During our spare time, we have all completed at least three books, worked out every other day, and battled in our UNO olympics. On Canada Day (July 1st) we gratefully satisfied our sweet tooth by having Zoe, Gretta and Mikaela bake us a delicious banana and vanilla cake topped with fresh papaya and banana slices and marvelously decorated with the cut out of a maple leaf (bonus: we were able to enjoy Mikaela’s certified baking and icing skills). We have been discovering the wide variety of species making up the ecosystem in our dorm: the once-believed to-be raton was indeed a bat flying over our peaceful cribs, the entrance door is now bravely guarded with mama spider and her newly hatched million babies, and our showers are shared with the enormous Tara the toad. All the while, the whole team has been greatly looking forward to our departure to Iquitos on Friday morning where we will stock up on supplies and materials for our future work at the school and will enjoy, air-conditioning, Ari’s (our restaurant/home of choice in Iquitos) fabulous ice cream, and the beloved ease of communication with the outside world.