The next morning I awoke to the sounds of a waterfall—no not the big one we crossed the night before, but a smaller one right next to my cabana. In the brightness of daylight, it was apparent: we were now on "the other side", the tropical side of Ecuador! The cabana had an amazing view overlooking the river valley. The sky was clear blue, and my surroundings teemed with lush plantlife.

I went up to the casa at breakfast, and in daylight, I could see the source of the loud roar the night before: two large waterfalls poured from rock cliffs above and converged in the turbulent depths below. It was a stunning sight.

After breakfast, our host Paul took a few of us on a hike around the reserve. We climbed down toward the river through dense undergrowth of philodendrons, anthuriums and various epiphytes. There were underhangs along the riverbank that were dripping wet with moss and large pepperomias. At the river, it was warm and sunny—we stayed awhile basking in the sunlight. We hiked further along the river bank toward the end of the property. The climb back up to the main path was a challenge in itself: The soil was muddy, and in some places, getting a foothold was no easy feat—we grabbed onto branches for support.

We had lunch before packing up our gear. We crossed the bridge, this time in daylight and with no trepidation. We made our way up the path back to the cars. We hopped in and began to drive down into the Amazon along the Rio Pastaza. We stopped to retank in the town of Shell (which earned its name from the oil company by the same name). Oil companies have an ongoing history in the Ecuadorian Amazon, lured by the crude oil under parts of the forest, and not without severe environmental consequences.

The clouds had cleared and a stunning rainbow could be seen in the far distance. The roadside became more lush the further down we traveled, and we passed numerous little waterfalls along the side of the road. The road was smooth and paved (It was not the case on my visit from nine years ago: the road then was dirt and gravel, and a landslide had brought a stop to all traffic which meant an unbearably long wait to get past it.) We stopped in Puyo, an Amazonian city, to purchase some rubber boots. This is a must if you plan to go off the beaten path. Indeed, they didn't have any of my large size of 13—best to bring those from home. As afternoon became dusk, we drove a few kilometers along a gravel road from Puyo.

By darkness, we pulled into the Amazanga Community, the home of the indians responsible for overseeing the Llushin River Project. The indians here are referred to as Quechuar, which is a combination of Quechua and Shuar indians, endemic to Ecuador and the Amazon region. We stepped out of our cars and made our way to a large roundhut which had a fire burning in the middle. The two ladies and myself were suddenly swarmed by half a dozen children who competed for our attention for over an hour. Laura from our group taught them some fun social games, and with their contagious enthusiasm, brought us two into the playing. After what seemed like an hour of being a kid again, I was introduced to Don Rafael Santi, Doña Lucia his wife, and Flavio his son, who had been beating a drum while we played with the children. It was an honor to meet Don Rafael, the community chief, who until now was only known by name in our board meetings and land acquisition dealings. He thanked TRC for the help we have given in svaing the ran forest. I sat down along with other visitors to a meal. After dinner, we set-up our sleeping bags over in the cedar cabin. I returned to the roundhouse later, where Flavio asked me to sit down.

Flavio began painting my face with a black dye and Yuturi joined in soon after. They spent a long time painting my face, during which they giggled back and forth like schoolkids—this certainly raised my curiosity! What were they up to? It wasn't until the next morning that I saw their creation in my small camping mirror: they had painted a stylized snake on my face. Judging by everyone's wide-eyed reaction, it was an effective guise for a rainforest adventurer! They used a black dye, much like henna, to paint intricate patterns on all our faces. These stayed on us all through our camping trip, but they did eventually wash off.

I retired after they had finished their artistic ceremony, and was awakened in the middle of the night to come down to the roundhouse. There, the fire was crackling and Don Rafael, Flavio and a few of the indian men along with us were seated in intense discussion. Our guide Jonathan explained that they gather in the middle of the night to discuss their dreams, to which they attached much significance, and relate to on a spiritual level. This isn't a typical waking hour for me, but I wearily listened while sipping calming guayusa tea. After some discussion, they fell silent, their attention turned toward me, and Don Rafael announced he had a dream, and in that dream, he was told of my visit. He was given a name for me: Raya Runa. Henceforth I was called this by all the community for the rest of our trip. Often, I would hear it spoken by someone, then echo through the rest of the group.

Coming soon: Part Five: Over the River and into the Mud

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When he's not helping TRC, Tom Vincze runs a graphic design business. In his spare time, he grows and collects all kinds of exotic tropical rainforest plants, the likes of which include philodendrons, anthuriums and bromeliads.