Day 8 was more of a relaxing day which was much needed. We got time to work on our final presentations and my group decided to create our own rose company called Kawsaypac. That night, we went on a night walk which was more like a bug hike. We had our flashlights and tried to look for the coolest bugs possible. It was mostly spiders. *Trigger warning on the picture below if you have arachnophobia* We also each had a full fish for dinner which was delicious and a chocolate banana dessert. 

Day 9, we started the day off by going on a river hike. When I heard river hike, I figured we would just be walking close to the river…but we’re in Ecuador and I was wrong. River hike meant trekking through waist-length water, trying to not slip on rocks and grabbing onto branches to stay upright. We also had to swim at some parts. It was quite the experience though and we got to appreciate the mini waterfalls and many plants around. 

After the hike, we washed the mud and grime off of us and headed to the nearby town. We got to take a much nicer boat there compared to the canoe and saw monkeys walking around! When we went out to eat, I just got guacamole but it came with no chips. So I took some of my friend’s fries and dipped it in the guacamole. It was delicious. We also got to hold a boa constrictor which was super cool. 

On day 10, we said goodbye to the Iyarina Lodge and headed to the airport to go to Guayaquil which is a coastal area on the west side of Ecuador. We didn’t arrive to our hotel in Puerto Lopez till 11pm and everyone was pretty much dead tired. This was my favorite hotel of the trip though because of how spread out the rooms were from each other so it felt like we had more space. Each one was also named after an animal and I stayed in “La Rana” which means frog. I went to sleep that night, under my bug net, super excited to get to spend time on the coast.