As I reviewed my blog posts from 2012, I realize that each one discussed the historic flooding which took place this year. It really has consumed everyone’s attention and it still continues to impact many today who live in tents along the highway and in the rafters for their jungle homes. The waters are slowly receding but not soon enough for some. Many classes are still canceled, both in the city of Iquitos and the jungle. Villagers are still not able to rebuild as water levels remain too high. Many businesses are under water and even the local animal shelter, Amazon Cares, the only shelter in a city of 500,000 people, was destroyed. For my dog loving friends, check out: https://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/store/ars/item/49701/ 


Also for those who are interested, this is a great website by the Peruvian Navy that is updated daily. Here we watched it like a weather report each day as the water rose before our eyes: http://www.dhn.mil.pe/app/menu/servicios/rioamazonia/index.asp 


As the water recedes, new threats are posed. The CDC in Atlanta released a warning to tourists traveling in all of Loreto (the state where I live). But like the US embassy’s kidnap warning for earlier this year and last year’s dengue fever outbreak, life goes on—as it should. Recently, concerns for upcoming travelers prompted one to contact Dr. Linnea Smith, our resident American doctor who founded and still runs the Amazon Jungle Clinic. Her response was just right—she writes: “Well, I am in Wisconsin and have not heard anything in particular, but leptospirosis has always been around, especially in Belén. The flood has been so large that any animal urine is pretty well diluted, especially out where we are. (Note the CDC's mention of 'urban areas lacking sanitation" as being at higher risk). I don't advise drinking the Amazon ... but if I had to choose, I would take that water over the Wisconsin River, which not only has sewage and animal wastes but also has chemicals and pesticides that we do not have in the Amazon. The CDC has an obligation to warn everyone about everything. But there is no place in the world without risks. Right here in Wisconsin we have an outbreak of whooping cough, and there is St. Louis Equine Encephalitis and Lyme disease and histoplasmosis, oh my. Personally, I am not worried about leptospirosis”. I always appreciate Linnea’s clear-headed and practical advice. She is not an alarmist and that’s just what’s called for if you’re going to live or travel anywhere along the Amazon River or in the Peruvian rainforest. 

A fun story about how the Internet makes the world smaller. About a year ago, I wrote of two British gals who were volunteering at a nearby orphanage called Santa Monica. A few months ago, I found an interesting email in my in box from a young woman in the United States. She had been doing some research online for the Santa Monica orphanage and during the search, a link was made to the mention I wrote of it in my blog. And why was this young lady researching the orphanage? Well, she lived there until the age of 6 until she was adopted by a couple for the states! She’s from Iquitos and wrote to say she found it interesting that I’m an American living here and she’s Peruvian and living there. We had a nice conversation back and forth and made friends on Facebook. She’s now about 19 and just finishing high school due to a year’s delay. When she arrived in the US, she did not speak a word of English so this took some time to learn but kids are soooo great at picking up new languages. Her writing is flawless English and she claims to have retained none of her Spanish. However, she very much hopes to return to Iquitos one day and make a visit to the orphanage, perhaps even to help by volunteering her time. I really hope I’m still here when she makes her first visit. It will be quite the culture shock but I’m sure she retains many strong impressions of her time here and I’d love to meet her to discuss it further. 

Fore!

This past weekend was busy with last minute details before my trip home to Michigan. I’ll be there for the month of June and really look forward to seeing my family. Jack, my grandson, will be turn seven at the end of June so we’re all going to Cedar Point for the weekend. Talk about living dangerously! Before I left I attended a fun gringo gathering Sunday at the Amazon Golf Course. Yes, there is such a place and it was quite pretty. For real adventure golfers, this is the place. For $25 you get a 9 hole course, 12 balls, clubs and a machete! And you can go around as many times as you’d like. There was food and drinks and good conversation. I can’t say it was a Memorial Day weekend BBQ as many of the attendants were British but Megan and I thought of as exactly that. And from what I saw on the Michigan weather forecast, I think it was hotter and more humid there and here! In fact, a torrid jungle rain came through about 3 and cooled everything down. Once it passed, Megan and I took a turn on the course with one of the investor-owners, Bill Grimes who’s from Indiana! He and his wife, Marmelada run a local watering hole in Iquitos called Dawn on the Amazon. Anyway, the course was really beautiful and they’ve even imported some kind of crazy short grass for the greens that grows well in the tropics. Check out www.amazongolfcourse.com


I hope everyone enjoys the start of summer this weekend and I look forward to wearing only my shorts and flip-flops on this next visit to Michigan, just like here. It’s much easier to get the day started when the weather is always warm—Love it!!.

