I woke up this morning around 5:30 am with the storm still at full strength. Knowing we weren’t able to go fishing the previous day because of choppy waters from some light rain, I attempted to go back to sleep before I heard the shuffle from everyone else getting ready. Turns out, if the taxi makes it there, you take it. I have to respect that because for the water taxi to get to Panthera before 6 am, he would have needed to leave his dock upstream about 2 hours beforehand. Despite the torrid rain, we were going to Puerto Maldonado, about a 3-hour trip.
I was ill-prepared for this boat ride in the pouring rain, but I think it’s safe to say that no one could have prepared well for this storm. I believe everyone had a rain jacket at the very least, but no one came off that boat dry. I managed to breeze through the first 45 minutes or so by reading, ignoring the cold rain on my back. But once it became too wet to hold a kindle, there was still 2+ hours of rain to endure. The boat did have a roof which limited some of the damage, but with the wind blowing cold and strong, it wasminimal protection. At one point, the driver gave us a large tarp to hold in front of us to cover our bags, so we did have that going for us. Still, the boat was a dreary ride with little talking, just all of us trying to stay as warm as possible. This was the lowest point of the trip, but we also knew we’d have a comfy bed and warm showers waiting for us as soon as we got to the hotel.
Once off the boat, we got to the hotel and picked up our new guy, Jason Ji, who was coming in for the last week of volunteering. We settled our rooms and got our jungle laundry to the laundromat, then settled in for warm showers. After grabbing lunch and some snacks from the market, we went back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day as we did most nights, playing card games and getting to know each other.
-Zachary Cavazos
EGL Family Abroad 