• Bonnie’s cards
• Getting personal email
• A fast Internet connection
• Waking or falling asleep to heavy rain
• Nights with no disco music
• My long distance love affair
• High water season
• Mornings which always start with a glass of passion fruit juice
• The arrival of M & M’s and Girl Scout cookies
• When things actually go as planned—the first time
• Frasier re-runs on twice a day—7 AM and 8:30 PM
• My new couch
• Dead mosquitoes
• A good Skype video and audio connection—all at the same time
• Finding breakfast cereal for anyone over 10 years old
• Friendly, happy, helpful customer service—Anywhere!
• My boss, Pamela
• Completing a grammatically correct sentence (or two) in Spanish
Ah! Another year—the 18th—of Adopt-A-School has come and gone. Two great groups of volunteers came this April to help with deliveries and a pilot project building and install
ing new clean water treatment systems. So many old friends and new passed through the jungle during April. And, once again, they were generous with their time, their gifts and their praise of CONAPAC’s programs. So many people make CONAPAC what it is that it’s hard to single any one person but in particular I’d like to thank Nancy Kopf—AKA Pachita—for her tireless funding raising efforts and her endless enthusiasm for the program. Plus her laugh—which we all want to bottle and sell! Also Dave and Dottie Bonnet who never tire of the Amazon and always want to find a way to help in any project we seem to have cooking. Claire Lannoye, my buddy at the Detroit Zoo who recruits all these wonderful volunteers for our programs. Then there’s Ron Rossi who teaches at Sacred Heart HS in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He has come twice a year for 12 years in a roll with groups of students and teachers to share with them the joy of the rainforest. And so it goes--won’t you be next??
ing new clean water treatment systems. So many old friends and new passed through the jungle during April. And, once again, they were generous with their time, their gifts and their praise of CONAPAC’s programs. So many people make CONAPAC what it is that it’s hard to single any one person but in particular I’d like to thank Nancy Kopf—AKA Pachita—for her tireless funding raising efforts and her endless enthusiasm for the program. Plus her laugh—which we all want to bottle and sell! Also Dave and Dottie Bonnet who never tire of the Amazon and always want to find a way to help in any project we seem to have cooking. Claire Lannoye, my buddy at the Detroit Zoo who recruits all these wonderful volunteers for our programs. Then there’s Ron Rossi who teaches at Sacred Heart HS in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He has come twice a year for 12 years in a roll with groups of students and teachers to share with them the joy of the rainforest. And so it goes--won’t you be next?? You’ve all either read about or know my wonderful boss and owner of Explorama Lodges, Pamela Bucur. If you knew her very well, you would also know she has eyes in the back of her head and ears that can hear through walls. In other words, NOTHING gets by this woman. Well, in 1986 Pam was a middle school science teacher who came to the Amazon with a group of friends and a couple of students. What happened next is history. She gave up her teaching 
position to come live and work fulltime in Peru at Explorama, invited by owner, Peter Jensen. Now, 25 years later, Pam is married to a Peruvian and she has two children and four step children. She is also now owner and general manager of Explorama after Peter’s passing last June. It seemed the perfect time to host a surprise anniversary party for Pam—but how to pull it off when she sees and knows all? Well, with a few lucky breaks and perhaps too many distractions on her part the week before the party, we actually made the surprise happen. Pam was completely taken aback by the big cake coming into the dining room, with everyone starting to sing as she looked around to see whose birthday it was and why didn’t she know about it? After warm speeches and fond sentiments, the party really got started with “la hora loca”, which cannot be explained only experienced—enough said, so one day come and see for yourself! A hardbound book of memories was presented holding photos and testimonials in both Spanish and English. I told her I wouldn’t surprise her again for another 25 years. She told me, no, the next surprise party will be for your 25th anniversary. Let’s see, that would be 2030 which makes me 74 years old—hmmm, I doubt it, but never say never!
position to come live and work fulltime in Peru at Explorama, invited by owner, Peter Jensen. Now, 25 years later, Pam is married to a Peruvian and she has two children and four step children. She is also now owner and general manager of Explorama after Peter’s passing last June. It seemed the perfect time to host a surprise anniversary party for Pam—but how to pull it off when she sees and knows all? Well, with a few lucky breaks and perhaps too many distractions on her part the week before the party, we actually made the surprise happen. Pam was completely taken aback by the big cake coming into the dining room, with everyone starting to sing as she looked around to see whose birthday it was and why didn’t she know about it? After warm speeches and fond sentiments, the party really got started with “la hora loca”, which cannot be explained only experienced—enough said, so one day come and see for yourself! A hardbound book of memories was presented holding photos and testimonials in both Spanish and English. I told her I wouldn’t surprise her again for another 25 years. She told me, no, the next surprise party will be for your 25th anniversary. Let’s see, that would be 2030 which makes me 74 years old—hmmm, I doubt it, but never say never!For those of you who know me well, you know I love to bake cookies. I’ve talked for years about one day having a “cookie ministry”—whatever that meant? I figured I’d know it when it happened. Well, I think it did. Last week, I met the most delightful gals--two young women, Saskia and Claire, from London, England. They are here in Iquitos volunteering at a government orphanage, Santa Monica. They’ve been here about six months and although enjoying the experience, they are 
extremely tired of their regular diet of chicken, beans and rice. I figured who better to enjoy some comfort food than these two? Several friends have recently brought bags of M & M’s—milk and dark chocolate—as gifts. I decided this was the perfect combo so I made chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate M & M’s. When I went to the orphanage with a surprise delivery, the girls weren’t there. It seemed earlier in the day they had all their money and debit cards stolen. At the time of my attempted delivery, they were trying to report it to the police but no luck. When they came back and heard about the cookies, they told me it restored their faith in humanity—we’ll not really but you get the idea. :) We rendezvoused yesterday and they said they were the best cookies they’d ever had—well at least in the last eight months, I'm sure!
extremely tired of their regular diet of chicken, beans and rice. I figured who better to enjoy some comfort food than these two? Several friends have recently brought bags of M & M’s—milk and dark chocolate—as gifts. I decided this was the perfect combo so I made chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate M & M’s. When I went to the orphanage with a surprise delivery, the girls weren’t there. It seemed earlier in the day they had all their money and debit cards stolen. At the time of my attempted delivery, they were trying to report it to the police but no luck. When they came back and heard about the cookies, they told me it restored their faith in humanity—we’ll not really but you get the idea. :) We rendezvoused yesterday and they said they were the best cookies they’d ever had—well at least in the last eight months, I'm sure! 
2 comments:
What a wonderful surprise for Pam - someone who is always doing something for someone else! Are the M&M's and Girl Scount cookies gone? I can always bring more. Spring is still not here and I'd love an excuse to come back.
If you need a romantic and relaxing getaway, we had a great time in Paracas and we found a wonderful and inexpensive B&B in Barranco.
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