Ecuador La Selva 1962

by David and Lin Schneider
(Los Organos, Piura, Peru SA)

Me (the Kid in the Middle), 1950s, either Peru or Ecuador

When I was in the ninth grade and going to school in Quito (Alliance Academy), I was giving my parents a lot of headaches. I did well in school grade-wise but didn't like the pressures and some days would refuse to go out the door.

So they sent me off to Limoncocha for the rest of the school year.

At that time, Limoncocha was only reached by many hours in canoe and then a hike overland or in a small airplane, which was how I got there. This wasn't my first visit, as it was our family's place of choice for vacations from Quito.

I attended a one-room school with a total of six children. Since I was the only boy my age, I spent a lot of time in the jungle by myself. I traded a machete for a one-person dugout canoe and would spend hours after school exploring the forest along the edge of the lake. At sunset, it would come alive, with brightly-colored macaws, flying squirrels, and the chatter of monkeys.

Our school outfit was cut-off shorts, tee shirt and bare feet. Even the girls, my school companions, had no fear of the jungle, all of us having been raised around that environment (I had spent three years in the oriente, the selva, of Peru earlier).

All in all, it has remained my picture of a paradise such as the earth will be in the future.

For more of David's adventures click here.