When my song of praise ended, its melody fading into the sounds of the awakening jungle, the baby girl reached up and held onto my finger that had been brushing her cheek.

The rising sun threw long, leafy shadows across the trail, as I took one slow step after the other away from the dream-sharing ceremony, my rubber boots squishing into the soggy, slippery path.

The knock comes at 3:45 a.m. I lay still under my mosquito net, trying not to lose the images from my dreams, letting them sink into me so I can carry them through the starlight to the village elder.

After a weapy goodbye with Nancita and Raulito, our group drove southeast along the Avenue of Volcanoes to the town of Shell.

Steve and Joanne and I are speaking quietly in the darkness, marveling at the sky.

Dateline: Quito, Ecuador

I can’t say I had ever really thought of traveling into the Amazon.