It's been a while since I've been back from Ecuador. I must say, I didn't write about it before because the experience I had there was so incredible-both summers, that I don't think I had the words for it until now.
First, let me say, I still can't believe that I spent a total of six weeks of my life living in the Amazon jungle.
That actually happened. Somedays, I can't help but ask, "is this real life?"
And lucky girl, I can say that it is.
I won't get into all of the stories and the sordid details of our time there, but I will say that I don't think I've ever been so dirty, so smelly, so happy and so at peace in my entire life.
The community that we lived and worked alongside was simply inspiring. They are so young and so filled with a flame of conviction and activism that I wish I too had in me. I couldn't help but soak in their experiences and try to learn as much as I could from their life.
We bathed in a river, we sang songs in the rain, we sat around an early morning fire and share our dreams.
I don't know what we left the community with (I hope it was something positive) but I know what I came home with.
I hate how discredited indigenous communities around the world are. They know how to survive in ways that I don't. They can look at a plant or hear the chirp of a bird and know exactly what it is. They understand the importance of nature and of the land.
They understand so much more than I do, yet, I'm the one who is given more worldly value.
It's so wrong.
I wish the world could see my friends, get to know them and cherish who they are and their history.
I'm pretty sure it would change a lot of things. I'm pretty sure it would also help stop environmental destruction...and maybe even prevent global warming.
(Yes. That is a real thing.)
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