High But Not Dry

Even the chickens took to higher ground

You may have been following the news and know that the Amazon River has reached historic flood levels this year.  We've just finished delivering all the Adopt A School supplies for 2012. I had a large group of volunteers here and things went well, despite the hardships most communities are experiencing.  Fully 3/4 of the villages in our program (about 45 or so out of 58) are completely flooded.  We had to change our system this year where instead of doing 58 separate deliveries, we set up central delivery sites at the few villages not under water.  Communities were asked to come to us for pick-up as we used a floating barge for a storeroom and delivery site.  We didn't know what to expect since not everyone has the appropriate boat or canoe to make the trip. Well, we were overwhelmed with the response and thankfulness these folks showed.  Not only did the community leaders make their way but most of the children did, too.  Our normal policy is that we do not hand out a supply packet to any student who is not present--unless unforeseen circumstances come up such as a health crisis or injury.  This year we decided that if at least the teacher and/or a community leader showed up with the list of registered students we would simply hand them the number of packets they needed.  However, that was rarely necessary--except a few times as all the children and parents came.  What a great showing of commitment to education! We have been reassured that what we’re doing is making a difference in their lives, As we now move into the 20^th year of Adopt-A-School, we look forward to whatever challenge Mother Nature might throw our way!

Sunset on the Napo River

It was great fun for me to see many returning faces and friends who came back to volunteer again this year--and new friendships have been formed along the way, as well.  Our second group of volunteers arrived at the end of week one deliveries. They handled mop-up deliveries then we next moved to community service projects.  This year we helped rebuild a community playground, a new concrete water plant, and we did many fun craft projects for the kids along with games, songs and dancing.  One of our favorite songs which the volunteers sang this year for the community was “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”.  I don’t know what they all thought about that but we sang it as a group several times and I know we had a blast!!

Lynn with a student

In total we welcomed 23 volunteers recruited through the Detroit Zoo. One volunteer who came was my dear friend, Lynn Cluskey from Brighton, Michigan. As you know, I don’t get much company from home so it was a rare treat to have a good friend come for a visit.  She arrived a few days before AAS started so we had quality time to catch up with each other and enjoy the nuttiness of Iquitos.  Then we headed down river and Lynn was quite concerned about mosquitoes and other unidentified flying objects but she was quite the trooper and managed well even with cold showers 6 days in a row. It was great fun to have her along and I hope she took home a souvenir of memories she’ll never forget. Thank you to all Zoo volunteers, Pamela and Nancy, CONAPAC and Explorama staff, guides, boat drivers and department of education volunteers for making this year so much fun! 

Pest Report II

Rats? Ants? Mosquitoes? Over the last few years I’ve written many times about the trials and tribulations of these various annoying pests. However, for whatever reason they have been quite out of sight for months. In fact, since I returned from the US in December, I’ve not seen a single ant in my apartment, even if I leave food out or dirty dishes in the sink. It’s like the whole village or army just picked up and moved away--very strange. And although a rat got trapped in my house overnight a few months ago and ate its way out through the screen, they too have been quite remote. And mosquitoes? Well, that's a given but truly they're much worse in Michigan. Does this mean I am now animal/pest-free? Well, no. My latest guest has been some giant frogs that seem to find their way in the house while the doors are open and then hide under my bed. A few weeks ago one was found flopping and hopping about and we (me and James in the middle of the night) finally persuaded him out the door after much confusion. Again last night we heard this weird sound and knew the frog was inside again but couldn’t find him. Back to sleep. Then awhile later, I heard all these bottles tipping about on the floor. In my kitchen I had several empty wine bottles for recycle waiting by the door. The frog had found his way there and like bowling pins they were toppling all over the ceramic floor and woke us up like an alarm. This time, we easily found him and sent him on his way. I guess we need to do an under-bed check now but I’d much prefer these huge frogs (or are they toads?) in the house than rats or ants any day!

