For the time ever, like in my entire life, I wake up to the light of dawn and ACTUALLY get out of bed. I quietly slather myself in DEET cream, sneak down the stairs and out the door. I sit on the dock in solitude for an hour, watching the river. I am more asleep than awake when the silence is broken by Jun yelling "ARE THERE RIVER DOLPHINS?!" I almost fall off the bench as I see him coming towards me, dressed like a ninja.
"No, no dolphins" and he looks so disheartened that I add "but they are probably coming soon!" He heads off to get his morning cup of hot chocolate and no sooner has he left, that I see a fin glide through the water just in front of me. Then another. Then two more. Jun returns and we sit together, watching the dolphins feeding in the Amazon River.
After breakfast, we head out on the canoes to Vista Allègre, Peru. Mid-river, we pass by the lagoon from last night and the difference between night and day in the Amazon is striking.
We head up a tributary into Peruvian waters and come to the small town of Vista Allègre. I am transported into a moment from One Hundred Years of Solitude, as clouds of yellow butterflies flutter around the heads of school children running over the packed dirt in the town center. We meet the adorable children of the elementary school who line up to collect their pencils, erasers and notebooks - donations gathered in Vancouver.
We climb into smaller canoes and head further upriver and are led into a new floating forest. We move slowly through the trees, taking turns to enjoy paddling and I share the shade of my umbrella with Marlene under the scorching sun.
We move through areas where the floating plants are so dense, it looks like we are paddling through a field. We see a sloth, low in a tree and we pass just underneath him. There are birds everywhere and the heat is suffocating.
After returning to Calanoa, we head to the workshop area for Marlene's Creativity seminar. She talks about how humans have lived off symbols for thousands of years, how these things identify us, and how we learn to recognize them. We are given a task to create our own logo - something that tells a story or represents us. Surrounded by some very talented graphic artists, I decide to keep it simple.
After dinner, we go back to the workshop and are treated to the world premier of Diego's latest video. Photography transformed into a video with music he has written and played envelops us in the humid night air. Some people fall asleep, I feel like I am dreaming with my eyes open. It is the strangest, most sensational experience - like having a glimpse into his complicated and endlessly creative mind.
