The Rainforest
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The Kapok, Silk Cotton or Ceibo Tree (Ceiba pentandra)
One of several species of the genus Ceiba, the kapok tree, a.k.a. the silk-cotton tree or ceibo, produces conspicuous white flowers only at night that attract pollinating bats or moths, depending on the species. Ceibas grow along edges, river banks, and in disturbed areas, which make them one of the rainforest’s most widespread trees. The smooth, gray trunk often reaches 50 m/164 ft high before spreading into a flattened or rounded crown, and the major branches radiating horizontally from the trunk are usually covered with epiphytes, such as orchids and bromeliads, as well as vines.
Although the Ceiba pentandra flowers infrequently, it is capable of producing 500-4000 fruits, each with approximately 200 seeds. The seeds are contained in oval fruits that open on the tree, and each seed is surrounded by silky, cotton-like fibers called kapok that aid in wind dispersing the seeds.
The fiber is used by the Huaorani to fletch their blowgun darts, and continues to be used in more modern industry for stuffing pillows, mattresses and teddy bears as well as for acoustical insulation since it has low thermal conductivity. Once upon a time it was the stuffing of choice for life preservers as it is buoyant and impervious to water, but has since been replaced by man-made materials.
Source: Kricher, J. A neotropical companion; Princenton University Press: Princenton N.J., 1997Amazon Basin - Ecuadorian Amazonía
Once upon a time, the Amazon drained into the Pacific Ocean near Guayaquil. When the Andes Mountains began to form at the end of the Mesozoic Era (the Age of the Dinosaurs), the result of the Nazca tectonic plate in the Pacific Ocean converging under the heavier American Plate over millions of years, and finally uplifted ~ 15 million years ago, the waters first made a lake and then broke through on the Atlantic side. The resulting basin is bounded by the Guiana Highlands in the north and the Brazilian highlands in the south, and parts of it are shared by six countries. The Ecuadorian Amazon covers about 12 million ha/29.7 million acres.
The Amazon River, whose headwaters have been traced to the Carhuasanta Brook in the Peruvian Andes, ~192 km/120 mi from the Pacific Ocean, is the second largest river in the world, covering a distance of about 6,400 km/4,000 mi before draining into the Atlantic Ocean. After an attack by indigenous people while exploring, whom he took to be fierce female warriors, Francisco de Orellana named the river a - mazos, Greek for "no breast", after a mythical group of Greek female warriors who cut off a breast in order to more efficiently pull back the bowstring.
It is estimated that 16% of all river water passes through the 320 km/200 mi wide delta of the Amazon River. In comparison, the Mississippi River ranks 10th in the world in discharge and is only 1/12 that of the Amazon.
Despite its small area, Ecuador is the eighth most biodiverse country on Earth. It has almost 20,000 species of plants, over 1,500 species of birds, more than 840 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 341 species of mammals. Of these, 14.2% are endemic, meaning they exist in no other country, and 10.2% are threatened. Ecuador is home to at least 19,362 species of vascular plants, of which 20.7% are endemic.
To be more precise, you are at approximately 300 m/984 ft above sea level near the community of Quehueri`ono on the upper Shiripuno River in the Huaorani territory, exactly where you want to be.