The Amazon Jungle

I never thought that I would be 120 hundred feet up in the air on a giant tree in the Amazon.  But there I was.

We just finished our four day trip to the Amazon Jungle!  It was one of my favorite trips yet.  When we first got into Coca, we took a five minute bus ride to the boat port.  After about an hour of waiting around, we finally got onto a boat to take the long two hour ride to our hotel.  The ride went by pretty fast though.  When we got to what we thought was the hotel we were all relieved.  But there was another two hour canoe trip.  This trip was very interesting though because we stopped to see wildlife and got to know our Native Guide (Javier) our Naturalist Guide (Jose), and our other group members Jerry and Jennifer.  Everyone was really nice to us.

This is a caiman near our house.

The first day, it was kind of drizzling all day.  No matter, we went to a parrot slick.  A parrot slick is a big chunk of clay where at about ten in the morning, a bunch of yellow tailed parrots come to eat.  They need to eat clay in order to coat their stomachs and disguise the bitter taste of berries.  We also went to a woman's organization where four girls showed us a native dance and some of their other customs.  We also got to practice shooting blowguns!

Parrots at the parrot slick.

The next day, we took a thirty minute hike to the observation deck.  The deck was put on top of one of the tallest trees.  Needless to say we could see for miles.  The first animal that we saw was a howler monkey.  It was sleeping but was very interesting.  We also saw a lot of different species of birds.  Our native guide, Javier, found about 98% of all the animals.  One of my favorite animals we saw was a three-toed sloth!!!  This was probably the highlight of my trip to the jungle.  I've never actually seen a sloth in real life but it was all I hoped it would be.  The best part though, is when Jose, our Naturalist Guide, whistled like a hawk, the sloth would turn its head around trying to look for it.  It was so awesome!  We also learned about many different symbiotic relationships.  My favorite one was between a sloth and a moth. (That rhymes xD)  The sloth would go to the bottom of the tree to poop everyday.  During that time the moth would lay its eggs inside the poop.  In return, the moth creates a mossy substance on the sloths skin to help with camouflage.

The sloth we saw looking around.

A cute owl

Surfer's Paradise

I’ve only been surfing 3 times for a total of 4 and a half hours, but I learned a lot because I got to surf in different conditions and with different instructors.  My first experience surfing was in Ayampe with my teacher, Keith.  He was really good at teaching me how to get up on the board and get used to the waves.  It took awhile for me to get the hang of it.  But once I stood up once, it was pretty easy to do it again.  The waves in Ayampe weren’t perfect.  The waves were more advanced because they don’t break evenly.  Also, there is sometimes a dangerous current in Ayampe.  The second time we tried to do a lesson, the waves kept crashing on top of us, forcing us to move into shallow waters.  Since at the time, I only knew how to ride white water, I wasn’t able to go surfing that day.

Canoa is where we went surfing next.  The waves in Canoa were better for beginners because it is a more protected bay.  This time, my dad, Ruby and I all took a lesson together.  We had a really good teacher also.  We were all at different levels so he gave us different instructions and let us practice on our own.  Keith, on the other hand, worked with each of us in shifts, and we didn’t get up on any waves without him.  Our teacher in Canoa, Cedric, let us catch waves by ourselves.  I didn’t really feel like I learned that much from him.  We mostly just reviewed skills, but he helped me practice.

All in all, it was exciting and exhilarating to learn how to surf.  My next step is snowboarding!! >:D