After breakfast we began a three hour hike to the first Huaorani community. We still didn’t see any mammals but lots of birds and insects and really amazing foliage. I will say that the jungle is much less scary in the daylight, thank goodness. During our hike, Uweme would explain the Huaorani use of plants and trees and insects. One of the trees in the jungle is called a lemon aunt tree. It has a symbiotic relationship with ants. And apparently they’re full of protein and taste like lemon. So why not try them  right? So I did. And they do taste like lemon!

Uweme would also stop to share legends of their community.  For example they have a legend about how the Amazon river and its tributaries were created. Roberto would translate while he told the story of his land. Uweme and other elders in the tribe are very important for maintaining their history because they have their own language and the stories are not written down, just passed from generation to generation. I’m developing a profound respect for the people here. They are kind and strong and hard-working and generous and absolutely fearless! Amazing!

We arrived to the first community. Here we met a few more Huaorani women and children. Every one that we’ve met is related to everyone else. It does make sense as they rarely marry into another tried and there are only so many of them. We were able to visit one family’s house – Bacha and Eloy. They have four children and they are both under the age of 25. They live in a one room house near the river. Some of them have beds and some sleep and hammocks. They have a separate room without walls that serves as a kitchen.  They did have a generator for electricity but apparently that is unusual. They have a very simple life filled with family and hard work. No electronics or in some cases even light. But they look so happy! And welcomed us with open arms. They had some other family visiting as well. One of the girls was 15 and already married. And that’s the norm for them. They typically get married as soon as they’re able to bear children. So different from the way we live.

We helped Bacha plant some yucca and learn how to braid fibers that came from the trees and were used to make jewelry. And we tried chicha, which is their alcoholic drink. Yes even the simplest ways of life include a strong drink! This drink is made from the yucca plant and is fermented with the use of saliva. In order to make the chicha, they will cook the yucca, then chew it, then spit it out and wait for it to ferment. Yeah, it wasn’t my thing! But at least I tried it.

We spent a couple of hours just hanging out with his family. It was awesome! It seems like the people know and appreciate the important things in life. Although they’re slowly adopting some modern practices. They still believe in and want to retain their way of life.

I’m absolutely whipped! And I’m loving this and I’m also very afraid at the same time. I’m just hoping I can relax enough to sleep tonight…

This seems to be the month of my life for bringing all of my irrational fears to the surface. The night hike completely fell in line with that. We started out at dusk but almost as soon as we went into the jungle, the fading light mixed with the canopy put us in darkness. And of course I know this, but this land is ALIVE. There are different sounds in every direction. Different movements from all directions. It is wicked and unknown and scary. But on I went. We were looking for nocturnal animals but also insects and monkeys and bats. Well, what you see more than anything else in the jungle are insects. Of course that’s true but I guess I didn’t realize just how true it was! And insects you see the most of our spiders. And I’m not talking about the little baby spiders I find in my house in North Carolina, I’m talking about massive, hairy spiders with spikes! I’m talking about scorpions and tarantulas. They were incredibly cool but seriously got me riled up. My heart rate definitely went way up and I felt claustrophobic.

We spent a couple of hours in the jungle before returning for a nice dinner and bed. As I went to wash up for dinner, I was greeted with a giant cockroach as well as a giant spider in my room. It’s official now, I’m like a little girl around these huge bugs! I managed to kill the spider but left for dinner with the roach in my room. After returning from dinner, he’d brought friends in the form of large ants. Now, I’m embarrassed about this but I have to tell it. I ran for my cabin to Roberto’s to see if this was normal. I swear I sounded like a small whiny child. He acted like it was nothing but I knew I couldn’t sleep like that. So I asked my new friend Jen to bunk in her cabin. Yes, I was too afraid of the dark to sleep alone. And although embarrassed, I think I’m going to crash in her cabin for the rest of the week. Completely irrational, but there it is. I’ve vowed to try to reduce this fear a bit this week. Honestly I don’t think I have a choice. Needless to say, when I actually got to sleep around 3 AM, I dreamed of creepy crawlers! We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

I am in absolute awe! Everywhere I look there’s something new and fascinating. Let me back up. I was picked up bright and early by our naturalist guide Roberto and was quickly joined by the rest of our group. There are only 4 of us! There’s another solo woman traveler named Jen from San Diego and a sweet couple front the UK called Louise and Shane. So far we’re all getting along and as usual, these people are so similar to me – a bit crazy with a lot of great stories to tell.

