Travel Bug

Grasshopper being eaten by fungi

Best mode of transportation in the Rainforest.

Canopy view

Sloth

Our next adventure took us to an even more remote place.  We were deep in the Amazon rainforest on a river called Tiputini.  We started our journey from Quito and had no idea what kind of an adventure we were in for.  It took a full 12 hours to get to our destination.  Our modes of transportation went in this order: bus, plane, bus, boat, bus, boat.  When I think of secluded in the United States, I think of an old farm road or a house that isn't around anyone else.  Here secluded has a different meaning.  A twenty-mile trip could require a boat, car and a hike.  The jungle makes twenty miles into a day trip.  In addition, guides are needed to make sure you don’t get lost.  Wondering around alone would be suicide. Again, I had a feeling of fear, because we were even further from civilization than we were in Junin. 

We stayed at a research station for the week. It was hidden in the middle of the jungle underneath of hundred foot trees.  We saw it all: ants the size of quarters, and trees that had roots taller than I am.  Everything is bigger in the rainforest. It was one of the most beautiful places, and it is justified as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  We always hear about how we should save the rainforest.  It is difficult to understand the importance of preserving the rainforest without having been there.  There are so many things there that we don’t know about.  There were plants that we asked the guides about, and they had no clue what they were.  Anyone with any level of education can learn something by visiting these forests. Everything I saw was completely new to me.  I saw fungi that were eating a dead grasshopper.  No other bugs could touch it because of the fungi’s toxicity.  The more of the rainforest we destroy, the more undiscovered secrets we destroy as well.  If not to preserve the rainforests for science, it is worth preserving them for their natural beauty.