Amaz(e)onia 

There’s no shortage of fun to be found in the jungle, and we enjoyed all kinds of excursions and activities, from yoga on the piranha-filled lake to treetop birdwatching. Here were a few of our faves:

The best birdwatching was atop the tower built into a giant Kapok tree. From hundreds of feet up* you could see the sun above the canopy, and our amazing guides Rodrigo and Bolivar were adept at spotting owls, hawks, vultures and even a sleeping monkey. This was our first attempt** at taking photos through a telescope, and it worked, sort of! See the owl there?

*Well, I dunno how high it actually was, but high enough that looking down gave me the willies.

**We got better at this during out stay at Mashpi the following week, but the undisputed king of the art was our Mashpi guide Willo. See here for proof.

One memorable day, we motored down the Napo to a small native village called Manda Wasi. Rodrigo taught us a few words of Kichwa, a variant of the same Inca-era Quechua still spoken widely in Peru. The only one I remember is Pagrancho—thank you. We used it later, when they handed us a plate of traditional foods as a snack. Unfortunately Rodrigo hadn’t taught us the Kichwa for “No, thank you,” so we were unable to decline the roasted grubs. Luckily Adam ate them all.

The village houses an elementary school, several houses, a group gathering area with communal kitchen, and gardens with bananas of all sorts, achiote (lipstick tree, still used to decorate the body), coffee plants, and best of all, a blow gun target range.

Adam, always full of surprises, proved a master at this, even impressing Rodrigo, who taught us the Kichwa word for warrior. Respect!

I canoe, can you? Nothing like a sunset cruise, especially when propelled by a little child labor. Along the way we trolled for piranha, swatted skeeters, and were almost adopted by a troupe of squirrel monkeys (video of them coming soon!)