JourneyTo the

Center of the

Amazon Rainforest!

By: Shelby McMurrray

I would like to tell you about my awesome adventure to the Amazon Rainforest. I had such a wonderful time there. It all started on a cold, rainy, winter day. It was one of those days that makes you wish you weren’t where you actually were. My brother and I were sitting in the living room on the couch watching TV.

“There is nothing on!” said my brother, flipping through the channels. “Well, just keep going….WAIT! Stop there!” I said. On the screen was a commercial for a contest. The announcer said the contest was for a “Once in a Lifetime Trip to the Amazon Rainforest”. The 158th person to call in would be the winner. “Wow that would be cool. I’ve always wanted to go to the Amazon Rainforest! Do you think I should try to call in?” I asked my brother, James. “Don’t waste your time, nobody wins those things Jenni.” My brother said. “What do I have to lose? I’m calling in.” I walked over to the kitchen where my cell phone was. I dialed the 1-800 number. I had to wait through about 10 minutes of the cheesy elevator music. After the 10 minutes a random guy came through my phone and yelled “CONGRATULATIONS!! YOU ARE THE 158th CALLER!!!!” “Oh my gosh really??” I asked the guy “YES! WHAT IS YOUR NAME???” the guy asked “Umm….Jenni Koney!” I said. “GREAT! I HOPE YOU LIKE RAINFORESTS BECAUSE YOU AND YOUR CLOSEST FAMILY AND FRIENDS ARE GOING THE AMAZON RAINFOREST!!” Haha, I knew I could win! In your face James. “YAY!! THANK YOU!” I said to the guy through the phone. “NO, THANK YOU! TO GET YOUR INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR PLANE TICKETS, PLEASE CALL 704-123-1234!” “OK, I WILL!” I said to the guy. Right when I hung up the phone I called the number. Later that day I got my mom to drive me to the place. She couldn’t believe that I won. When we got there they asked for my name and how many tickets I would need. I told them that I would need 4 tickets. The tickets were for January 17th 2013. That was only a week away.

A week later we were all packed and ready to go. “Ok everyone! Get in the car!” my dad said. When we got to the airport we went through the bag check and we were on the plane. “ Yay! I can’t believe that we’re on our way to the Amazon

Rainforest!” I said so loud that the whole plane could hear me. In about 7 hours we were there!

“Ok….this has to be the most beautiful place in the world!!” My mom and I said in unison. I dropped my bags and started walking forward. It was such a breath taking view! I couldn’t believe all the plants and animals! Just in case you were wondering a rainforest is a dense and tall jungle, which is called a rainforest because it gets a high amount of rainfall each year. It has lots of fauna and flora. The Amazon Rainforest is in South America. It’s in the South Northern hemisphere. It is also 0 degrees – 15 degrees North Latitude and 45 West – 75 degrees West Longitude. The Amazon Rainforest is in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The climate of the Amazon Rainforest is humid and hot. The average temperature is 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the climate zone is Tropical, and the average rainfall is 60 to 175 inches. Also, there are 4 layers of the rainforest: Forest Floor, Understory, Canopy, and Emergent layer. “Ok, let’s find a place to set up camp! Jenni pick up your bag.” My dad said. “Ok dad, relax. This is suppost to be fun.” I said to my dad. After walking for about 10 minutes, as I was looking around I saw something in the distance. As we got closer, I saw what it was. Through some trees, flowers, and some foliage of a tree was a Bearded Pig!! It was in its habitat. “Hey guys! Look it’s a Bearded Pig!” I yelled. I recognized?? it because I looked up animals and plants before we left. A Bearded Pig is dark brown, has a bristly coat and a wiry beard. Bearded pig’s prey are roots, earthworms, fruit, and seedlings. It is an omnivore, not an herbivore. Its predators are tigers, leopards, clouded leopards, pythons, and humans. It also has adaptations, which is its very long snort which it uses to eat around on the ground. “Wow, isn’t that something.” My brother said. “Ok, let’s keep going.” My mom said. After 30 more minutes we found somewhere to set up camp. “Yay! We’re here!” I said. I sat my bags down again and laid down on the ground. “This is so cool! Hey look up there! It’s a producer, a foxglove flower!” I said. “Which one is it?” My dad asked. “It’s the one that looks like an up-side-down cone that is hanging on that spiky branch. That one is purple but they come in white, cream, yellow, and pink too.” I explained. “Does anything eat it?” My dad asked. “ No, because it is poisonous when you eat the stems, seeds, and leaves. But, you can use it to strengthen the heart and regulate the heartbeat.” I said “Oh, ok” My dad said. “Ok guys it’s getting late, let’s get ready for bed.” My mom said.

