Monkeys and Parrots and Snakes, OH MY.

Hey there, internet. So, a few weeks ago, I got back from my Amazon trip. It was crazy awesome. I don't want you to read that and think, "oh, it was mildly entertaining." Because no. It was crazy awesome. Seriously. We were actually only there for two and a half days, but for the amount of sleep we got (very little) and the amount of activities we managed to pack in (very many) it seems like longer. Since reading long descriptions of stuff is boring, have some photos:

We were staying at a lodge in the middle of the rain forest, so that meant a two or three hour canoe ride from the road to the lodge. Luckily, long canoe trips through the Amazon aren't boring. We saw parrots! And monkeys! And lots of other stuff you cant take pictures of, like electric eels! And pink freshwater dolphins! And hidden toucans!

After we arrived that first day, it was already dark, so, naturally, we went on a night hike through the jungle to look for nocturnal insects. We saw the giantest bugs I've ever seen, a tarantula, some frogs, and a bunch of spiders, like this tiger wolf spider. The guide told us was extremely aggressive and poisonous and really good at jumping. Yay...

The second day, we went for a hike through the rain forest, which is, I'm here to tell you, very difficult to take pictures of without them turning out just green. But it was really jungley and awesome and the guide showed us all these plants we could use for medicine and food and water and everything. Also, we found a baby poison dart frog! Which, it turns out, are even harder to take pictures of than the rain forest, so here's a stolen picture of it from my friend's facebook. In the afternoon we went fishing for piranhas and I caught two! It was actually pretty terrifying the way they were swarming around the boat, but somehow we all survived. Although one kid did fling one into the boat after catching it, and we all thought we'd have to deal with being toeless for the rest of our lives, but somehow all our toes survived the fishing trip, too.

  After piranha fishing, we went for a swim in the beautiful lagoon during a beautiful sunset. Later, we went alligator watching (just to clear it up, yes. We're piranha fishing and alligator watching in the very same waters that we're swimming in) and, in addition to many alligators, ended up finding a boa constrictor hanging out on a tree. The guide decided it was a really good idea to climb the tree and shake the branch the snake was on, so we were all standing in the pitch black jungle preparing for boa constrictors to fall on our heads. In the end, he broke the branch off and brought it down for us to touch and photograph the snake. 

The third day we went to visit communities of people who live traditionally in the depths of the Amazon (three hours further from civilization in canoe). The first community we went to had some pet monkeys that we played with. It was great because they would jump from person to person and swing off our arms like we were trees. It's kind of awkward, though, because in that community we didn't really talk to anybody, just played with the monkeys. In the second community, we learned how to make flatbread out of yuca, which is, by the way, delish. Later we talked to the shaman of the community, and he told us about what he does.

That night we went back to the lodge for dinner and packing. Afterwards, five other exchange students and I went down to this deck that's in the forest, a little separated from the rest of the lodge. We ended up staying up all night talking and playing guitar and singing and eating dry cornflakes and playing games . We had to leave early to catch the flight back to the coast, so breakfast was scheduled for 4:45. At about 4, we saw the light on the kitchen go on. We ventured up, since we really wanted to make patacones (fried plantains). We talked to the kitchen workers and asked if we could, and also if we could help make breakfast. They said yes. So there we were, at 4 in morning, making patacones and peeling mangoes in the middle of the Amazon rain forest. What a crazy life I have. 

Also, what shiny pants I have.