The river is rising…and rising…and rising! Will it end soon? Not sure but based on Peruvian Navy maps and charts it’s shaping up to be a record year for high water season. Can there be any snow left in the Andes or a glacier? Yes, it’s rained for months here and that adds to the river levels so the combination is proving to be a complete reversal from last year’s historic low water levels. Wow, do I feel like a yo-yo here. The good news is the weather has been very cool, fresh and breezy for months. Truly, you would never know you were 3º south of the equator here. But just like the US had a mild, almost snowless winter, we’ve hardly seen the sun for months. I love it! I just hope the cool weather now holds out for the Adopt-A-School deliveries which begin in just over three weeks. The photo above is at one of the lodges where they dug up the ornamental plants and moved them to higher ground. Next it will be the whole lodge. Adopt-A-School deliveries are going to be very interesting this year!

Big news in Iquitos is there is a high-level security warning out by the US Embassy in Lima that Westerners (read Americans) are considered kidnapping and ransom targets here in Iquitos--seems pretty insane to me! For the first time, the Embassy actually sent a representative to meet with interested ex-pats. Yes, there are people who find their way here to hide out from something or escape from somewhere but not because they have lots of money. This would be Cayman Island stuff where there are hidden bank accounts and such. Or Columbia or even Lima but Iquitos? One of the grubbiest, most unattractive places you will find but it does have heart and that’s why we all seem to love it so. I have no doubt there are few, if any, wealthy Americans here worthy to be kidnapping targets in this part of Perú. None the less, I’ve been advised to alter my route to work (kind of tough to do) and not become to conspicuous or stand out from the locals (impossible to avoid) so I guess I just keep on being me and hope I don’t get run over by a motorcar or fall into an open hole in the street—frankly a much more likely possibility in my opinion.

Finally, once again all the wonderful people I’ve met over the years here in Perú have slowly been making their way back to Iquitos this winter—some folks migrate to Florida but others come to Perú and I’m glad they do. It’s starting to feel like regular family members passing through for the holidays. Thanks to Dave and Dottie Bonnet who always have a kind word for our work here AND bring me, Pam and Megan lots of fun gringo goodies in their luggage. Then Ron Rossi and his Sacred Heart student-volunteers are a wonderful addition to my life. La Doctora has been here since January keeping us all on our toes. My newest friend (pictured here) is Connor from Georgia. His grandmother, Pat Sullivan brought him down for his first visit to the Amazon. I have no doubt he’ll be back again! Soon Pachita will be here and all the AAS volunteers—old and new. Plus for almost a month James has been visiting from Perth. We’ve had a great time doing nothing—it’s really a gift, you know? We’re becoming quite talented at this (kind of like retirement) and look forward to more of the same as we travel around the world. Learning to enjoy the most basic daily routine, even in the middle of the rainforest, is a wonderful way to live one’s life. Learning to just BE is not easy but it has its rewards.

Hasta el mayo mis amigos—gracias para tu interese en mis palabras del Perú!

Rain & Rats

Rain, rain and more rain here in the rainforest! Hmmmm, well I guess that’s the point but truly this has been a particularly well year so far. February has proven to continue with much rain over the weekend that poor Megan woke up to a flooded house today—what a way to start a Monday! Not too much damage but a hassle for sure and a mess to clean up. The river is unusually high for this time of year but I have to say so much prettier. You see less debris on the shoreline and fewer sandbars. However, high water, so early in the season, has been a hardship for communities who normally plant rice in the fall and harvest it six months later. This is done on the sandbars which form when the water goes to its lowest level. Unfortunately, with the river rising prematurely this year, rice crops have been lost and/or the growing season cut short. Last year, the river was too low in the winter and villagers had a hard time getting into the city due to dried up streams which lead to the main river--quite a long way to carry a canoe. This year they can get to the markets in Iquitos but they don’t have much to sell. Ah, Mother Nature!

