Summer Greetings!

I went to my first “Quinceaños” or 15th birthday party for a young girl, soon to be a woman. This is comparable to the idea of a Sweet Sixteen party but can be on the level and grandeur of a wedding! The party is a symbolic passing from childhood to becoming a woman. Always present is a special dress with a color-coordinated theme, cake, dinner, music and dancing. The one I attended was extremely humble relative to many here in the area but still quite a show considering the financial circumstances of birthday girl’s parents. Where I live there is a 24 hour guard/groundskeeper who lives with his family in circumstances little different than those in the jungle. Their oldest daughter was the birthday girl. For them to host even this modest party was quite the event. Evila wore a darling green dress and all the family members were more dressed up than I’d ever before seen them. Although the party was on a weeknight, it still didn’t get started until about 9 PM when Evila and her dad came in together, (arm in arm like a bride and her father) then shared the first dance. My young friend was crying which seemed to be a bit of happy and afraid mixed together. I am sure it is the first time in her life she’s been the center of so much attention and never before had she worn such a lovely dress. There was a champagne toast, a very nice dinner, followed by the special cake. I’m sure I’ll get to several more parties like this while I’m living here and no doubt they will be on a much grander scale, but this first one will always be a favorite memory.

CONAPAC continues to build more water plants and funding has been strong, but we are continuously challenged by resistance to drinking clean water. Residents certainly understand the value but at times the effort is great and old habits die hard. Next year we hope to seek more funding in the area of monitoring and training not just construction. We’re also looking into offering individual household systems for homes which lie some distance from centralized water plants. Of course, all this takes funding so you now know what I’ll be doing more of for the rest of the year! We also work in a school in the city of Iquitos called Las Malvinas. We have a large environmental teaching garden which also has a turtle and fish pond. At the end of April, we stocked the fish pond with fry and since then they’ve been steadily growing. The senior class is in charge of this project and last week we did our first harvest. The kids netted, counted, measured and weighed over 400 fish which was a great learning opportunity. Some fish will be taken for sale this coming week with the rest to stay for further growth until the final harvest at the end of the school year in December. To see more photos check out: http://amazonamigos.ning.com/ or visit our website at http://www.conapac.org/

I’m sorry but it’s been dang cold here!! I know you all are experiencing a particularly hot summer in Michigan and the US in general. Well, I can tell you it’s the reverse here. Yes, low 70’s in the day and low 60’s at night doesn’t sound bad but when everyday is usually 20 degrees hotter, it’s very tough to adapt. Part of the problem is I simply don’t have enough warm clothes nor do I even have a blanket at night — only sheets. So I’m sleeping in layers and wearing socks during the day. Of course, there’s no snow and ice but I’m afraid there is still those pesky mosquitoes! I had the flu, of all things, in July. The flu here is very rare so it must be a gringo disease! It lasted a good five days but the good news is, it was while the weather was very cold so I was able to curl up in my PJ’s, close all the doors and windows and sip tea and other hot drinks. If it had been its usual 90-something outside my discomfort would have been compounded so for these little things thankful. During this time my friend, Mike from the States, arrived with my new computer. I bought myself a little HP Notebook (it's red :) from Amazon.com and I couldn’t be more delighted. I am a little sad it’s not a Mac but you know, when in Rome. It’s the system I work with all day now so I’m familiar with it. Once I return home permanently, I will again purchase a new Mac. Anyway, I am on Skype and would love to hear from you. If you have Skype, too, email me and we can exchange numbers. It’s amazing, you know? Living in the middle of the rainforest in the middle of South American with no roads in or out of the city yet I can have a perfectly clear conversation for as long as I want for FREE! Now if this is an amazing miracle, I don’t know what is?

Enjoy August—See you in September!