"The Heat and the DEET." ~Sarah E.

6:30 am- breakfast of scrambled eggs or oatmeal and fresh passion fruit juice

Traditional breakfast with baked plantains, peanut sauce, and an egg

7:00 am- the morning hike commences. Toucans whistle in their quirky voices and steamy fog rises from the canopy on the distance. There is slick clay everywhere and plenty of climbing to do, but it is worth it just to feel a part of some prehistoric era.

10:30 am- a short canoe ride to the house of a local shaman. He was...reticent, and definitely not the type of person that you would think of as a voodoo medicine man. He was kind, as were his wife, sons, and flock of free roaming chickens, and he taught us how to use a blow dart and to throw spears. We would all fail at life in the jungle...except for our boat captain, Marco. Marco is a man who I would want on my side in the case of the apocalypse. He and our guide Louis are pretty cool.

Our guide, Louis, showing us a young palm leaf

1:00 pm- shrimp ceviche and yuca with a view of the Napo river in the background. Accompanying us was a feisty parrot named Yolanda, who roars like a little dinosaur when you deny her your food.

3:00 pm- we go to learn how to pull the gold from the sandy banks. I have so many bites from bugs in that sand...I do not know how our instructor had managed it for 8 hours a day for the past 36 years. This is no job for those who like instant gratification.

4:00 pm- on a set of inner tubes all tied together, we float down the Napo River...some fierce paddling to shore was required to ensure that we did not happen to float all the way to the Amazon.

7:00 pm- spaghetti for dinner! How...Ecuadorian, right? We had a fruit called babaco for dessert. It looks like a star fruit and tastes like...nothing I can really explain...maybe a cross between a pear and a papaya? Anyways, it was yummy, and I now have to trek back to my cabin alone in the pouring rain (I can only get wifi here in the dining room)...the things one does for Internet.

And so, the Internet didn't work anyways...pouring rain for nothing...this post belongs before the latest one.