Greetings from the Amazon

I am writing now from the middle of the Amazon. This place is absolutely amazing, think Rainforest Café, but not fake. There are monkeys on the tops of trees, and so many beautiful birds. None of them will come near you, so you need to look from different areas to see anything. There are so many different types of plants that I have never seen in my life, and you can eat or taste a lot of these things. The endless possibilities of medicinal properties of these plants and animals fascinate me. We found out about a plant that looks like a rose bouquet hanging upside down with a black cross part called a Flor de Crux or something similar that the indigenous people use for birth control. It makes me wonder why we don’t use these things that the people here have been using for years, but there is no research on the US on it all.
On Tuesday we woke up at 5am and climbed to the top of a tower built on one of the tallest trees around to observe the sun rise and all of the animals that wake up and fly around. It was wonderful, but I was so tired and I need to adjust.
The sounds at night are just amazing, and I am working on learning the monkey, bird, and frog calls so I can identify what is outside our cabin.
Today we took a long hike through the Amazon and got to observe some amazing plants and insect communities. Everything I have ever learned in all of my Integrative Bio classes and major has been observed here, and I’m so happy I chose to come here of all people. I feel that anyone who cares about biology should see this stuff. I have observed just about every example of evolution in the animal and plant communities here. All of my professors would be proud.

Now for a little unfortunate news;  they said it would happen, and I was hoping I would get by without it happening, but when we returned to our cabins last night, some girls came running out saying that their cabin was robbed. At first I just thought there is no way, the only people here are the workers, researchers, and us….and the indigenous tribes down the river.
There are two tribes here, and the workers here are very acquainted with both of their leaders. They are the Hauorani and Quichua tribes, and are both indigenous Amazon people.
The robbers took two girls’ entire backpacks, passports, and censos, but left cash laying out. They took a whole room’s cell phones and ipods, and unfortunately, they took my camera and $200 binoculars. I did not realize it until this morning because I was in bed when I heard this had happened and didn’t believe it, but my stuff is not anywhere to be found, and was on my bed by the door before dinner. This has never happened in the history of this reserve, so it was so strange. We are in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, 6 hours from the nearest city. They thought that maybe the tribes from around were watching to see when we went to dinner. (I was the last one to leave the cabin area, and I heard other people, but I thought they were my classmates. When I had yelled who is there, no one responded. I didn’t think anything of it until all the staff was patrolling the area.)
There is not really a way to get here besides the Tiputini River, and the workers would have been able to hear a motor. If it was the indigenous people, then they would have to take a canoe back down the river. Some of the workers here sped down the river to see if they could find a canoe. It was wild to think about.
I am glad that everyone is ok, and that we are all safe. The Ecuadorian police have been informed, and the government is sending in some army people and some oil guards to check out the area.  I just think this is such an interesting story, and the show must go on!
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring…
I may not be able to get on for a while,
Love from the Amazon,
Dena