My work in the Amazon

The projects of Ecotrackers: San Jose and Santa Ines

After the Andes we went with the seven of us to the Amazon jungle, to San Jose.

Bus from Banos to Macas: about 8 hours
Bus from Macas to San Jose: about 12 hours

Both the times you have got to change buses at a certain point. Therefore you have got to walk a little bit to get to the other bus. Once through the jungle, crosing two bridges, once over a mountain.

San Jose
San Jose is a little village in the Amazon jungle, about three hours walking from the Peruvian border.
In this area live about 160 families, some in the village, but a lot live further outside of the village.
In San Jose is a school with 50 children from San Jose and the surrounded area. We have taught english and geography in the college.

The jungle
One of the days a guy came to wake us up at 6 in the morning and brought us to his house in the jungle. Instead of the told 1,5 hours it took us 2,5 hours from San Jose through the jungle to his house.
An amazing place in the middle of the jungle. He and 6 other families are living in this area. In this area you can learn to make beads, swim in the rivers and explore the jungle by foot or by horse.
The diet consists mainly out of yucca (a kind of root, really tasty), chicha (a drink made of yucca), bananas and chicken or other meat.