Day Number Siete:

Sleep. One word I have never felt more thankful for. This morning while the other group of students woke up at the crack of dawn to work with the birds, we got to sleep in until 8. Although that may seem early to some, that was a late luxury which I am extremely thankful for. After we got to have a glorious snooze, we threw on our swim suits, hiking shoes, and adventure shoes and headed for Sanctuario de Cascadas. Sanctuario de Cascadas is just as it sounds. It is essentially a "sanctuary of cascades" where we swam in waterfalls. Those of you who are reading think that these waterfalls were warm like many would think in the rainforest, you have never been more wrong. The water was close to freezing. I was hot before entering the water, but when I emerged I was shivering and happy for the sun. Even though the rainforest is hot, humid, and sunny, the elevation is still incredibly high and our once easy walk left us huffing and puffing for oxygen. By the time I make it back to Houston I will run around like it's a breeze. Thank the Lord for sea level. But anyways, when we finished our swim and hike we made our way into town for lunch and back up to the hotel for some rest and another critique session with Massimo and the rest of our leaders. After  our session we went to dinner at Nikki's (a local who has partnered with National Geographic) family's restaurant where we devoured food like we were starving. As the trip continues, the more the nine of us eat. I secretly think our leaders, Sam and Taylor, are convinced we are never ending pits. Ok so I might stand corrected because let's face it, we kind of are. Oops we're growing kids who need our food right? We came back and called it an early night since sleep is a hot commodity around here. Goodnight world.