Leavin' Paradise

As I now come into the home stretch of leaving town, I can’t believe how quickly the last 9 months have passed. On the other hand, it feels like I’ve lived in Iquitos and Peru for a lifetime. As many of you know, I have to return to the States to get my passport updated and take care of other personal items which were left hanging at the end of 2008. Although I look forward to returning to see family and friends, I’m already missing the action here. I also worry about losing the Spanish skills I’ve acquired so far. Well, maybe this will be a good opportunity to stay in touch with my friends here but only by writing to them in Spanish! And maybe I can stop having my friendships dependent on Facebook as I'll have the chance to have some real "face time" with family and friends!

I just returned from three days in the jungle assisting with our first water workshop and although it went very well, I was thrilled to get home to my little home in the garden and back to my own bed. For this workshop, there were about 10 of us assisting and we stayed in the village for two nights. We were provided with mattresses, sheets and mosquito nets from Explorama and the village provided us with the floor of the school building. As you can imagine, it was quite grubby and as basic as it gets. I’ve mentioned before, the first question I ask when I come into a new village is how bad are the “baños”? Well, this one was pretty bad. The only good thing about it was that it was close to the school and it had a door. However, I still chose to “hold it” all night and I can tell you it was a painful experience! For breakfast we had salted fish, boiled manioc and plantains, bread and a cup of lemon grass tea. Our hosts provided us with the best they had and we were quite grateful for their hospitality.

The water workshop itself went very well. There were two days of information presented to all age levels, games and songs, opportunity to see the difference between clean water and dirty water at the microscopic level. At the end, a new, clean 20-liter bucket was presented to each family who attended. All the children got their own new blue, plastic cup with the message to only drink clean water printed on the side. Joining us for this workshop was Christie Chatterly and Dave Sparkman. They are both from the University of Denver working on their PhD’s in clean water systems for developing countries. They have been a great asset, helping CONAPAC by evaluating our systems--plus they were just plain fun to have along! Also, this past month, there have been a number of medical students working in the area who are also from the University of Colorado. I met with them about possible collaboration in the future and they also joined us for the water workshop. What fun it’s been for me to have so many English speaking people working together in the rainforest. They all spoke Spanish, too, so the kids enjoyed their ability to communicate and I appreciated the interpreting they did for me!

Now for some animal stories: Lizards, rats and bats, & chiggers. What do these have in common? Well, perhaps many things but mainly they are interested in spending time in my life! A little over a week ago, I noticed a small, baby lizard in my living room (interesting color, almost an albino). Anyway, he was there for a few days but I kept expecting him to exit at some point because this would not be his natural environment for long. I’ve had lizards in the house before but they come and go quickly. Well, when I got back from my last trip to the jungle, I was relaxing in my “mesadora” and what do I see but my lizard--but now he's almost twice as big! (I know it’s the same one because of the odd color). And what do I see him do? He is busy eating dinner, running up and down my living room wall grabbing bugs. No wonder he’s getting bigger and maybe he thinks he can live there forever? I don’t know but as long as he stays out of my bedroom, I am considering him my pet. Any names suggestions? Now, I wonder where he poops??

As I mentioned before, I was staying in the village school, sleeping on the floor along with 10 other people. Both nights, after everyone was settled down with no more snoring or other “noises” (besides bats flying overhead), what do I hear?--Crunch, crunch, crunch…a family of rats had moved in to eat from the food stash we brought with us to share in the village. I’m not sure what they were the most interested in—dried beans or spaghetti—but I wasn’t going to stop them. The good news is I was at the opposite end of the room from the food and I had my IPOD. Needless to say, I plugged that baby in and cranked up the volume. Sometimes what you don’t know (or hear) won’t hurt you! And my last souvenir from Santa Teresa is my third case of izangos (or chiggers). As my previous readers know, this is not my favorite thing but I am optimistic this time they won’t drive me quite so crazy. Despite almost bathing in DEET, they do know how to find the most hidden corners of your body. Well, mosquitoes and black flies await me in Michigan so I will be well-prepared.

OK folks, I’m heading back to the States. Can’t say I’ll have much to say about the rainforest while I’m there but perhaps some reflections on the culture shock I’m sure to receive…stay tuned!

Peruvian 4th of July..It's Not The Same

Well, as I sit here in the office on the 4th of July, thinking of all the wonderful parties back home, I have to say my thoughts are with you! The only things red, white and blue here are the flowers, the sky and the rice! All things considered, not so bad. Although I won't see fireworks today, I did see some killer rainbows this week. (For those of you on Facebook, I posted a couple of photos.) I do hope that for each of you the weather cooperates, especially if you live in Michigan, and that you enjoy the freedom to eat, drink and be merry!

Last week was the visit from my daughter, Samantha. We had a great time and she arrived here with no trouble. One concern I had was that she was bringing into the country a contraption called a “Sun Oven”. They’re made in Illinois and sold all over the world, especially to developing countries. Unfortunately, they are difficult to get pass customs without added cost and hassle. Having Sam bring it as a piece of her checked luggage worked out great. These ovens have no power source other than capturing the sun’s rays with a set of foldout reflectors. I am going to experiment with it next week to make a stew or soup and maybe a cake. We are hoping this might be something viable to use in the jungle where every meal has to be cooked over an open fire thus burning more wood from the rainforest (not to mention the task of gathering wood, and the smoke, heat and mess it creates). I don’t know how readily the women of the villages will take to it but if it’s all it claims to be in simplicity and ease of use, I don’t see why not? I will post a photo of it once I try it out and let you know the results.

As for my time with Sam, it was great. We headed to the jungle where we hooked up with Dave and Dottie Bonnet, their daughter Shayla and her two sons, David and Dylan. The Bonnets are one of CONAPAC’S most loyal supporters for the Adopt-A-School program and other projects in the rainforest. They come back each year for a visit/vacation and their timing was exactly the same as Sam’s visit. We all had a great time together and Samantha was able to visit a couple of villages in order to see the projects we’ve been working on recently. We played “tourist” all week then headed back to Iquitos. Over the weekend she met more of my friends, we went dancing, swimming, dining, shopping, cooking and generally just enjoyed each other’s company. It was a special treat for me, beyond belief, to have her here. I don’t think she fell in love with the rainforest in quite the same way I have, but then again, the girl lives in Colorado and that’s a tough act to follow! All in all, it was an experience we shared together which neither of us will soon forget. Now I need to get my other daughter here next….Erin are you listening??

Finally, this last week was the wonderful completion of the new CONAPAC website. Most of you who follow my blog have already checked it out but if not, go to www.CONAPAC.org to take a look. The old site was dated and no fun to poke around in. This new site was a collaborative effort between me, Pam here at Explorama and her friend, Nancy back in the States. It took about 8 months for this baby to be born but it was worth the wait. I hope you’ll agree! More marketing projects are taking shape for the program—a quarterly e-newsletter, post cards and posters for sale both here and in the States. I’m looking forward to my return next month as I have several Rotary Club meetings lined up where I am the speaker of the day…hmmmmmm, I wonder what I can talk about?

Have a great weekend and enjoy the beach, the beers and the BBQ's :)