Jurassic Park

The Amazon Rainforest, undoubtedly, was awe-inspiring.  I can honestly say the memories made there are going to be some of the best of my life.  I saw some of the greatest spectacles of bird species. For me, another exciting anecdote was that we got to meet Pete Oxford, who is a photographer for National Geographic.  He was very intelligent about bird species and identification, and overall, I felt, he was a very nice man.  He especially enjoyed my laugh, which is more of a squeak.  The most amazing bird species thus far are the white-fronted toucan, hoatzin, scarlet macaw, and caracaras.
Our guide, Romiro, was quite the character as well.  He loved monkeys.  Everytime he heard one he would say, "Mira!" and run off into the forest to catch up with them.  It made the trip much more fun.  We were lucky to see as many animals as we did.  I never realized how many medicinal trees the rainforest had either.  Its like the most functional pharmacy I've ever seen.
It is hard to say what the best part of the trip was.  The lagoon canoe ride, the canopy walk, the tower, and the caiman ride were the highlights.  The only damper in the trip was the plane ride home when all the native Ecuadoreans were laughing at us mostly because of what we were wearing (i.e. hiking boots, rubber boots, field pants).  The ride itself was also quite turbulent.  If I could chose a place to call paradise, the Amazon would be it.  Despite the humidity, it is the most beautiful and calming place I've ever been to, and I hope to return sometime in the future.