Carter Slocum, Plus3 Ecuador Summer 2025
On Sunday (Day 9), we woke up bright and early as we had a very long travel day ahead of us. We were about to take an electric canoe 72 miles into the Amazon Rainforest to stay next to the Waorani Nation, an indigenous community still not integrated into modern society, to learn more about their way of life. I woke up around 5:45am, finished packing my backpack for the trip (we were only allowed to bring one item), and ate breakfast. We were supposed to leave around 7am, but we didn’t end up leaving until closer to 8:30am due to the supplies that had to be packed for our journey. We took a bus for 2 hours, and we got to see more rural areas of Ecuador. As we passed place by place, I kept thinking to myself that I couldn’t imagine living so secluded, especially because a lot of them don’t have cars. We stopped at a small convenience store to get snacks, drove a little bit more, and then we were finally at our spot to enter the water.
At this point, I began to get nervous. The sun was beaming, and we were about to be on this canoe for over 6 hours. Even a 5-hour car ride can be hard for me sometimes so to think that we were laying in the base of the canoe for hours and hours, I just knew it was going to be uncomfortable. We boarded the canoes, and I ended up in a canoe with 7 people + our driver. As we traveled down the river, the views were absolutely incredible, and I was praying we would see some cool animals. Around 2pm, we stopped at a sand bar for lunch and then kept going until we made it to our destination. Although it was a very long time, the ride wasn’t as bad as I thought, and I was very grateful that it didn’t rain. I also was grateful that I wore a long-sleeved shirt, pants, and a hat to protect me from the sun because it was very powerful.
After arriving to the house, we unpacked our things and had a nice dinner. Some people from the group decided to play Uno to unwind for the night, but I decided that I was going to take some time to myself and watch a movie I had downloaded. It was definitely a different feeling being somewhere without Wi-Fi and service for an extended period of time, but I was happy to use the next couple days to unplug.
On Monday (Day 10), we had breakfast around 8am, and I enjoyed scrambled eggs with rice. During this time, one of the faculty members collected our phones and we were going to be phone free the whole day! We got dressed, and then our guide for the day, Ellie, had us sit and talk about things that we found surprising about the journey into the Amazon and if anything felt familiar. The main thing that I found surprising was I was expecting to see a lot more wildlife, but we really only saw turtles. Something that felt familiar to me was the trees alongside the river reminded me of when I go with friends from home to Kinzua during the Summer and swim.
We then met the president of the Waorani Nation who happened to be 18 years old and a couple of his brothers that were going to be with us for the day. They were wearing normal clothes such as a Nike shirt, and they all had phones. We started the day with them taking us on canoes through a small, shaded canal where we got out and saw a little bit of the forest. They showed us how they climbed trees and how they hunt for monkeys, and we got to climb and swing on a vine. They then took us to a different spot across the river to one of their sacred trees. The roots of the tree were thick and massive which symbolizes that it has an abundance of energy. They also talked about Jaguar vision which is a trance that sometimes elders of their community go into where they sleep with their mouth open and appear like they are between life and death. During this time, Jaguars around the community are very docile and act as almost protectors. They believe when they die, they come back as Jaguars, so they have a strong ancestral connection to the cats.
We got back around 1pm for lunch which happened to be a dish that I was craving — pasta. Following lunch, we were supposed to see their community, but it started to rain so we had some downtime. Half the group went fishing and the half that I was in played a game called Mafia. We ended up leaving around 4pm to visit and it was still raining off and on. We met the elders of the community, met their pet monkeys and parrots, and played a fun game of futbol. It was getting dark and some of us wanted to swim, so as we were leaving, people got into the water to wash the mud off their clothes. I was kind of scared that there were going to be animals out, especially because the sun was setting, so I decided to stay on land.
We had dinner around 7pm which was potato soup, and we practiced our dance that we were going to show the indigenous group since we were heading back over there after dinner. We left around 8:30, and they started their welcoming ceremony by giving us traditional names. To give us these names, they used their strong intuition. Typically, when they give members of their community a name, the characteristics that go with it is meant for the person to try and embody. The names that were given to us was more of something to reflect on and see how it can relate us and something to think about as we navigate the rest of our life. I was the first person to get a name, and my name meant “warrior.” The person that I was named after was a leader who always threw his spear first whether it was in battle or catching food. The men of the group then showed us a traditional dance and had us join in. The dance consisted of us moving in a circle, which I thought was interesting because we did something very similar when we visited Otavalo. The women of the group did their dance, and our group did ours which consisted of a mashup of “The Cup Song,” “The Macarena,” and “The Cotton Eye Joe.” After that, a marriage ceremony took place and one of the girls in our group got married to one of the indigenous members. I was shocked when they started heading over to my friend and I, and somehow, we ended up getting married too! We celebrated with them having us try one of their special drinks. We then bought some of their handcrafted items, and we said our goodbyes as we were leaving early the next morning. I enjoyed seeing a different way of life, and it made me reflect on the things going on in my current life.
On Tuesday (Day 11), we woke up for breakfast and prepared for an even longer journey back home. Instead of going down the stream, we would be heading up it, so they told us that our canoe ride back was going to be more like 8 hours. This time I was in a canoe of 6 people (including myself), and I was stressed about being comfortable because there was a wooden pallet sitting at the bottom of the canoe where we were supposed to lay down. It ended up being a blessing though because within 30 minutes one the canoes had broken down and they had to distribute 8 people into 2 canoes that were already full of people. My canoe was able to keep moving along the river as we were carrying heavy supplies and couldn’t afford to take on more weight.
We ate lunch around 11:30am, and I enjoyed putting my feet in the water as the day started off cloudy and chilly but then began to get sunny and hot. We got back into our canoe, and I closed my eyes and tanned in the sun. Although the ride was longer, it went by quicker and before I knew it, we were back on land (I had never been more grateful to step onto grass). We unloaded all of our supplies, got on our bus for the 2-hour drive, and stopped at the same convenience store to grab snacks and a drink. I was once again grateful that it didn’t rain because originally it was predicted that it was supposed to rain 2 hours during our journey. We got back to the Lodge, unpacked our things, enjoyed a nice dinner, and then I was off to bed. Even though we laid in a canoe all day, my energy was drained, and I definitely needed to sleep.
It is crazy to think that my trip to Ecuador is already almost done! I have one more blog to post and then I’ll be back in the United States!! It’s been a lot of fun, but I can’t wait to get home.
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