Rats, unfortunately, don’t drown when the water comes up but instead seek higher ground like homes and lodges. I wonder why God didn’t make it so that rats couldn’t swim--wouldn’t that have been sweet justice and kept down overpopulation? But I digress—anyway, rats have been showing up more in the lodges and areas where normally they’re not found. I recently lost a piece of the temple for my glasses due to a rat. I’d left my glasses on the night stand while staying at the Lodge and in the morning the whole end was clipped neatly off—like someone took a pair of pliers to them. There’s enough remaining to hold onto the side of my head but just! I will have that temple replaced later this year when I’m in Michigan—thanks Heidi and Mark! They love to come in and chew up things to make nests and trim their teeth. Nothing can be left out overnight or they move right in. More toads have turned up, too, as they’ve been flushed out in the city by all the rain. However, for some reason they just don’t seem as scary and spooky as rats are but instead a delight when they come hopping into my house. :)

Things are heating up at CONAPAC as Adopt-A-School starts in two short months. Our first full year managing the new library is underway and we’re excited about all the possibilities. This year, we’ve found donors to support two students from our AAS and Library program to attend university level classes in Iquitos. This is a three-year commitment from the donor, the student and the parents who will need to provide support for living expenses. We’ve hired a new full time staff member to run our water program and this year we’ll build six more water plants. The University of Colorado students will be back to do their yearly audit in July after which one of the student will stay behind as an intern for 3-4 months. This year we’re developing a pilot project to make the training, testing and monitoring of our water plants more sustainable. We will teach and pay locals on the ground to learn how to be water techs and make regular visits for on-going support to communities who have water treatment facilities. We have lots of service projects lined up for the summer for visiting Explorama guests and in the fall, the annual spelling bee, evaluations and Christmas concert with be held. For me, I’ll be traveling more. Although I’ve signed a new 3-year contract with CONAPAC, I’ll be taking more time off to visit family and seeing the world with James. Yes, I’m going to have a very mobile/global office!

Swanning Along...

Well, I find myself back in Peru after my Aussie-American vacation this the fall. Although I’m glad to be back it’s been a tough landing. I have to admit, I was getting used the various conveniences and indulges that are the “West” but all good things must come to an end. Iquitos hasn’t changed much. A few new stores opened, a few closed, the sewer project continues to vex everyone, the weather is great, the beer is cold, wish you were here!!

Things at CONAPAC “swanned” along beautifully while I was gone—not sure they need me but don’t say that to my boss, Pamela. She’d faint with fear of my leaving. But it does pay to work with committed professionals who have a passion and love for the rainforest and the Peruvian culture. In my absence, four new water plants were built followed by four water education workshops in the communities. This year we completed seven new water plants and our pilot project in one community to provide individual mini-clean water systems in river houses. Along with Adopt-A-School, the Las Malvinas garden project, teacher and communities workshops and evaluations, 16 tourist/community service projects and the incorporation of the Amazon Jungle Library, it’s been a particularly busy year. While I was in the States, I met donors and wrote a number of grant requests. Folks continue to be very supportive and generous of our programs and 2012 is shaping up to be another positive and productive year.

Christmas will be spent around town. I’ll be doing quite a bit of cooking and a bit of entertaining. My American friends, Pamela and Megan, who live here, will be part of this along with a number of Peruvians who never miss a party. With the weather so hot it’s not much like a Michigan Christmas. It feels silly when I play Christmas music so generally I don’t. The kids certainly get into it here, like all kids, and it’s fun to watch them be thrilled over the cheapest little trinket as their needs and expectations are so small. Christmas Eve around midnight brings everyone out into the streets and the plaza square downtown. There is more of a carnival feel to it than a sacred season but the next day, everyone seems to be more low-keyed and the streets are quiet. I look forward to Christmas coming then going. I always like the New Year. It makes for fresh starts and a feeling of accomplishment for the current year and hope and enthusiasm for the next.

