Before I begin, this is a disclaimer that this blog post will probably end up being more of a photo montage of all the things.

The next stop of the Lu family's Ecuador adventure was the Amazon - the whole reason we went on this trip in the first place! We stayed at Yarina Ecolodge for three days. It's a small lodge located in the Amazon rainforest that's only accessible by boat from the nearest town, Coca, and has no wifi and electricity during a few hours of the day. At first, I thought that having no internet and no phone connection and no electricity was going to be quite awful, but it turns out we were waking up so early and were all so tired from our activities during the day that when we weren't exploring the area, we were dead asleep.

Yarina Ecolodge - we stayed in those little cabins, 2 people per cabin!

Yarina Ecolodge - this is the welcoming center and also where we ate our catered meals every day

We had a nature guide, Wintel, who spoke no English and knew we understood nothing he was saying (we also had a translator) but was a sweetheart and was so excited about everything he showed us. His enthusiasm was infectious, and we definitely wouldn't have learned and seen as much in the rainforest and taken away so much if it hadn't been for him and his stories. If you ever get the chance to go to Yarina, definitely ask for him!

This is Wintel! He's making Hera a little crown out of leaves.

With Wintel, we went on a couple hikes into the rainforest to look for animals - we saw LOTS of bugs (which were rather gross), birds (one made a laughing sound, which was hilarious), and tiny monkeys (which were adorable!) - and to learn about the foliage. Cue the photos:

This is the "Tree of Rain", notable because the fruit grows on the trunk and not the branches. Apparently the indigenous people in the Amazon believe that if you run around one of these 3 times and, on the last rotation, pick one of the fruits and throw it behind you and run away quickly, it will ward away tumors. They rather do look like tumors.

This is a type of mushroom that you can write on! The indigenous people use it as markers in order to not get lost.

This is the tarantula flower, named because its hairy.

These trees had roots that grew out like ribbons, so we started calling it the ribbon tree. Here's one, with Hera for size (she's 6).

On our night hike, I managed to get some pretty clear photos of bugs!

More bugs. We also saw spiders, but I opted out of taking photos (I really, really, really dislike spiders.)

Aaaand a cute little frog! This was one of quite a few that we saw that night.

During one of our hikes, Wintel brought us to a vine that had been fashioned into a makeshift swing. Yes - you're thinking right: I, and my family (although we didn't get a video of my mom, just know that she basically screamed for her life because she was rather scared), literally swung from vines like Tarzan. I'm cool, I know.

I have no idea what this fruit is called, but the little "seeds" shown are crushed and used as war paint.

This is a tree with a hole in it (the tree is still alive, too) and it's used to crush sugarcane - the juices flow down into the metal plate and then collected with a cup!

In case you ever wondered what coffee flowers looked like - this is what they look like.

Wintel made my dad and Hera little crowns out of leaves! Apparently these leaves are generally used to make skirts and roofs, and can last more than a decade with proper treatment.

Cacao!