How Did I Get So Lucky?

Hello all!

Sorry it's been so long. It definitely gets busy around here. This past week, I have been in the Amazon rain forest! As I was trying to explain my experience to my Mom earlier, I realized that there just aren't enough words. It was truly the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. Here's the rundown:

Saturday (our first real day in the Orient), we went to Baños to do a little shopping. Then, we went for a walk by a small waterfall, and we had to cross from one side of the mountain over the river to the other side. We did this by means of a sketchy looking basket suspended by a couple of wires. I was scared to death, but not as much as Barbara who screamed the whole way across (both ways). After that we went for a real hike to a huge waterfall. There is a video of the waterfall and the scary bridge on my facebook. Then, the youth group at the Nazarene church in Shell invited us to their Valentine's Day program, which was very nice even though it was rather long.

Sunday we attended church and had lunch at a sea food restaurant. I thought shrimp would be a pretty safe bet, but I was wrong. I could only eat about three before I became completely disgusted and gave up. They had their shells and legs and such and I could not do it. So Lucy ate them for me. :-) That afternoon I had a nice long nap. Although I soon learned that that nap would not be enough to rest me for what the rest of the week had to offer.

Monday we waited around all morning to see if we could be flown into the jungle. Finally we get a call saying we're leaving at 1:30! Now, if you have not seen either End of the Spear or Through the Gates of Splendor, stop reading now and go watch one of them. What I have to say next will not mean near as much if you do not know the story behind it and this post will be long enough without writing out the whole story. OK, so at 1:30 we fly out of Shell in these little tiny airplanes that are even scarier to me than big planes. And there are windows all around it so you can see everything that's going on. As we're flying, all we can see is trees and more trees, until out of nowhere there's this patch of just grass....our landing strip. It was very muddy (it's the rain forest, it rains daily basically) and it was a bumpy landing. But the Waoranis were right outside our plane waiting for us as soon as we landed. Now, they didn't know we were coming, but Dewey (I have no idea how to spell his name) found out we were there and came down the hill. Dewey is now an elder of the tribe. He killed missionary Roger Youderian. As soon as he came down, he prayed for us. How incredible!! I actually got to shake the guy's hand! Then later, he led the tribe in a worship song in Waorani (also will be on my facebook). We were able to watch them use their blow guns and see the kids climbing the trees...just daily life. Then they took us down the hill so that we could see a monkey (we'd been dying to see one). He was the funniest little guy ever, and he was totally showing off for us. Finally, after just a few very short hours (that seemed like minutes), it was time to leave. Dewey prayed for us again, and the Waoranis waited until our planes left, waving the whole time (video...facebook).

After we landed again in Shell, we were able to tour Nate Saint's house, and one of the coolest rooms was the radio rooms. We got to see where his wife would sit and talk to him on the radio when he was flying. What a cool place to be! To end the night, a few of us went to the house of the missionaries we met Sunday night at dinner...Rick and Sharon. They are some of the coolest people I have ever met. Their house was so homey, and she made us pumpkin bread and mora juice. Rick also took us to the hangar so that we could see the ultralight (plane) and they both taught us a new game, I Doubt It - or Liar's Dice. I did not want to go back to the hostal that night I was having so much fun!!

Tuesday (as if Monday wasn't cool enough) we went into Puyo. We saw some huge fish that almost ate some people's toes, and then we watched our guides (Juan y Carlos) catch some fish...our lunch. We went canoeing down Río Puyo, which was actually just sitting in a canoe while a guide paddled, but it was so beautiful! It was like being in a dream world, totally exotic. I mean seriously...we were just chillin' on a river in the Amazon rain forest. What? Then we went back to the shelter we started at for some lunch...the fish. I had a very difficult time because the fish was whole, they just cooked it. That means the thing had it's head and eyeballs and fins....everything! I had to have Kalyn cut off the head and skin it for me because I almost threw up. But I ate a little bit of it. A very little bit.