My guy, James will be here for the month of March then in April, I’m anticipating one, possibly two friends from Brighton to join the Adopt-A-School volunteer expedition for 2012. They’ll come a few days before we head to the jungle and stay at my place. As you can imagine I don’t get too much company so it’s a thrill to have “out of town” guests! After that I head back to Michigan for June and beyond some special travel is being planned for me and James. It’s going to be a very good year. Live well, love deeply, sing loudly and enjoy your life! Best wishes in 2012 and beyond!

Hello & Goodbye--Again!

It’s been almost 3 ½ months since I left my home in Iquitos, Perú to make this long-awaited trip back to “civilization”. It’s been a particularly good visit, both here in the States and on my stopover to Australia along the way. I’m seen old friends and lots of family, as well as, visited many sights while being a tourist here and in Oz. As expected, I’ve gained a few pounds as the food is just sooooo good! And I’ve done a bit of shopping, finding those simple, everyday items which are impossible in the jungle to obtain. Overall, I’ve slipped back into my Western way of life with little effort. However, no matter how long I’m here, I doubt I will ever get used to all the incredible levels of choice one finds in the stores—particularly the grocery store. I find it overwhelming, to the say the least. On the other hand, so frustrating as the opposite is true in Perú where there is very little choice. Somewhere there has to be a happy medium but thus far I’ve not found it. I did again stock up on Thanksgiving fixings. Although I’ll be in Michigan for Turkey Day and eating at my Dad’s house—YUMMY!—I’ll be back for Christmas in Iquitos and I’ll make a turkey dinner at Pam’s house in her new stove—yeah! And once again, pumpkin pie will be on the menu ☺

Tonight I was scrolling through the endless channel choices on my friend's big, flat screen HDTV where I came across the Discovery Channel. They were showing the program “Walking the Amazon” with explorer Ed Stafford, the first man to walk along the Amazon River--from its beginnings in the Andes of Perú to the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil--in 860 days. What a trek!! It was fascinating but what it really did for me was made me homesick and long to be in the jungle that I love. Although it’s a harsh and unforgiving place, I have the luxury of living and working near it enough to thoroughly enjoy it but at a safer, more observant distance. However you look at it, it’s the most fascinating and fragile of places. I’m so glad I live in Perú, where much less primary rainforest has been cut, unlike Brazil where the destruction seems endless. There is only one Amazon rainforest—let’s hang on to this precious environmental treasure, shall we?

So the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, I’m off again for Perú. I’ve done some public speaking while here and met with donors. I’ve also kept in close contact with the staff at CONAPAC and written funding requests and letters of introduction about our NGO in the Amazon. Whether here or in Perú, the work continues. I consider this now the next chapter of my journey in my new and different life. The last three years have been about learning the job, the culture and the language. I’ve come a long way but there is much yet to learn and more to accomplish. I’ll be working with CONAPAC for the foreseeable future as I’m eager to continue the work I’ve started. I plan to continue my blog and keep the conversation going about the happenings in the rainforest. To all my readers and followers--whoever you may be--thanks for coming along on this wide and wonderful ride!

The jungle continues its stately ebb and flow with few variations on a theme. Unlike North America, which just six short months ago was suffering from a historic deep freeze, has now recently suffered a debilitating heat wave! I always found that a wee bit schizophrenic and constantly needed to know what to wear each day--but here things are just the same most days. The river is quickly receding and it takes longer to climb up steps and hills in order to arrive at communities but residents carrying on--whether in flood stage or dry season, they roll with it all!