The next day we got up early to explore the rainforest. “Ok, everyone ready?” My dad asked. “Yep!” We all said in unison. “Ok let’s go!” And we were off. After about 10 minutes of walking we came to an area that looked like houses of a tribe. It looked like a large, circular, communal house that I later found out was called yanos or shabonos. They could fit

This a bearded pig.

This is a foxglove flower.

up to 400 people. “Hello there! How are you?” We said. One of the people said something in a different language. A man started to walk towards us. “Hi, my name is Jake Right. I have been studying the ways of the Yanomami people. I have learned their language. I can translate.” Jake said. “Wonderful!” My dad said. “We are the Koney family. My daughter won a contest for a trip to the Amazon Rainforest.” My dad explained. “Splendid!” Jake said. “Follow me; I’ll let you meet them.” After we met them they showed us around. Their culture is so much different then ours. We learned that each family has their own hearth where they make and cook food. The area in the center is usually used for activities like rituals, games, and feasts. At night they swing hammocks near the fire during the night to keep warm. Their shelter is the yanos. As we walked we passed some men hunting. Their way of hunting is different from ours. They usually hunt for game like deer, peccary, tapir, and monkey. They also use curare from the plant extract to poison their prey. They also know how to use about 200 plants for medicine, food, and house building. It was also very interesting. Later as we were walking we saw some people fishing. Both men and woman fish. They use fish poisoning to fish. What they would do is pound up vines and let them float in the water. The liquid stuns the fish and they rise to the top, then they scooped the fish up into baskets. There are 9 different species of vine that they use just for poisoning fish. It was all so interesting! We also saw another animal. It was called the leopard cat. Someone pointed it out to us. It was up in a tree. “It’s both cute and vicious! It must have camouflaged it’s self.” I said. It was yellowish brown, but they can also be grayish brown (both colored leopard cats have a white underbelly). It also had leopards-like dark spots and streaks. Its predators are tigers, leopards, wild dogs, and large snakes. It’s a carnivore. Its prey is mammals and birds. It also has adaptations, which is the fact that it is so small it can easily catch food, without being seen. The people get around in the rainforest by boats and canoes and on feet. They share goods and ideas with other people in the Amazon Rainforest. We rode in a canoe to get back to camp.

The next day, we met up with another tribe. They were called the Machiguenga Tribe. Both them and the Yanomami tribe are indigenous to the Amazon rainforest. . They live in small isolated family divided groups that are widely spread over about 400 square miles of the jungle. There houses were very different than the Yanomami tribe. For instance, their houses are poles that are cut from the jungle and are straightened for the frames. Then it is covered with split palm leaves of thatch. Their style of dress is a homespun tunic robe called cushmas. Both men and woman wear it. Men's cushmans have a V shaped neckline and woman's cushmas have a very straight neckline. A pregnant woman only eats fish and yuca. If she eats meat from a different animal, her baby will become like that animal. This causes anemia, poor health and weak babies. Later that day as we were walking around and I noticed another plant. This one was called the Pitcher Flower. I knew this because it was funnel shaped and it was greenish yellow. They have sweet, smelly, and colorful liquid inside them. The liquid is a sugary and high-energy liquid, but if something falls in it the digestive juices they are goners. Also the sides in the inside are wet

This is a picture of a leopard cat.

Pitcher Plant

and sticky so they can’t climb back out. They have no predators but it can be used to treat kidney and bladder complaints.

