Service Day in the Amazon!

Today was very special, and I had a feeling it would be. We traveled to the Aucacocha Village on the river for a full day of community service. A little background information - The village has about 30 families who all live in a small area. They have a village leader, a primary school and get support through the Conapac program - a division of the Amazon Workshops company. I worked with Conapac last year and love this organization! It's run by an American woman who, like the good doctor and me, fell in love with the magic of the rainforest.💗 They provide school supplies, water filtration systems and community development to the villages along the Amazon River. 

Now on to the best part - the students! We headed over right after breakfast and a gold star day for birding and they literally hit the ground running! They painted the outside structure of the water tower, created classroom signs of the "magic words" in English and Spanish, set up a community recycling system♻️ and created boards for pronunciation of the Spanish alphabet. To become a little bit more Amazon, they practiced Spanish with the ninos, interacted with local teachers, played Futbol with the tribe, toured an inhabited house and asked about a thousand questions in an attempt to immerse themselves in the culture! Just like everything else we've done in the Jungle - the students were all in! A few of them said they'd be perfectly happy repeating this day over and over again. This day was very inspiring for me last year - I love the ecology, but the social service side of this trip is really what opens the heart.💗 Seeing my students interact with the kids, hearing their conversations with the locals, watching their eyes light up when the ninos understand their Spanish, it is magical!😍

*btw - a lot of these photos are credited to Lauren - my camera had a humidity issue but is back in business now they'll be more photos coming if this special day!💗

So many awesome things are happening with our group - Rachel wats to come back here with her a Grandma. The LeVeckes want to make a donation to the clinic. Angel Chavez has been the first to volunteer for anything and everything, including holding a sloth - his biggest fear. Sarah is fearless and makes us laugh all day. Lauren wants to come back next summer as a chaperone. I'll highlight more kids throughout the rest of the trip. They've all been infected with the travel bug and want to plan another group trip within five years to...get this...Africa! Individually, these kids are all headed in awesomely different directions. Together, they're going to see the world! The best part about this is we're only halfway through out adventure - so much more to come!

We're headed to ACTS Lodge, for the big kahuna. The grand finale, the cats meow - the place where i decided to live my life by the following quote, "I only got one life, I want it to mean something!" The Canopy Walkway! Sadly, this lodge doesn't have wifi, so I'll be silent for a few days. Thanks again for reading about our travels - knowing there is an entire support system back home will inspire these kiddos even more to go out and change the world!😍 #ceibatopsorbust #perucrew