I am finally all caught up with my blogs! Yesterday we checked out of Hotel de San Fransico and left Quito. We first went on a short walk on Papallacta Mountain. We were about 13,000 feet up and we were in the clouds. Even walking on the flat parts had us out of breath.

After this, we went to the hot springs. This was my first time in hot springs and it was absolutely amazing. The hot springs themselves were so nice, but we were also surrounded by mountains so the scenery around us was very cool.

After the hot springs, we went to the Guango Lodge which is the home of many kinds of hummingbirds. They served us coffee and snacks before we headed out to explore. The hummingbirds were very bold and got very close to us and our faces. They fly very fast so catching a good picture of them can be challenging. My favorite hummingbird was one with a shiny hot pink neck. There were also many bright-colored plants that caught my eye while walking around. We then decided to explore a little further and walked down some of their trails by the river. We got to an open spot with a beautiful view of the river and the mountains with clouds. Being surrounded by all the sounds of the birds, the rain, and the river was so relaxing.

After this, we stopped for lunch. We were all so hungry so lunch tasted extra good today. After lunch, we went on a cloud forest hike. The cloud forest was kind of far from lunch and I had to pee very bad. But since there were no bathrooms, I decided to “pop a squat” when we got there. I apparently didn’t pick the best spot because an entire bus full of people drove by and saw me. That was definitely a moment. The cloud forest hike was so cool but very wet and slippery. We saw more unique plants and trees.

For the next few days, we will be staying at the Iyrana Lodge. That was our next destination. On our way to the lodge, we got stuck in a mudslide. Luckily, it only stopped us for about 30 minutes to an hour. We continued on and finally made it to the lodge at around 9 pm. Because it was dark we couldn’t see much, but we could hear the sounds of the river. This morning we woke up to see the Napo River right outside our rooms. I had no idea how close we were until it was daylight. We had some time to explore the lodge before breakfast. It is like paradise here. We ate breakfast, got our boots, and ventured into the forest across the street to harvest some cocoa pods. Since we weren’t allowed to use the machete we twisted the pods right off of the trees. Eddie led us and explained what the ripe pods looked like and what to look for. Then we were sent off to find our own. After we each found a ripe pod we gathered to cut them open and look inside. Eddie cut them open and we each got to try some raw cacao. Some students broke open their own pods by hitting them against a tree. The white part on the outside of the seed was very sour and not what I expected. We did not eat the seeds as those need to be fermented and roasted. It was interesting to see how different they tasted when they came from different colored pods.

After this, we went back to the lodge to make some chocolate. They already had some pre-fermented seeds so we were able to roast them right away. He put a bowl over a fire and threw the seeds in. He told us that you know they are done roasting when you start to hear them make a snapping noise. After they were done roasting we all helped to take the shells off. After all the shells were off, we all took turns grinding the seeds. Then we went back over to the fire. He put a bowl over the fire with water, cocoa, milk, sugar, and a cinnamon stick. After stirring for a few minutes he took it off the fire and poured it onto a plate. We let the chocolate cool down and thicken and then dipped some bananas in to try some. It was so good and fresh.

We had lunch and then got ready for a chocolate tasting with Kallari Chocolate. He gave us a history of the company and we began tasting. This was a different tasting as they had us compare two different brands of chocolate each time we tasted it. He did not tell us which was which but asked which sample we liked better and revealed the brands after. After the tasting was over we bought some of the chocolate and had some free time to relax before dinner. Tomorrow will be a long day as we will be traveling to the Waorani Nation to stay with the tribe for a few nights. We are told it will be about a six-hour canoe ride, so I am curious to see how this will go. I am nervous but so excited to meet the people in the tribe. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that many people will never get to have. We won’t have electricity or cell service during our time there, so my next blog will be after our time with the tribe. Adios!