Day eight was of course a long one. We got up earlier than usual and had breakfast around six. For breakfast we had eggs, buns, and fresh fruit. After breakfast we immediately packed up the bus with our supplies, life vests, bags, boots, and were soon on our way to the canoes. The bus ride was about two to three hours long, but we did stop at a small convenience store for snacks along the way. Unfortunately, they were basically out of all of their usual good snacks, so I didn’t get anything. It was honestly probably one of the bumpiest rides of my life. My head was bouncing off the window the entire time, and I’m really surprised I didn’t get sick. 

When we finally reached the canoes, we had to take a few trips to unload everything before we distributed supplies and picked canoes. I was in a canoe with Malini, Nora, Leah, and Skip. We also had our captain and a little boy as our first mate who were both Waorani. The first half of the ride was fine, and we actually didn’t see a lot of wildlife, only a few turtles and birds. However, some boats saw monkeys. The sun was unfortunately scorching and even though I reapplied sunscreen multiple times I still got burnt. The motors were so loud but didn’t really bother me. It was the small floor of the canoe and the way the water was constantly splashing me and leaving a pool in the bottom of the boat. It definitely wasn’t comfortable or fun.

We stopped on a sandbar for lunch and had to wait for the other boats since we were the first ones there. Skip pointed out capybara prints in the sand which was really cool. When the other boats got there, we started distributing lunch and I realized just how hungry I was. Lunch was tuna sandwiches, which were actually really good, and I was so hungry I had a second one. We also had oranges and granadilla. I was so hungry I honestly could have ate even more. As soon as we were done, we were back on the river for the second half of our six hour ride. Again, it was very uncomfortable, sunny, and I couldn’t sleep at all, so it wasn’t fun. 

After about 72 miles of river, we finally made it to the cabin which was quite literally in the middle of the forest. We unloaded everything and got settled in our rooms and waited for dinner which was soon after. Dinner was salad, rice, and beans. I don’t like beans so all I had was rice and salad. By the end of the day, I don’t think I’d ever felt as gross and disgusting as I did then. I was sticky from all of the sunscreen, bug spray, and sweat. There was also sand and dirt blowing on me from the boat, so it just stuck all over my body. I was so excited to get a shower, and once I got one I felt 10x better. Immediately after my shower I decided to call it an early night because I was so tired.