Amazon Medicine Man🌱

Like every day from here on out, today started with 6am boat birding and this time - it really is named appropriately. Today, we saw 18 different species of Amazon Teradactyls - many spotted by the #perucrew - I am starting to think some of these kids might be secret birders!🙈 The students have really fastened their explorer hats tight and are embracing their inner Dr. Sattler. (On more than one occasion, they have referred to the Rainforest as Jurassic World - one wrong move and the T-Rex gate opens.)😳

After breakfast, we boarded the boat and set off for Pink Dolphin hunting! One hour later, we had front row seats to a show that rivals the splash zone at Sea World! Our guides beemed ear to ear as they cheered for every siting, took pics for the kids and shared legends and personal stories of The Amazonian Pink Dolphin! It was awesome for the kids to see two adults truly loving their day to day work - and impossible not to smile while watching the kids respond to great examples of people following their hearts!💗🐋

We finally made it to the ExploroNapo lodge - this place holds a special place in my heart as it was the first lodge I visited last summer...and the location of the infamous bathroom Bat siting! This lodge is more primitive than the last - outdoor Bathrooms and showers, no electricity in the rooms and no screens on the windows - it is Jungle living! (The kids have had to make some adjustments with a couple close run ins with Rabies...but overall, they love it!) After lunch, we headed to the Shaman for a dose of traditional medicine. He spoke about medicinal plants, ritual cleanses, ties to modern medicine and everyone's favorite - Iawaska! Then, he performed a cleansing ritual on any willing students.😳 Of course, they jumped right up and wanted to do it all! A lot of them purchased Dragon's Blood - a cure all Amazon mixture that I'm currently using on my Chigger bites (I'll spare you that picture). Our time with the Shaman was incredible. After hearing what limited healthcare Dr. Smith can provide, the students really understood the Shaman's value and started to question our system in the United States. Let me tell you - we are hitting on some heavy issues down here - this trip is not just all monkeys and hammocks (though that is a big part of it).🙈

We then had some free time where I got to see just how brave some of these students are! We're on the Napo River now, which is a tributary of the Amazon and has a weak current...if you get where this is going! I'm proud to say that some of my students can now say they've swam South of the Border...and they have the GoPro videos to prove it! Sorry parents - that's why we got all those shots, right?💉😁

As I sit here in my room listening to the sounds of the Jungle and the kids growing closer and closer every day, I'm going to bed with T-Rex size smile on my face! It's hard to believe it,  but I think tomorrow will be even better with our community service project - one of my favorite days in the Jungle!

Before signing out, I forgot to give a shout out to all of my friends who donated clothes for the Yagua Trading Day - thank you! There are some lovely Amazonian hand made crafts coming back atcha!❤️