Saturday

This morning we had problems with getting the water to work again, so we just ate foods we already had here for breakfast. Since there were still a few things left to do with the trench, everyone except Olivia, Molly, and I went up to the orphanage. They finished filling the tops of the trenches and laid sod back on top of it. Even some of the moms got in the trenches! The pipe is working and everything, so all of the hard work has paid off! I'm not exactly sure if there are many labor-intensive projects we'll be doing up at the orphanage. We will be doing more of our work away from the orphanage for the rest of the week.

Molly, Olivia, and I got to go out into the city to explore the shops. Tena is very safe which is why we didn't have any parents come with us. A lottt of the stores were clothing and shoe stores. We were cautioned against buying clothes (they're overpriced and not made well), but we all bought shoes that are good for wearing in water! We also explored a few other stores and bought some souvenirs to take back home. It was kind of interesting because the stores didn't all open at the same time. The store owners just choose any time that they want to open or close. It seems like a lot of places close around 6 pm, which makes sense since that's when it starts to get dark.

After that we took a trip to Super Tia, the grocery store with air conditioning! We picked up groceries which was a little difficult. They definitely don't have as much of a variety of items as we do. Their prices were pretty reasonable overall which was nice! We also went to the open-air market to buy fruit. It was a little difficult to barter with them, because their Spanish is obviously better than ours. We were able to get a few things lowered though!

Around 11:30 we all ate a quick lunch and then headed to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, the tickets were all sold out for the bus ride we wanted to take. The next bus wasn't running until later in the day, so we ended up having to take 4 taxis for $15 per carinstead of paying $1.30 like the bus ride. To fit everyone in the car, people had to ride in the bed of trucks. Olivia and I rode in the back of one and so did Mr. Kuester and Alex. It was really cool honestly! And I have a feeling that will be a once in a lifetime experience probably. ;)

Our taxis took us to the place that gives canoe rides across the river. We all loaded onto a giant canoe to get to the Amazoonica. It does have a small covering over the top, which really pretty much saved us, because it rained. So, we would've been even more wet than we had already gotten, if we had nothing. The rain actually turned out to be a good thing, because I think it helped the jungle be a little cooler.

When we arrived at Amazoonica, we found out it is more of an animal sanctuary rather than a zoo. They do a lot of stuff to preserve wildlife and protect the native animals. It was still neat to see all of the animals though. Plus, the tour was in English, which was really nice since we probably wouldn't have been able to understand most of it if it was in Spanish. We got to see a lot of animals that we wouldn't be able to see at home. And the craziest part is that Amazoonica is literally just a part of the jungle; it wasn't separated from it or anything.

After our tour ended, we waited there a little bit to take a break. Then we took another canoe ride back to where we came from. It took a little longer since we were going against the flow of the current. A couple of the orphans even fell asleep. :) We had to wait there a little while longer for the bus to pick us up at 6.

We rode the bus back to Tena which took about an hour because we stopped to pick a few people up along the way. Plus, the bus follows the rules of the road a little better than most of the people who drive down here.

Right after we got off the bus, we stopped for a bathroom break and then walked to a restaurant. It was called Super Pollo. I personally didn't think the food was exceptional, but it was alright! Overall I think everyone was pretty content.

We all walked back from dinner once we finished eating. Once we got back, everyone relaxed around here and played cards and talked. We had a short gathering to record daily video footage. Other than that, we all just showered and did our own thing!

Tomorrow is church at 9:00 am. The entire mass will be in Spanish, so I'm interested to see how this goes. Then later in the day we will be visiting the monkeys. I'm not exactly sure what we're doing there. I guess we'll find out!

Time is flying! I can't believe it has already been a week since we left! And I can't believe we'll already be leaving this coming Friday. I don't think we're ready yet though. : )

Goodnight!
-Kaitlyn