Jungle Cruise Part 1

Think Disneyland.... But way better! I've spent the last eight days on a ten meter canoe, paddling and drifting down the Rio Napo in the beautiful Amazon Basin. My friends and i pulled together to buy a canoe and supplies to journey through the Amazon. It took almost a week to get the canoe, proper paperwork, food and supplies, but we've finally left the small town of Puerto Misawalli, Ecuador and are now happily coasting down the river.
The scenery is great! There is rainforest on both sides of the river, interrupted by beaches and islands. Sometimes the river is really wide and the trees on the other side look like toothpicks, and other times it gets really narrow and you are in a tunnel-like version of the river. We've also passed a handful of towns and farms. There are tons of animals chirping, squawking, whooping, biting, flying, swimming, and lurking all around you. It's a constant chorus of animal sounds.
The beginning of the route was two days of coasting and some rapids. Then, passing Coca, we had two more days of coasting and a bit fewer rapids. Now, the river is getting even wider and is loosing momentum. There are times when we all loose the motivation to paddle, but we just drift and get through it. The hardest times are with the wind and rain, and getting stuck on the occasional sand bar. Wind plus slow current means we basically come to a stop in the middle of the river. But all in all, this river trip is pretty amazing, from camping on beaches and cooking over a campfire, to swimming in the river and hiking through the Amazon.