A RAINFOREST STORY
Once upon a time (April 1995), there was a sweet, young group of girls. These girls were fairly average students at their junior high: they dressed fashionably, had clean faces and bright, cheerful smiles, and did very well academically. One sunny day, the mother of one of these lovely girls decided that it would be a good idea to take the group to South America for environmental education and awareness, since she had taken several previous trips to different rainforests herself. She received such a positive response, that a few of the other parents were interested in the trip, and one man asked to videotape the experience. Well, needless to say that after six months of preparatory meetings, the group hopped on an airplane and headed to Quito, Ecuador.
Little did that parent know how this trip would forever change this group of twenty Californians. These are the stories from that trip, highlights meant to stir emotions, but probably interpreted as humorous entertainment.To learn more about the group and the serious environmental impact the rainforest had on the group, click on Jane's page.
The People:
- Donna Runnalls, the parent who inspired it all.
- Jane Runnalls, her daughter who spread the word among her peers.
- Kulia Bowman, a long-time friend of Jane's.
- Brook Giuffre, a friend who moved to Bellevue (Washington).
- Rebecca Jaffe, a classmate.
- Erika Durand, also classmate.
- Anne Devereux, another classmate, turned biographer.
- Don Devereux, her father.
- Jessica Lee, a joyous friend.
- Lindsea Baylor, a partner in crime.
- Libby Barr, the best friend to us all.
- Lisa Moler, yet another friend.
- Kathy Moler, her mother.
- Michelle Maurer, also a friend.
- Sara Hammond, an interested parent.
- Katie Hammond, her daughter.
- Nicole Webber, a potent source of positive energy.
- Ruth Webber, her mother.
- Bo Boudart, the rain forest camera man.
- Noella Boudart, his daughter.
- Carlos, a part of Jatun Sacha, one of our guides.
- Patty, also a part of Jatun Sacha, and our other guide.
The Places:
- California:
Santa Cruz County: the home of most of the people involved.
- Washington:
The home of Brooke.
- Illinois:
The state where Carlos was born and raised.
- Ecuador:
- Quito: The beginning and ending of our journey, also the home of Patty.
- Mishualli: the town across the Rio Napo from Jatun Sacha, and the home of greedy monkeys.
- Jatun Sacha: the biological station that became the hub of our voyage and the center of the EcoRaygers energy.
- Rio Blanco: a small indigenous village that rests beside a river with the same name.
The Story of Mishualli
Mishualli is a small town located across the Rio Napo from the main Jatun Sacha Biological Station. Now, this does not mean that you can wake up in your bunk every morning and look out the window and across the river to see the smiling faces of the Mishualli children. The Rio Napo is one of the main tributaries to the Amazon River. (Not small potatoes.) It is so wide, when you stand on one shore and look over to the other shore, it is about halfway to the horizon. When we attempted to hitchhike a boat over to Mishualli, it had jusr rained and the river looked like a distorted version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate River. It was rushing by furiously and was so full of rich forest mud, it looked creamy. We all dipped our feet in gingerly and were pulled away so quickly we were grabbing on to anything within reaching distance. The native son of one of the Jatun Sacha residents had gone for a morning swim in this river, a feat we associated with Super Man.
After a while, two dugout canoes with outboard motors pulled up to our feet and we climbed aboard. All the way across the river the drivers were doing everything to keep the strong current from carrying us away to Brazil. Safely on the banks of Mishaulli, we expressed our adrenaline rush with vows to either ride in a truck back to the station, or hop back on the boat and do that again.
As we walked up the shore to the dirt street, we passed beneath some trees. Lindsea was the first to see the monkeys. She quckly got our attention with a small scream. We watched the monkeys climb from tree to tree until someone else noticed a boy throwing something at a monkey further down the beach. The monkey jumped down from the tree faster than we had ever seen and began to curse at the boy violently in monkey- talk. Frightened, the boy ran away from the mad creature, who, displaying no fear of humans, ran after him. Terrified by now, the boy ran into the river, desperate to get away from the furious monkey. It was a smart move. The monkey stayed on shore and screeched at tne boy from there. Relieved, the boy waded up river and tried to come ashore. The monkey followed him. -MORE TO COME SOON.-