Fifteenth day- incredible.
On Saturday, I got back from Tena, which was beyond incredible. The first day we had a meeting with the parents of the school to tell them a little bit about ourselves and what we would be teaching their kids during the summer. After the meeting, everyone came back to the house and started packing and getting ready for the jungle. Hannah and I needed a couple things for the 5th graders, so we went to the Mega Maxi with Conor and Keren. After that, it was jungletime! We got to the bus station and got on the bus, which would be our place of stay for the next 5 or so hours. Unknowingly, we had signed up for lots of baby chicken holding, babies peeing in a bag, death race 2 [with horrendous scenes of violence, action, and sex], and motion sickness. The motion sickness mainly only affected me, but as soon as I got off the bus, I felt a lot better.When we got to Tena, I was overwhelmed by the lack of car exhaust in the air and exotic leaves everywhere I turned. We started walking to try and find a hostel, and found we could do no better than a $10/night hotel. Although quite pricey, the rooms had air conditioning and a nice view, along with a dance floor that we had all to ourselves. After dinner at the Cositas Ricas restaurant, we went to Nice Cream, where we had delicious ice cream and a good once over by random passerbys. When we got back to the hotel, we had a bonding session, where Sam asked everyone a meaningful question. I realized once again how 3 dimensional people are. It was great.The next morning, we got up and went to go get breakfast at a restaurant nearby, in which we were badly treated for not being native Spanish speakers. But we got the sustenance we needed and that was all that mattered. We then found our tour company and decided on the things we wanted to do in the jungle. We also met our frenchmen companion, Sakada, who turned out to be a little eclectic. We drove in a taxi and got to the jungle, where we continued by foot on a rickety looking bridge with our matching boots. Our guide, Fausto, showed us many different kinds of plants and got us to our cabanas, where we then proceeded to jump into the river [a tributary of the Amazon!], being drained of our energy by the sun. There, we met our dear friend Juan and he was just a lovely little boy who had the climbing abilities of a small monkey.
We hiked, we found out the medicinal uses of certain plants, made head accessories out of plants, and all was swell. That night, we had yummy dinner and hung out at Nixon/Monstro's sister's bar. Monstro, by the way, called me Chucky and it was awesome.
The next morning, we woke up to sounds of rain and forest. It was beautiful, but it also meant that our more intense hike had to wait until the afternoon. So in the morning, we made bracelets and necklaces out of all natural materials [like seeds from plants] and some of us got our names carved on coconut shell-type things. I truly felt the value of the old-fashioned way of the Quichoa people and felt a newfound respect for them. In supporting their way of life, I bought 2 bracelets from them and continued on with our day. After lunch and lots of games like contact, we went on our intense hike. We went against the current of the streams, and hiked in almost knee-deep mud. There were lemon-ants, plants that spiraled, puma tracks, and much more. We swam in the river, and shampooed with magic leaves that were really considered all-natural shampoo. That night, everyone had dinner excluding the 4 people that wanted to drink ayawasca during the shaman ritual. Sam and Courtney spotted a tarantula and freaked out, and some people got to touch it. It was chaos. After dinner, we had the shaman ritual, in which the four people had different reactions to the drink. There were hallucinations, nausea, storytelling, cleansing, and more. It was quite a night, especially for those that took the drink. The next morning came rafting. I was a bit sad to say goodbye to little Juan, who had grown to everyone's liking by the last day. It was another rainy cold day, but I was super excited to experience rafting. And it didn't disappoint. Everytime we went over a big wave, my stomach dropped, turning me into a fit of giggles. The man that was leading our boat was the more ridiculous one, meaning we were dropped out of the raft 3 or 4 times. The first time was an awesome experience, but after a while, I was just very cold and tired. We got to our destination, where we had tea and coffee, and where I fell down a ridiculously caved in staircase and got a gross looking bruise. Nixon told us he would visit Quito, with war paint on his face, no shoes, and just leaves around his waist. All was grand. We got back to the tour company and thanked everyone. Lisa, the delightful Irish woman with an interesting history, led us to a restaurant and helped us get bus tickets. After eating a whole lot of food, we got on the bus to Quito. I talked to Bri for a good two hours but started feeling motion sick again, which meant I tried to sleep for the rest of the ride.
Still in a daze from the incredible views of the jungle, we rested the next day and got our lessons put together for the first day of teaching.
Today was the first day of teaching, and it was plain amazing. I loved everyone in the class, and found that a lot of kids liked to follow and hug me. I was a bit worried that we had more boys in the class than girls, but all of them followed the tutors well, and I got to know a lot of kids from the other classes too. I'm just so excited for the thought of spending a whole month with them...laughing and playing and giving them what they need-- not only education, but love and friendship. That was corny, but kids are adorable.
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