The Art of Being a Tacky Tourist By Sarah Miller

On Sunday, we had a touristy kind of day. The team took a tour down the river in long canoes/gondolas.

In the boats, we went to a wildlife rescue center where we were able to see tapirs, monkeys, and ocelots.

After that, we ate lunch in a small village up the river a little bit. In that village, they also showed us how to make chocolate, and we got to eat cacao seeds. The seeds were really slimy, and they were bitter if you bit them too hard, but overall they weren’t that bad.

After we got off the river and back into the bus, we visited another small native village where we watched and participated in their traditional dance.

In the same village, I paid one of the boys $1 to take a picture with the monkey he was holding, and it was definitely worth it! The monkey was so soft and cute and cuddly!

When we got back to the hostel, we got to walk around the town in which we’re staying, and a group of us got ice cream. Then, we had dinner and finished out the day by playing soccer in the street with some of the Ecuadorian kids that live in the area. We were definitely tourists for the day!