More like the 12 to 3. Or actually, the 8 to 3. Or the 6:30 to 9? Regardless of the exact hours, my project is off the ground and has finally fallen into a comfortable routine.
I set my alarm for 7:15am, but every day, I wake up with the rhythm of the town instead, which is already bustling around 6:30am. I wake up, stretch the sleep out of my body, and wrap myself up in a scarf before dodging raindrops on my way down to the kitchen. Here, I help my host sisters prepare breakfast for the kids and then grab a few bites myself before getting ready to leave.
I normally try to catch the bus by 8:00am so I can sit at my favorite café in town for a few hours before heading to work. These mornings are the perfect setting for me to catch up on news, emails, and other happenings while collecting my thoughts for the day. I often use this time to plan the day’s lessons and make sure all my materials are prepared. I head out around 11:00am to the other side of town to catch a Centinela del Tena bus out to a small community called Pano.
If I catch the 11:30am bus from Tena to Pano, I’m at the Unidad Educativa Bilingüe de Pano by 12:00pm. The teachers at the school in Pano are normally just finishing up their summer school classes at this point, and we take about 30 minutes to get set up and get started. We are pretty much wrapped up by 3:00pm, just in time to catch another bus back to Tena in order to eat a very delayed lunch. After eating and wrapping up some notes on the day, I’m normally back at the house by 5:00pm, just in time to funnel the kids into the shower and off to dinner. By 9:00pm, I’m ready for bed to recharge and do it all over again the next day. (And yes, you read that correctly. 9:00pm. We are night owls down here!)
A day in the jungle life isn’t too glamorous, but it’s beautifully simple and I love it.
from nomad to native 