This Wednesday was a lot more chill after a hectic couple of days. We had a calm 8 AM breakfast of eggs, yuca, fresh fruit, and orange juice. Very yummy per usual. Today we worked on our pottery a little more since it had dried out completely. I took a small stone and rubbed the bowl I made until it was shiny and smooth so the natural paints would go on better. Before that though, we had someone come to the lodge to let us male our own chocolate by roasting the cacao pods so all the fruit came off, shelling the beans, grinding them, stirring them with milk and sugar over the fire, and pouring it into a banana leaf to harden. We got to try the hardened form a couple days later and it wasn’t bad, but I think I’ll stick to buying it from the store.
Then I headed back to the room and relaxed for a bit while I wrote the extensive Waorani blog and caught up with some people from home. Despite not doing much, I was hungry for our lunch of stuffed peppers, rice, and salad. After that, I went to go work on my pottery a little more and this time we painted our designs on them. It was pretty difficult for me but I had lots of fun doing it! The Kichwa woman, Elodia, cut off some of my hair to make paintbrushes too. I was one of the first people there, and one of the last.
In the evening, Emily and I worked on our video presentation for a bit and then headed to dinner where we got to build our own burrito. They also gave us this soup where you put popcorn in it! To end the night, the group went into town via taxi and hung out there for a while before coming back for the night.
Thursday’s breakfast consisted of eggs with cheese and peppers, bread, and fruit. Of course fresh fruit juice too, which I’ll miss back in the states. After that we headed to our last chocolate location of the trip to check out their store and cacao plantation. It was pouring rain and we got really muddy, but it was cool to see them cut the cacao right off the tree and give us each our own to snack on the fruit as we went through the fermentation process. Then we had a chocolate tasting and I purchased my final bar of chocolate along with a delicious chocolate ice cream.
When we got back, Emily and I finished our video and we watched everyone else’s videos. They were so good, and the videos were voted on by the locals and the other school staying at the lodge. We got second place, which I’ll take!
Our final dinner did not disappoint. I got my own bowl of vegetarian rice with vegetables, plantains, and pineapple. I ate it in record time. I am definitely going to miss the food here. We celebrated our last night with live music and homemade chicha, which is a traditional fermented drink made by indigenous people out of yuca. There was dancing for a few hours which was super fun, and the musicians even let me try playing the violin for a bit. Finally, the last night in the lodge ended with some pool time and packing up.
Our last day was all travel, and I’m sitting in the airport finishing this up. My main tip for traveling to Ecuador is simple: definitely visit, do your research, and practice your Spanish! This trip has been one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I can’t wait for more people to experience this too.