After a crazy and exhausting adventure deep into the Amazon rainforest, we took it easy for the next few days, relatively of course. Sunday, May 14^th, was Mother’s Day so we all made sure to call our moms and catch them up on everything that happened when we had no cell service. We also worked on our presentations at the lodge. My group’s presentation was about a chocolate company that we made up called “Toquïmämo,” which means “joy” in the Waorani language. After that, Skip took all of us on a nature walk at night so we could see all the things we wouldn’t be able to in the daytime. It was cool seeing all the spiders and other insects that I’ve never seen before, especially since I’m not nearly as afraid of them as I used to be before this trip.

Monday, May 15^th, we went on a river hike. It was so much fun walking in shallow parts of water and then having to swim entirely, even though the big rainboots made that difficult. There were so many pretty waterfalls and at one point we got to jump off a rock into a big pool of water. Later that day, we went into a small town, Misahualli, by boat. It had cute shops but the main attraction was all of the monkeys running around. I enjoyed watching them from afar but they would get intimidatingly close at some points. On our way back to the lodge, we stopped on a small beach and got to hold a boa constrictor. I was too scared to do it on my own so Sami and I got to do it together; lucky for me, she had to hold the head.

We had to leave the lodge the next day, which was really sad. The lodge was so beautiful and cozy with the best hammocks. After falling asleep on the hammocks about three or four times on the trip, I think I should just buy one for myself. But before we had to leave, we had our final presentations in the morning. Everyone did great and it was cool that my group got to hear from the perspective of an indigenous woman. After being on the bus for a few hours, we stopped at a small national park with gorgeous views and a cool walking trail, but going up in altitude again made it a little more tiring than I would’ve hoped. After that, we went back on to the bus to go to the airport in Quito to fly to Puerto Lopez, a beach town on the coast. By the time we got to our hotel for the next few days, it was late so I just decided to get some rest before having another crazy few days.