Jungle Survival, Wild Style

Hey there, pirate friends!
It’s time to tell you about all the CRAZY plants that live in the Amazon jungle. I went on a jungle trek through the rainforest, and saw lots of really useful and helpful plant life. Here goes!
The first plant we came upon on our hike was a water vine. These thick vines look just like tree branches, but they have a special secret- they hold water inside! Our guide cut off a piece of the vine for us, and we all drank fresh rainwater straight from the inside. These vines are very helpful if you get lost in the jungle with no water; they can even save your life!
The next tree we came upon also had a tasty secret inside- milk! Not milk like you drink at home, but a special kind of tree milk that is also good to drink when you are in the jungle. We cut off a small piece of the tree’s bark so that everyone could see the milk running down the side. It looks just like regular milk, but I have to say it did not taste very good.
After the milk tree, we found a eucalyptus plant. If you’ve ever put minty-smelling lotion under your nose or on your chest when you have a cold (like Vick’s vapo-rub), you’ve used eucalyptus! They actually use the bark of the plant too, but it’s the oil from the leaves that smells so yummy and minty.
The next tree we came to had sap-the stuff that oozes out of the tree from under the bark- that came out looking like juicy fruit gum but dried black. The native people used to burn the sap as a way to cure headaches.
While we were in the jungle we also learned how to make an animal trap out of tree branches, so you could catch a meal if you were lost and hungry.
We also took pictures in front of a gigantic tree- I don’t know what kind it was, but its roots were bigger than me! Another mysterious tree had really big spikes growing all over it. We had to look out for these on our trek, since you definitely would not want to get a face full of tree spikes!
And those are all the useful things I found in the Amazon rainforest! I’m back on the ship now, on my way to Namibia. I’ll tell you a little bit more about Namibia when we get closer. We have to go all the way across the Atlantic Ocean before we get there. Until next time, adventurers!