A study in contrast

This morning, we started off with our standard breakfast in the lodge.  The whole group of ten assembled and ate different kinds of eggs.  Cas went with scrambled and I had an omelet.  There was a plate of bananas and miniature oranges as we’ve come to expect, and there was a plate of French toast in the middle.  Cas and I have been straight up forgetting to get coffee for two days in a row, now, so this morning, we made a point to head over to the self-serve coffee station and get a cup.  After that we hopped on our old speedboat (the covered one) with a very fast driver and went to see a village of Ribereños. Those are the people who live in villages near the river.  We walked through their town, saw the buildings and bridges and went into one of their homes.  The woman who lives there was named Irma, and she was ready to answer our questions about life in her village of San Luis.  It was a nice visit, but our tour guide kept answering the questions for her.  Maybe it’s cultural… 

When it was time to head out, the assembled children spent a moment singing us a pair of songs, then they wanted us to sing one.  With ten diverse individuals from many backgrounds in the US assembled, we agreed on Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  It seemed appropriate, given our proximity to a pretty famous river.  

Check out Irma’s kitchen:

When that wrapped up, it was time to head back to the lodge and pack.  Cas and I stood in front of the air conditioner unit for a while before tossing our things onto our bags and heading for lunch.  Full disclosure: He was kind of out of sorts this morning.  He started to feel better throughout the day and I started to feel worse.  I’m mostly good now, but I had an upset stomach for most of the afternoon.  Nothing like an afternoon of boat, bus and plane travel to drive home how inconvenient it is to feel off when away from home.  I suspect I am on the mend, now, but tonight is not the night to try exotic cuisine.  

And I can’t for the life of me figure out what I may have consumed that set me off.  I have even been rinsing my toothbrush with bottled water on this trip, so I can’t make heads or tails of it.  Regardless, as the title would suggest, today is a study in contrast.  We went from the open-air home with a thatched roof where Irma welcomed us and offered us a seat on a wooden bench to the Lima Westin hotel.  We’re on the 12th floor in a corner room and Oh My God!  It’s about as fancy as anyplace I have stayed before.  I would be curious to compare the size of the bathroom alone with the whole space we were in at the cabin.  And no knock on that cabin- it was very nice for a riverside cabin in the middle of the jungle- but dang the Lima Westin is swanky as swank can get.  

Tonight, we have to find dinner on our own, and tomorrow, we have a hotel breakfast buffet.  I have high hopes for that, just given the extreme fanciness of the space I am sitting in and writing.  After that, we meet with our new tour director, Efrain, and the other nine people who will be coming along.  Not everybody involved booked the pre-tour trip to the river.  I get why not- it is fraught with challenge and covered in dirt and bug spray, but I glad we went.  When in the world are we back in this neck of the woods again?  For now, we have to decide on dinner.  I think I can rally and have a nice meal, but room service is seeming like a pretty good option, too.  

But I will leave you with that.  The secret word today is contrast.  Check out  Our Photo Album.