Living in a Bob Ross Painting

The air plane ride from Quito to Coca was brief and pleasant, and thanks to a little luck, I happened to sit next to Kevin. I learned that He is in the market for a hedgehog...if anyone is in to that sort of thing :P Stepping off the plane may as well have been like stepping into a swimming pool, but I welcomed the mugginess as a nice contrast to the thin, dry air of Quito.

That short air plane ride brought us to a 2.5 hour boat ride up the Napo River. The boat itself was more of a glorified canoe with a roof that didn't stop the rain from pouring in from the sides. All the same, I have to say that I didn't mind because as we drifted along, it felt as though we were being propelled into a Bob Ross painting. The water is naturally brown, and is skirted by sand banks and a rustic rainbow of rocks. Banana plantations glide by with tiny yellow crescent moons of bananas peering from the leaves. These are not your average grocery store bananas, they are about a third of that size, and three times as sweet...a little thing that I learned while snacking on one from within the canoe. 

Our Prof, Chuck, lost his hat in the river and has triumphantly retrieved it

Today is June's 20th birthday! Yachana Lodge (the place that we are staying at in the Amazon), helped us celebrate by baking her a cake. And, as is tradition here in Ecuador, June got her face pushed into said birthday cake. But all was well, because the group of Ecuadorians that is staying here simultaneously came over to dance and sing for her, and to fashion her a fake cake out of a dinner roll frosted with salsa...she and the rest of us stuck with eating the chocolate one.

Our canoe ride to Yachana

Now is is time for a night hike. Tarantula sightings to come? TBD...but I will be sure to let you know if their are.