Exactly one week ago, I took flight to one of the most amazing places in the world: TAMBOPATA. This trip was part of my Environmental Systems and Societies class from IB with the purpose of doing research about a topic of my choice and also learn about the conservation in the city of Madre de Dios.
In the region, there are different environmental issues such as deforestation, poaching and—most importantly—illegal mining. We saw and learned different things and aspects of the jungle that I wouldn’t have learned if I wasn’t there.
The jungle is full of remarkable and astonishing wonders, in my opinion and something interesting I realized is that everything that has life is connected. This may not make sense but if you think about it a tree may be related as much to what a person does. For example, one of the most fascinating things I saw is a “walking tree”. Yes, a tree that walks. Every plant needs sunlight to survive, right? So, when a tree finds itself in a spot where no sunlight is hitting him, then they need to find a solution and for these trees their solution is to move to a spot where they can receive some vitamin D from the sun and keep growing. I thought this was pretty cool because just as we fight to have a great life and survive as well, plants have the same fight in some stages of their life. |
I have to reiterate that we were literally IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLE. No phone reception… no electricity at all hours (yes, there was Wi-Fi at times). Having Wi-Fi at some times during the day was definitely distracting because we are so used to using our phones and checking our Facebook Updates, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and the endless social media apps possible. However, I did take some times to reflect about where I was, the purpose behind it, and reflect deeply about what was around me, really.
I had an amazing time and it was, as I've mentioned a thousand times, one of the best experiences I've had. I got to take a lot of incredible pictures of the nature out there which is amazing and loved it. It's great to get out there and get to know new parts of your country and I was amazed with everything I saw especially because we were really in a remote area. |