Dusk wraps us in a cooling embrace as we trudge along the river together, singing, and the crickets chirp louder as an orange moon begins its rise into the star-studded night sky. Leaving behind familiarity for adventure has quickly fused into a vibrant family these seven indigenous youths from the jungle village of Juancito and we seven visitors from the States.

After a wonderful whirlwind of a summer, the kind that tempts me to list it all to earn your empathy for why I am this tired, I find myself questioning the decision to join this physically strenuous journey to a people whose language I don’t speak.