It has been a great honor spending time with the strong, humble, and resourceful people of the Amazon. We have learned so much about how they survive in the flooded forest. One common theme holds true in every village: the people that live in the rainforest depend on the land and the rivers for their survival. From the moment they wake up, they gather resources from the rainforest: wood for their cooking fires, papaya, bananas, and other foods from their gardens, and fish from the rivers. They use the valuable yucca root in all forms: fried, boiled, as the main ingredient in bread, and even in beer. They gather their meat from hunting animals such as the monkey, paca, and peccary. They build their houses using rainforest trees such as the mighty kapok and vines such as the tamishi.

The rainforest is their medicine cabinet. People use plants, such as the una de gato to prevent illness and to treat some types of cancer. Wild senna is used to treat fungal infections. During labor, women drink a tea made of coca leaves to stimulate contractions. After the birth of the baby, they drink the sap, or milk, from the capinuri tree to speed up the recovery process. The list of medicinal plants goes on and on.

People must build their only means of transportation, dugout canoes, out of trees from the rainforest. This process takes up to two weeks of hard labor. They wash their dishes, clothes, food, and bodies in the rivers. They gather their water for cooking and drinking from that same plentiful resource: the river.

The way the people in the rainforest live makes sense to me. This massive lowland forest of plants, trees, and animals provides everything the people need to be happy, healthy, and wholesome. They are thankful for all that the rainforest that gives them life.

As I continue on my path, I will carry the countless gifts and lessons that my new rainforest friends have given me. Thank you great forest for providing for us, and thank you friends for bringing me back to the Earth.

May the forest be with you,

Anna