We also started to notice all the cleared land. “Why are there so many trees down?” I asked my dad. “Well, I guess they cut the trees down to make things like paper” he explained. “But that is a lot of trees.” I said. My dad sighed. “Yeah, it’s a shame.” As we continued to walk we came a pond a man. He looked as if he was a hippie. I walked towards him. “Hello! What’s your name? My name is Jenni.” I said to him. “Oh, well hello there. My name is Mr. Rich Hippie Dude. Nice to meet you.” He said extending his hand. I shook his hand. “Do you like here? “ I asked him. “Yes. I moved here after I inherited millions of dollars.” He explained. “That’s amazing! We won a trip here.” I told him. “Radical!” He yelled. After a couple of minutes talking he asked if we would like to see his house. We walked back with him to his house. It was an awesome house! It looked like a giant tree house! I wanted to live their forever! We told him about how much of the land was gone. He agreed that it was terrible. “You know what? How would you wonderful people like to help me put the Amazon Rainforest back together?!? I’ll give you a $1,000,000,000 and together we will fix the Amazon Rainforest!” He said. “That would be AWESOME! I’ve always wanted to help the planet!” We said to him. “What do you think caused all the empty land?” My brother asked. “Well, I think of 3 words: deforestation, conservation, and ecotourism.” Said Mr. Rich. “What are those?” I asked. “ Well, about 12% of the Amazon Rainforest has been destroyed, that’s deforestation. Deforestation threatens the culture of the native people that still remain in the Amazon Rainforest. Lots of them count on the rainforest to support their lives. Conservation is a good thing. It means to conserve something and to put forth an effort to keep things the same. Ways to conserve the Amazon Rainforest are reforestation and recycling. Ecotourism is bad because people would have to clear land to make room for vacation places or areas. Also people could pollute the areas from things like boats.” Mr. Rich explained. “Oh, ok so we also affect the environment by getting products from the Amazon like natural rubber, fruits, materials like iron, diamonds and other gems, wood, and medical plants?” I asked. “Yep.” He said. “It’s getting late; I think we should head home.” My mom said. “Yeah that seems like a good idea. Come on kids. We’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Rich Hippie Dude.”

After the next couple of months after that day we had put Amazon Rainforest back together. We planted trees, cleaned up waste and we ended up loving it so much that we ended up moving there. From this trip I learned that there is lots of ways to help the environment. You don’t even have to be rich either. All you really have to do is be positive and work hard and you can do a lot. The more I think about it the guiltier I feel. If I hadn’t gone on this trip I probably would have not done all that I have done. In reality it is a really sad thing that is going on in the world and you have to help, otherwise the world might start to vanish. So please help to put the Amazon Rainforest back together.

Work Cited:~ http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/ ( for info about what countries the Amazon rainforest) ~http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar015850&st=how+do+people+get+around+in+the+amazon+rainforest~http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/whlayers.html ( for info about layers)~http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/00/earthpulse/rainforest/index_flash-feature.html (bearded pig info)~http://www.ultimateungulate.com/artiodactyla/sus_barbatus.html (bearded pig imfo)~http://a-z-animals.com/animals/leopard-cat/~http://www.indiantiger.org/wild-cats/leopard-cat.html~http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/00/earthpulse/rainforest/index_flash-feature.html~http://christiananswers.net/kids/rainforest/transportation.html~http://www.easyshadegardening.com/foxglove-plant.html~http://landscaping.about.com/od/plantsforshadyareas/p/foxglove_plants.htm~http://www.nature-escapes-kuala-lumpur.com/pitcher-plants.html~http://www.buzzle.com/articles/canopy-layer-of-the-rainforest.html (info bout where pitcher is found)~http://www.nativeorchid.org/dorisMedicinalPlantTraditionalUses.htm~http://www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-prevent-rainforest-destruction~http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/amazon-products.html~http://www.buzzle.com/articles/amazon-rainforest-climate.html~http://www.brazadv.com/brazil-biomes/amazon-rainforest.htm (climate)~http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami/wayoflife#main~http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/roberto_alagna/page/2/ (for river on first page)~http://www.vistatuneup.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/toco-toucan.jpg (for toucan pic) ~http://www.certinternational.org/mission/peru_machiguenga.htm