Between 2001 and 2020, the Amazon lost over 133 million acres, which is an area the size of France. In 2024, fires burned another 44.2 million acres of Brazil's Amazon rainforest. With global warming causing generational fires to become far more frequent, I decided to study abroad in the Amazon while I still could. I signed up for a class on ecotourism that my university offered, and flew to a city in the middle of the rainforest!
After landing in Manaus, my classmates and I drove 3 hours up the rio negro and hopped on the boat we would be living on for the next 7 days! While on this trip we got the chance to sleep on hammocks in the jungle, explore portuguese ruins, fish for piranhas, swim with pink dolphins, dance with remote tribes, and see the uninterrupted night sky! It was honestly such a beautiful experience that I will cherish for as long as I live.