The Amazon rainforest encompasses 2,700,000 square miles and represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests. It comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees divided into 16,000 species. Our small group of 8 and two guides began exploring the jungle today by canoe, on foot, and from above the tree canopy (atop a 125-foot-tall platform constructed in the highest branches of an enormous Kapok tree). Our excursion lasted well into the night and we used flashlights to illuminate a seemingly whole new world of insects and animals.