Rain Forests

My easy story was basically boring me, so I'm changing it. I will keep whatever I can, but the story's setting will be moved to a South American-esque world from a European esque world. Lovely, no? :P So, I spent a few hours today researching Rain Forests and Cloud Forests. Some interesting facts:

At least 80% of the developed world's diet originated in the tropical rainforest. Its bountiful gifts to the world include fruits like avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangos and tomatoes; vegetables including corn, potatoes, rice, winter squash and yams; spices like black pepper, cayenne, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sugar cane, tumeric, coffee and vanilla and nuts including Brazil nuts and cashews.

The life force of the Amazon rainforest is the mighty Amazon River. It starts as a trickle high in the snow-capped Andes Mountains and flows more than 4,000 miles across the South American continent until it enters the Atlantic Ocean at Belem, Brazil, where it is 200 to 300 miles across, depending on the season. Even 1,000 miles inland it is still 7 miles wide. The river is so deep that ocean liners can travel up its length to 2,300 miles inland. The Amazon River flows through the center of the rainforest and is fed by 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are more than 1,000 miles long. The Amazon is by far the largest watershed and largest river system in the world occupying over 6 million square kilometers. Over two-thirds of all the fresh water found on Earth is in the Amazon Basin's rivers, streams, and tributaries.More than 2,000 species of fish have been identified in the Amazon Basin - more species than in the entire Atlantic Ocean.

The climb up the mountainside brings a gradual change in vegetation, which signifies changes in soil, precipitation levels and temperature as well. At each altitudinal floor there are dominant plants that indicate another ecological life zone. At one level, a plant related to bamboo, called jimilile, grows so dense that it becomes difficult to travel through it. At another level grows a palm with a edible flower called pacaya. At yet another level, an abundances of mosses and fog give visitors the feeling that they're in a Dracula movie.