Days in the jungle run right into each other. The rhythm of waking up at 5:45, teaching class in the morning, eating lunch, teaching class in the afternoon, eating dinner and going to sleep by 9:30 when the generator is turned off, has come to feel normal. Beyond the day to day routine, the days of the week have little meaning for those of us working and living at the high school. We work on a 5 day rotation: 4 days of normal classes followed by 1"light day" during which we do not teach formal classes. So this week, Day 5 falls on a Sunday while last week Day 5 was on Monday.
My days here are simple, but they are filled with work and play. Teaching is new to me and has proven to be no easy task, although I feel that the majority of my classes have been pretty successful thus far. The most important bits of information I have picked up here and there from the other teachers who have more experience than I are these:
Not every class is good.
Anything I do with the kids is helpful.
Script out your lesson plans.
Always have more than you think you need!
The kids are wonderful for the most part and spending time with them outside of class is the best part of being here. They are experts on the plants and animals that live in the rainforest. Spotting and identifying a poisonous spider or snake is a daily event. They know which trees produce saps or milks that can heal cuts and scars, what leaves can be boiled to make medicinal teas.
The wildlife here is ever-present. At the lodge it seems that we are collecting pets of all sorts. Yolanda is the parrot who has lived here for several years. She and I are getting along pretty well. She lets me pick her up now rather than biting me and then laughing hysterically (literally) when I yell at her. Then we have Yaku, the androgynous baby giant otter. (No one knows if it's a male or female.) Giant otters can grow to be 7 feet in length and people here are dancing around the subject of how big it will get and what we will do with it once it's full grown. There is also the occasional Boa Constrictor that Robert, one of the tour guides at Yachana, frequently wears around his wrist as if it were a big bracelet.
It's funny how normal the lifestyle has become. Waking up and going to bed under a mosquito net, not spending a single dime because there isn't anything to buy or anywhere to buy it unless you take a canoe across the river to one of the biweekly markets, checking under the toilet seats for cockroaches, frogs... or worse. We are pretty adaptable creatures!
It hasn't been a walk in the park. I have felt down many times, and I have felt good many times. When I've felt overwhelmed with the adjustments that I've been going through, and I take an hour to go walk down into the farm, eat a fresh papaya or chirimoya fruit, or up to the mirador that overlooks the Napo River, I'm reminded of where I am reminded of what is really important and feel calm. Yes, what I'm doing is important for both the students of Yachana and for me personally. But there is so much more here to explore and to appreciate here. I think there is no better way to learn to understand yourself and the world besides stepping out of your comfort zone and opening up your eyes to what is there.
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