Today was life-changing. I felt like I was in the dinosaur age as we swam through the Napo River; but prior to that, we started with another classic 8 a.m. breakfast. I wasn’t feeling my best, probably due to the lack of sleep and the intense activities from the night before, but the French toast they served us was a remedy to all my complaints. The meals surprisingly failed to disappoint me here.

Today’s forest walk was my favorite part of the trip so far, but I feel like I say this every blog. Life is just great at this lodge. Eddie and his wife drove us in the comfort of his truck down to the trail where we used our heavy-duty boots for the first time. I soon realized there was really no point in bringing them, as I was quickly confronted with neck-level water. Walking and swimming along the Napo felt like a Disney Jurassic Park Lazy River, except it was real. I was hoping for a Cayman to pop out, but I heard that will most likely happen tomorrow along the canoe ride to the community…

After our 2+ hour hike/swim through the river and many scrapes and scratches, we settled down for lunch. The view we get from the dining spot keeps reminding me of some sort of 5-star resort, except I am getting school credit for this while learning about chocolate. I really don’t want to leave. We burned time off playing with the local kids in their newly installed infinity pool. My bathing suit has not been tried since this thing opened. After dinner, we shared some stories by the fire and prepared for our time with the community that will take 7 hours to get to. I’m ready.