Day 3

Today I went into the jungle. Before I came here I use to associate the South American jungle with anacondas, spiders, and all the other deadly insects that will put you out within an hour. Although those are all still common, the things I never realized till I came here was the true beauty within these mountains, trees and small villages. It blows my mind that these people are living on the same planet and the living in the same century as us.

We left our small town Sucua around 8am and made our way across a small wooden bridge tied together with rope over the Amazon River. If you have ever seen Indiana Jones, that would be the easiest way to describe this. As our tiny white pick up truck got half-way across I began to worry when I looked down and saw nothing but white raging rapids and rocks 15 to 20 feet below.

After we made it across the bridge we drove about 7 more miles on a rocky dirt road until we arrived to the village Israli. The village consisted of exactly 10 houses, a basketball court/soccer field and four outhouses. In the middle of the village was nothing but a concrete floor with a roof. This was what we were about to work on for the rest of the week. We laid bricks for a 45 x 30 sized building and by the end of the day I can say I’ve never felt more accomplished with anything in my life.

To have 15 kids come running up to you smiling wanting to be picked up and hugged is priceless. One little girl named Catalina was the most precious thing. She has some kind of rash running down the sides of her arms and gnats flying all over here. And when I gave her a bottle of water her face just lit up.

(Edwin)

(Daniel)

Our conversations were short because of my poor Spanish but all her and every other kid wanted was attention. I don’t get to emotional about much but man that really hit me hard today. And when I pulled out my camera the kids were in awe when they saw themselves. They could not get enough and you could tell they had never seen anything like it. As we got ready to leave the chief of the village came up to me, shook my hang and with an enormous smile said, “Muy bien, Gracias.” That to me is better than getting paid or even a promotion at work. To end the day when we were crossing back over the bridge, after being covered in sweat and bug spray, I though ‘what the heck your only in Ecuador once,’ so I jumped off the bridge into a part of the Amazon River. Not the best idea. More Later.