Detained, Deported, and Back in 72 Hours

Okay. So here I am, back in the Amazon, one of my favourite places on this whole earth. This is a big one, another important assignment. But before I get into any of that, I have to tell you about the absolute fiasco I just went through to get here, because this is the reality of this rock-and-roll lifestyle I guess I chose for myself. Hahaha. Welcome to my life. It can be a bit of a rodeo.

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It started out so easy, too.

Okay, I left home early Saturday morning. Travelling to Ecuador is usually a brutal, full-day slog of connections, but this time, I only had two (longish) flights. I felt like I’d caught a break. I’d spent weeks prepping and planning for this work on the ground, mentally and logistically getting ready, and by 11:30pm I landed. So close. I could feel it.

Then I got to customs, and it started taking way too long. My stomach knew before my brain did.

I was pulled aside and told, straight up, that I could not enter the country. My passport was expiring in under six months, and apparently Ecuador does not budge on that. No answers, no buts, no appeals. I was going home on the next flight out.

Here’s the backstory, for anyone who doesn’t know: last January, my old passport got stolen right off a bus in Ecuador, because I accidentally left my purse for literally fifteen minutes and came back to nothing. So I’d gotten a temporary passport issued there in Ecuador — good for a year — and I’d just been using that one since, because, honestly, why not, it was valid. I never got around to swapping it for my real one because I’ve been travelling almost non-stop since. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. I had zero clue about this six-month rule. None.

They put me in a little room by the bathrooms and just… left me there. I was distraught. Genuinely. It was one of those moments where your whole body goes cold and your brain starts spiraling, your body shakes with anxiety. By 7am I was on a flight back to Houston, and then eventually home to Canada. I was a wreck — emotional, panicked, actually having trouble catching my breath at one point. My team was already there in Ecuador, waiting on me. The communities we were going to were waiting on me too. And I was sitting on a plane going the completely wrong direction, gutted, not knowing what was going to happen next.

But thank God — thank GOD — for Canada being able to turn around a passport in a single day. As long as you pay the hefty fee.

Monday was a holiday, so there wasn’t much I could do but rest, and honestly, I needed it, I hadn’t slept in two days at that point. Tuesday, first thing in the morning, I drove into the city and got in that dreaded passport office line — you know the one, always packed, always chaos. I’d already pre-booked my flight for the next day on purpose, to show them just how urgent this was. And I got the most amazing woman at the counter. She took one look at everything, helped me pull it all together, and by the end of the day I had my passport in hand.

I didn’t even unpack. I just got up the next morning and got on the plane. Thank you, Jesus.

My team, through all of it, was incredible — so patient, so understanding, holding it down and waiting on me while I scrambled to get back. The communities we were meant to be with were still there too, waiting, patient with me. And last night, I finally landed. This morning, we’re hitting the road to our first destination.

I am just so grateful to be here, you guys. I love this work — I’m not gonna lie, some days it wrecks me — and I have fallen so hard in love with the Amazon. Its mysteries, its wonder, the sheer beauty of it. Even when the stories I’m here to cover are heavy — and this one is heavy. Cartel-linked illegal mining, human rights and environmental violations, the kind of front-line survival most people never hear about. But there’s also so much life in it. The resilience, the self-determination of these Indigenous nations, the people who welcome me here with open arms every single time — this place is medicine to me. Real medicine, even surrounded by hard, hard stories.

So here we are, back in the jungle. Rented van, dusty road, here we go again. I’ll be writing to you along the way over the next few weeks — some of it from here, some of it just the little behind-the-scenes moments with me and my team, and I’ll also be keeping you posted on what’s making news across Indian Country, because I’m always keeping an eye on that too, always want you all in the loop.

And I have to say this, because it’s true and it matters: this project is running on a grant, and the funding is thin — nowhere near what this kind of work actually costs. It’s you, my paid subscribers here on Indigenous Insider, who help fill that gap. You’re part of how I get to keep doing this and still pay my bills at home. I don’t take that for granted, not for one second. I am overwhelmingly grateful to every single one of you. This work does not happen without you.

Just wanted you to know we made it. I’m so thankful for every single one of you here on Indigenous Insider — truly. We’re in the jungle again, baby. Stoodis!!