We were to drive from Quito to another Ecuadorian tourist town called Banos and then from there to another town called Shell where our Cessna would be waiting to take us into the jungle. We were on the Pan American highway and would go through an area first called the avenue of the volcanoes. After that it would be referred to as the avenue of the waterfalls.

Roberto is awesome! From the get-go he told us history and news about the country and also about our tour. As I said in an earlier post, there’s an active volcano called Cotopaxi that sits outside Quito. Apparently when and if it erupts it won’t affect Quito but will displace 250k people from its surrounding towns. Well, currently this volcano is spitting ashes… and we got to see that! I’ve never seen a volcano in any stage of eruption so that was a pretty amazing way to start the trip. We were told, however, that we really don’t want it to get more active because of the devastating effect it would have on thaw people and ecosystem. The last eruption of Cotopaxi was in 1905 and simply covered the towns below. Apparently there’s an area where you can see the original top of a tower of a church from that long ago.

On we went for a brief stop in Saucedo which is a town known for its ice cream. So I had ice cream for breakfast. Why not, right? Then we were onto Banos where we’d stop for the last time before the jungle. Banos is known as an adventure seekers paradise. Right up my alley! It’s situated in the cloud forest so there are points where it looks like the clouds are on the same level as the people. People go there to mountain bike, hike, rock climb, raft, zip line… you name it. And it was a sweet, charming little town.

On we went through the mountains onto the town called Shell which was named that because of all of the oil money used to develop the town.

It’s here where we encountered the tiny little 4-seater Cessna that would fly us into the jungle. This was so freakin’ cool! Loud and hot and slightly scary. Off we went through the clouds. My stomach jumped just a few times but I wasn’t too afraid. Our pilot seemed to know how to fly through the clouds that I couldn’t see past. As we flew the terrain got greener and thicker and even more lush. Finally – just as it started raining – we landed so softly(!) on a strip of grass in the middle of the jungle. The Huaorani were there to greet us! There were mostly teenagers there and a few of them carrying children of their own. They seemed shy and didn’t say much and didn’t seem to want to make eye contact but Roberto says that’s just because they’re shy.

This was my first impression of the jungle. It’s wet and humid and oh so green. We went for a short walk to the Shiripuno river where we got into the dugout canoe that would take us to the lodge. A dugout canoe is made entirely from one very large tree. The Huaorani’s use natural power to navigate the rivers – for the most part. They would be “polling” us down the river. That’s exactly what you think it would be. Young, strong Huaorani men sticking lone poles made of bamboo into the soil beneath the river to get leverage to propel us forward. This is a physical, hard-working, strong tribe!

You’re immediately struck by the peacefulness of this place. It’s so quiet except for the sounds of birds and insects that our tribal guide, Uweme, knows inside and out.

We arrived to the lodge to a lovely lunch served to us by a local Huaorani teenager named Angelica. We chatted some more and were shown our cabins for a siesta. I have my own cabin! It is 4 walls, one of which is covered only by a screen. There’s a sweet little porch with a hammock that looks over trees and the river. I couldn’t be happier. Although I do now see why the documents reminded you not to be afraid to get dirty and smelly. I’m already there!

Throughout our trip Roberto has slowly been telling us about the tribe we’ll live with for 5 days. They were and are known as the savages of the jungle. They’re hunters and were very resistant to any outside influence into their way of life. In fact, in the 1950’s a group of 5 missionaries tried to come to their land in peace to help. They were all killed by spears on the spot. Then 2 doctors tried to make contact. The female doctor had over 50 spear wounds and the male had over 60 when they found their bodies. The tribe, we’re told, will fiercely protect what they love at all costs. But they’ve realized the benefits of their Eco lodge in the jungle and have come to rely on it. Roberto says they’re also the friendliest people you ever meet if you don’t disrupt their way of life.

I’m off for a quick siesta before we go on our first night hike. Our only warning, “ciudad” snakes 😊