I spend the whole night tossing and turning and ripping at my clothes. The cold medication leaves me feeling like I'm moving in slow motion and I spend what feels like hours watching the firefly - blink blink blink - fall asleep for several minutes and find him somewhere else... blink blink blink. By the time the sun comes up, and jungle grows quieter, I finally fall into a sound sleep only to be interrupted by everyone getting up and ready for the day. I drag myself to breakfast - wishing I hadn't bothered - but to be honest I'm worried about being voted off the island, so I'm keeping my chin up.
Marlene takes one look at me and sees I am worse. She encourages me to rest and I feel nervous as I see her talking to Maria (our chef extraordinaire), worried that they may be trying to sort out the best way to send me back to Leticia. Maria comes back within 5 minutes and hands me a mug filled with boiling hot yellow liquid. She advises me to drink it while it is hot, which goes against all common sense because it is already sweltering! The potion is a mixture of honey, lemon and something else? It is delicious and as thick as molasses. I drink it down as my whole face starts sweating and thank her. I spend the morning half-heartedly avoiding everyone until Allyson corners me in our cabin. I tell her how worried I am about getting everyone else sick - despite wearing my face mask and washing my hands constantly. Cool as a cucumber, she replies, "You're not going to get anyone sick. Now grab your stuff and lets go! Diego is doing a tour of Calanoa and you can't miss this." Trudging a good 10 feet behind the group, I listen between sneezes and blowing my nose. He takes us on a tour of the whole site, telling us how ideas were conceived, plans were adapted & executed and buildings were constructed. He has thought of absolutely everything down to the finest detail and his passion and creativity are reflected everywhere. Each building is unique and is a reflection of lessons learned and ideas explored. But his is the most beautiful. A three level structure, the lower floor features a sunken bathroom with a curtain wrapped shower (completely optional) from which you face the jungle. A garden to the left side opens up to the skies so that rain falls into the bathroom, watering the tropical plants across from the shower. On the 2nd floor, a 4-poster bed stands with mosquito netting and faces a hammock with a view onto the gardens of Calanoa. It is so inviting (and I feel like such a bucket of crap), I am tempted to take a nap in the hammock. The 3rd floor is a wide open space - perfect for yoga. Everything is perfect. Why do we live in Canada?
Diego generously shares all his ideas and explains the process behind his work, explaining how different challenges have led him to innovative designs. He flips through his sketchbooks and it is like being given a tour of how his mind works. His creativity is endless.
In our small gap of free time, I head to my cabin feeling utterly defeated. I just have no energy. I let Allyson entertain me with a show of her mosquito bites, then sneak in a brief siesta before meeting the group at the dock for our pink dolphin tour. Everyone insists that we potentially won't see anything, so not to get excited, but I can't help myself. I jump at the chance to be in Lee's boat, followed by Allyson and Jordan. Lee is an Amazon veteran, and a wealth of information on the flora and fauna, while Jordan is like Ace Ventura - where she goes, the animals go, and I consider her our good luck/animal charm.
Our guide introduces himself and we head out across the Amazon river towards Peru. Directly across from Calanoa, we stop the boat and wait patiently (but briefly) before being rewarded by pink dolphins feeding In the shallows. They are far larger than I was expecting - and we can only see a small portion of their head and back in hues of rose and violet. They are so close, and Allyson spots bubbles coming up right beside the boat as they pass underneath us.
With Jordan as our good luck charm, we also see some grey dolphins nearby, who give a more spectacular show: surfacing higher, with a more pronounced dorsal fin. They are in a larger group, but farther away and decidedly less exotic. I watch for caymans, but there is no luck. Maybe they are afraid of catching my germs? Join the club. We head up a different tributary and cross in front of a small Peruvian village before turning back around.
I go straight to bed after dinner and take cold medication to knock me out until the morning and give me some wild dreams.
