Whoops, yep, it is the Yucatan I was thinking of. But it would be nothign to switch the run to that area if Kid_Vid wanted to go with the Spirit War thing. And I agree that it would probably be a shaman guarding the flower if it wasn't a spirit. As for Awakened crocks, check out Afancs in the Critters guide. I think they are indiginous to the nile, but there's no reason they couldn't show up in the jungle. Of course, you could have some of those nasty giant preying mantis things too, or even some SURGEd treess. YotC has some interesting new things you might like for this.
Gabriel