helps clear out your system!

This plant is used by parents to punish their children when they are misbehaving.

& I can def. see why -- this is what happened as a result of just one little hit from that plant. My hand was burning so badly!

These are flowers that are used for paint

This is my cool Amazonian warrior design!

I'm pretty much an official Amazonian warrior now.

This was the gun that they use to hunt -- you have to blow really hard to shoot out the bullet, and most of us failed and didn't hit the target. 

This is another weapon that is used to hunt -- it's basically like a javelin. Although I look super intense and legit, I was not successful in hitting the target. SIGH.

This is a huge ant that is dangerous b/c if it stings you, you get a crazy fever, instantly. There are some crazy insects/bugs in the Amazon, for real.

Loving the Amazon.

This tree is friggen enormous. It's like 400 years old or something, and it's just beastly. ¡QUE BESTIA!

Me & my boo, Casey -- having a moment near the Tree of Life.

¡Salvemos la Amazonia!

This is our crazy guide, showing us how to climb a tree that has no branches.

Tree-hugger.

There were def. parts of our hike where we thought we were going to fall & die. ¡Sobrevivimos!

Things got pretty cray cray during the hike. 

Survivors. Amazonian warriors. B.A.

Don't mess. 

The Napo River, a tributary to the Amazon River.

A crazy looking picture I took of the sunset.

View from our lodge. 

Que bonita.

I really don't think I could ever get sick of this view.

All smiles :)

The whole gorup in our sexy ponchos.

Taking our rest from one of our crazy hiking adventures.

We visited a local high school and this was their little greenhouse.

Roller coaster ride in our HUGE canoe!

We're ready to swim!

This was our "train" -- fun times! The current was pretty strong & it was super relaxing to just float in the river!

Our trip to the Amazon was definitely the best trip so far -- it was so great to be surrounded by beauty wherever we went. I definitely want to come back to visit one day, and I want to visit other parts of the Amazon as well. It was so peaceful and relaxing and I definitely needed this get-away from Quito and the city life. It was also really nice & tropical and hot, so that was a nice change as well. I didn't get eaten by too many bugs (I was literally applying bug spray every 5 minutes), so that was a pretty good deal. It did rain a little, but it was the good rain b/c it wasn't too cold & it just felt refreshing. I can't even describe how nice it felt to fall asleep to the sounds of nature (waterfalls, crickets, etc.). So in summary, the Amazon was awesome -- definitely an unforgettable experience.