Day 8. Down Pour.

Another slow start in the morning. We packed everything up like we usually do every morning and headed out in the trucks so that they could take us for a special breakfast. We went back to the store where we had purchased almost every item she had. The store owner made us breakfast! She invited us back for eggs and hot rolls and coffee! It was so delicious! We hung out there for awhile and answered some more exploratory questions. Finally we headed out to make our way to the trails. We were again suppose to stay in the jungle for another night so we had to put our heads down and truck it there because you didn't want to be walking once night fell. We didn't really look at too much today as far as plants and animals go. Our guide though had three dogs that ended up following us the entire way on the trail. We had some pretty steep climbs and descents up ahead and the guide left us before we got to them because he had to go back. The one hill was literally straight up, barely anywhere to grab onto and the way down was just as bad. I had to put my gloves on, which I think the smell could maybe have knocked someone out... The hike today was shortened a little mainly because it was so humid and we had no water stops since we were so deep into the jungle. I drank my camel back so quickly I didn't even realize it. Soon enough we were at our campsite and ready to set up our hammocks. It was quite dark yet and the truck hadn't arrived yet with any of our supplies. We were just hanging out and all of a sudden we all start to feel water droplets. We thought it would pass over, but then it got heavier and we also heard thunder. The Bomberos started to make some sort of shelter out of palm leaves and all we could do was huddle together to be warm. It was amazing how cold it can get in the rainforest if you are wet. We tried to stand under this huge tree, but it didn't help at all. It poured for maybe 40 mins before the trucks came and then an executive decision was made that we couldnt sleep in the jungle in fear that it would continue to rain throughout the night and we were not prepared for it. We got everything together and hopped in the truck and drove to the ranger station that was quite a distance away. I should mention here that anytime we were in a car we were smashed with atleast 8-10 people in one car. When we were at the ranger station it stopped raining for awhile. We had to wait for the trucks to go back and get everyone else. The ranger station wouldn't let us stay with them because we had too many people, but some of the Bomberos and Palo went ahead and found this random farm where the owner wasn't home that we could stay in. I found out later that it was one of the Bomberos relatives, but for the longest time I just thought it was some random persons house. A side story: The dogs that were following us, one started limping and was hurt. Marshall picked up him and carried him to the truck. When I saw the dog in the back of the truck it was sleeping. The Bomberos went back into the jungle to look for the other two dogs so we could take them all home, but they couldn't find them. Also, there were piles and piles of trees that were striped and looked like lumber. Doc was filming them because the picture went well with the deforestation project and he ended up getting told to turn the camera off. It seemed shady, but it is all legal what they are doing when it comes to cutting down trees. They are allowed to cut down a certain number of a certain species and then they replant so that they don't kill off any one species. All the trees in the jungle (the big ones) are tagged so that they know exactly what they are allowed to cut down. After we all regrouped we headed out to the farm which was a short drive away. It was two buildings, two very nice houses. The farm is owned by the government so we were not allowed to do any filming there that night or take any pictures, we obeyed because this was our only option to sleep and we didnt want to disrespect anyone. We had our dehydrated meals for dinner, but the house also had cheese to munch on. This cheese was obviously the best cheese Ive ever had because it came straight from the farm that we were on! We strung our hammocks up around the porch of the house and luckily there were hooks so it was very simple instead of trying knots. After dinner we lounged around and went to bed semi early. It was nice having a roof over your head to fall asleep too.