June found me very busy with service projects and other donor groups. As I had mentioned earlier, we have a donor out of Denver who funded a pilot project to install individual water systems in jungle homes. This was accomplished in April and the donor arrived in June to see the results. We had a great visit, the feedback from residents was very positive, and our donor shows strong signs of continuing his help with more mini-water treatment systems. We are considering the idea of installing them in classrooms, especially for smaller communities where there is no clean water system. When I’m in Denver this fall, I’ll be speaking to my donor’s church congregation with more details. This should be fun and the best part of my job—when I get to talk!! CONAPAC also hosted the annual water project review where a third party comes in and evaluates our systems. Our partnership with the University of Colorado, Boulder, has proven to be invaluable in accessing the effectiveness of our water program. Four grad students and their professor were here for a month making many visits to our communities and executing in-depth interviews with the residents. We are eagerly awaiting their final and full report sometime in August but preliminarily, we have been encouraged by the anecdotal observations which the team made before departing. However, as always, we still look forward to more suggestions for improvement!

July brought changes as CONAPAC took over the CCC Amazon Library, adding one more major project to the CONAPAC family. Started 13 years ago by Dr Nancy Dunn, the library boasts over 4,000 titles, computers, music programs, and after school instruction. There is a second branch in a community down river about 30 minutes so things are growing and we hope to add more branches soon. Dr. Dunn decided it was time to move on in her life so she gave CONAPAC the library as a gift and we have now taken full responsibility to keep it running. Megan Thomas, a former Peace Corps volunteer, who also originates from Michigan, has taken the reins and the transition is complete. In July we hosted our first Rotary water workshop. CONAPAC’s reputation for education has spread and although Rotary International does a great job building water treatment plants, they don’t have an education piece. We were hired to facilitate the first one in the jungle. It went very well and we expect to be doing more very soon. Also, in July I had the honor of a visit from one of our most committed water project donors—Janice Lee, who is the Director of the SAGA Charitable Trust from the UK. Janice’s organization has consistently funded more water projects for CONAPAC than any other entity. She was here 2 ½ year ago and thought it was time to return and see the work we are doing. She and I made several community visits and we both had a chance to really chat with folks and hear their feedback about the value of drinking clean water. Overall, a very positive and productive visit! And finally, the 28th of July was the 190th year of independence for Peru from Spain and Inauguration Day for a new president, Ollanta Humala. Peru continues to show strong economic growth and the citizens expect no less from their new president. Folks out there in the West, it’s a great time to visit Peru. If it’s not on our radar screen, it should be! And, as always, if you want a highly personalized, behind the scenes visit to the jungle and jungle communities, I’m here to be your guide!!

In Iquitos, the truly crazy process of installing a city-wide waste disposal treatment system continues. I suppose there’s some method to their madness but thus far I’ve not figured it out. Streets seem to be closed a random, but barely. Gaping holes are left for days; piles of sand and dirt are in a crazy patch work of locations; the workers make huge cement pipe transitions right in the street where they’re working; then bulldozers and backhoes freely go to work around motorcars, buses, trucks, cars and pedestrians—all of which have to jockey for an opening in which to cross the street or continue on. Western attorneys would have a field day with these non-safety minded workers and their bosses. However, somehow in Iquitos it all works as do so many other seemingly incongruent activities of everyday life. Hmmm—solution? Well, when in doubt, a cold beer!

So, this current phase of my time in Peru is quickly coming to a close. In a little over three weeks, I'll be on my way to Sydney, Perth and Cairns, Australia followed by my return to the US, mainly Michigan and Colorado. My time in Peru has been priceless and I have no regrets about the various choices I've made and the time spent in this beautiful land. Since I'll be returning here in December to continue the work I stated three years ago, I'm not leaving on any kind of bittersweet note. This is pleasing and I'm thrilled to know I'll be home again soon—namely Iquitos, Peru! But it's now time to re-connect with my family--especially Erin, Samantha and Jack--and my incredibly supportive network of friends. It's amazing how small the world really is. Email, Facebook and Skype have made my time away seem more like a trip across the country than to another hemisphere. And then there's James in Australia who has been patiently waiting five months for us to see each other again! Without technology this long distance relationship would be unlikely but with it the world is a smaller place and I'm taking full advantage of its many little joys. So watch for my postings on FB--once the TSA lets me back in the US of A--and let's make some dates to get together. I look forward to seeing each of you very soon!