After lunch, our friendly guides took us on a hike through the rainforest. Juan took out his knife and cut a tree to show us the sap, which looks like blood (thus, bleeding trees). Then he found us some ants and told us to eat them. So I ate an ant (alive) and to be honest, it tasted like lemon...it wasn't bad. Then he told us to eat a leaf because it was sweet...I was skeptical but sure enough the leaf was sweet like candy. Who knew? Juan led us off the path which was the coolest thing ever. We were wearing the huge rubber boots of the tour company, so it didn't matter where we stepped which was good because it was almost all mud. It was so pretty. And I got to swing on a vine!! I felt like Jane. At the end of the hike there was a really pretty waterfall with a natural pool at the bottom that we got to swim in. Since the waterfall wasn't too huge we got to swim right underneath it and touch it without getting hurt. It was cool, except I couldn't get near it with my eyes open because the spray of the water in my eyes and my contacts didn't mix well. After that it started to rain. And then it started to pour so we started heading back to the shelter. Our ever-resourceful Juan cut off huge leaves that we were able to use as umbrellas to keep the rain out of our eyes and off our backpacks where our cameras were. It was so cool to be walking through the rainforest in a rain storm. I believe the words out of my mouth were, "I can't believe my life right now!"

Wednesday: We went white water rafting!! This time we went down Río Pastaza. It was only a category 3, but it was so much fun. Juan was my guide again, and Carlos didn't come so we traded him for Antonio (he had dreadlocks and he was very cool). It was so short, I would have loved to do a whole day trip! But I loved the rapids and the huge waves that we would go over (or crash into most of the time). Juan was a good guide and he kept us save and alive...what more could you ask for? After that fun trip, I was exhausted so I took a nap. That was about all that happened for the rest of the day besides dinner, and then sleeping (which I couldn't do much of). I went to bed at about 11:30, but didn't fall asleep until about 1 or 2. And then I kept waking up!

Thursday....my birthday!! I turned 20 yesterday...I know, I'm old. In the morning I was grumpy because I didn't have much sleep. I wasn't really grumpy....I just wasn't properly functioning and thus did not react to certain situations, which means I didn't really get happy or upset over anything besides being bugged. Then I had coffee, mmm Mocachino! We started at an "exotic bird house." It was really lame at first because there were like chickens and some funny looking doves. And then we found the ostriches, the parrots, the monkeys (the didn't have only birds we found out), some kind of warthog thing, and turtles. It turned out to be really cool. One monkey, Junior, kept reaching out of his cage to hit Josh and try to steal things. Finally Kalyn gave him a sucker (unwrapped) and he knew exactly what to do. He took it, ate it, and when it was gone, threw the stick on the ground. I think he's had one before.

We had lunch at a really nice place with a nice bathroom (believe me, it counts here). They gave us popcorn as an appetizer! But it was probably for the soup.... Then we went to the monkey house. It was completely not at all what I expected. All the monkeys were free, none of them in cages. They climbed all over us, let us hold them, sat on our shoulders, and played with our hair. Some of them didn't want to be picked up, so they just let me hold their hand. There was a little baby monkey who didn't want me to pick him up, so he just held onto my finger and led me throughout the jungle wherever he wanted to go. He also let me feed him. So cute!

We ate dinner at this really fancy place with the best view. It overlooked the rainforest and it was so gorgeous! The food was the best I have had since I've been here. I got pepper chicken, and it could compete with chicken in the states for sure! During dinner, everyone said something they liked about me (NILI tradition). It was so nice, and I almost cried, because I'm kind of sappy. After dinner there was a party! We had the youth group from the church over and Rick and Sharon. I got hugs and kisses from everyone, and they sang two songs for me. Then, as another part of NILI tradition, they all formed a circle around me and prayed for me, how wonderful!! I also got to play more I Doubt It...what a good birthday!!

Today we came back. And I'm exhausted! I miss Shell already and I can't explain to you enough how fantastic of a trip it was. God truly blessed me with this experience and I feel tremendously lucky. But right now, I need sleep. So I will write later!

God bless,
Amy Jo