Our weekend in the Amazon

2 weekends ago (sorry for not posting sooner but we have been very sick here) we went to the Amazon, which is something I have always dreamed about doing since I was a kid. I was excited about the trip but did not want to encounter any snakes (especially anacondas). Luckily we didn't see any snakes and missed the one that crawled into the "lodge lobby" by a few minutes.

Our trip to the rainforest was an organized tour which we looked forward too. We have done a lot of exploring on our own and always wonder if we see all the sites or miss anything. The company we went through was Rainforest Expeditions. They promote ecotourism and we were told that 50% of their profits go towards helping the local Amazon people that live near their 3 lodges. They employ the people from the local villages to work in the lodges too.

We stayed in the first lodge on the Tambopata River which feeds into the Amazon River in Brazil. We had to take a 50 minute bumpy bus ride to the port which apparently didn't wake up Tim.

Then we took a 50 minute boat ride up the river to our lodge and were fed our "box lunch" (yummy rice mixture wrapped in a banana leaf). The boats were more like canoes with motors and you had to be careful not to move too much.


Here is a picture of a boat looking for gold. Apparently there is a lot of gold sediment in the bottom of the river and people sift for the gold.

Once we got off the boat we had a 15 minute walk through the jungle to our lodge. It was like something out of Smith Family Robinson. The lodge was all open air, only had cold water, and didn't have electricity (everything was done by candle light).

All the rooms had hammocks and there weren't any windows and the walls were made out of something like bamboo, so you could easily hear your neighbors. All the beds had mosquito nets because at night the mosquitoes could get bad. The whole set-up of the place was very relaxing. All are meals were served by candle light and were made from local ingredients (lots of fruits and veggies).


Each day we had a guided tour through out the day (6-8 hours) with breaks. Our guide Fino was great. He worked as a Cowboy on a ranch in Brazil and recently moved to Peru to live with an indigenous tribe in the jungle, before working as a guide. He was an expert bird-watcher and would spot animals you could barely hear or see. We usually woke up around 4:30-5:00am every morning to start hiking and looking for animals when they were active at dawn. Every morning we were awoken by the red howler monkey which sounded more like a gorilla coming to attack, but as you can see he looks and is harmless.

We spotted a lot of beautiful birds: toucans, parrots, macaws, etc. Here are some pictures.


One morning we went to a lake and spotted giant river otters that were about 5 feet long and went fishing for piranha. We didn't catch any but one of the guides did. It's hard to catch them because they ate the chicken really quickly in small pieces.


One trail we hiked had a bunch of monkeys all in the trees. It seemed like they were following us.

Apparently the region we were in has the most species of butterflies in the world. See if you can see the transparent butterfly.

We encountered a rather large tarantula, which is typical for the area.

It was an amazing trip!

POLLO!!!

Thursday was Nicole's last day. She's from Australia and volunteered at Inti for 3 months, so we decided to have a party in honor of her. When a volunteer leaves, Luz Marina gathers the children and gives a speech. A few of the children often will speak about how thankful they are for having the "prof" there as well. Here's a picture of Walter who danced for Nicole to show his appreciation.


Jackie and I thought it was a good opportunity to provide the children with a full meal as well. Our family had brought us to a Polleria on our last night. The food was so good that we knew we had to share it with the children. Although the presentation may not be great, it does put Gerard Farm's to shame. They stuffed four full chickens each in a separate plastic bag. We were able to feed 32 people with chicken, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, and french fries for $40.
Again, a big thanks to all of you who donated.

You would not believe how excited the children were to be fed chicken (pollo). When we brought it out, their mouths dropped in disbelief. Every child at Inti today was part of the clean plate club as they sucked the bones dry. We're pretty certain Josef went so far as eating the bones as they were no where to be found.




When the children found out that we had brought them chicken and a cake, they gave us a round of applause. We wish you were there to receive it and see the smiles on their faces to know how much of a difference you have made to them.

Finding A Second Volunteer Organization

After moving in, we decided to check out another volunteer organization over the weekend. We had a number of coloring books for young children (too young for Inti), so we decided to bring them to Mantay along with soccer balls and jump ropes. Here's a few pictures of the children . . .

Mantay provides a place for young abandoned mothers (º12 to 18) to live with their child. The organization teaches them how to take care of their child, teaches them a trade, and allows them to continue schooling. When they turn 18, Mantay assists the mothers in finding a job, apartment, and furniture to get them started.

Well, we were extremely impressed with the organization, so we decided to volunteer there as well. It is run by a husband and wife from Spain who live there with their two children.

Its a long commute - about 45 minutes by collectivo and an hour by taxi. Collectivos (vans that pack people in) are far more fun and the drivers attempt to get as many runs in as they can in a shift so its often faster. The other day we arrived early and waited outside. Apparently, Mantay is in the middle of a main thoroughfare for cattle. We saw two herds of cattle merging at the sametime. It caused a bit of chaos and we thought we were getting ready for the running of the bulls.

Starting Monday, we are now working two mornings a week at Mantay followed by afternoons at Inti. Our first day, we learned how to change babies diapers (they use cloth diapers here, not huggies - which is definitely a challenge). All the children are under 3 years old (youngest is 2 months old) and apparently always travel by train outside of the nursery.

We are planning on helping them build a website so that they can sell their stuff online and hopefully help them find stores in the US that can sell their bags and bookmarks as they are of high quality.



The other 3 days a week we are volunteering at Inti. Here's a few of the children holding up the books that we were able to buy with the money raised from Scholastic Books (they gave us an incredible discount).

We've stopped taking Spanish classes - Jackie is close to fluent and I'm crossing my fingers that my Spanish will improve as I work with the children.

Moving Out . . .

Last weekend, we left our family for an apartment. Just like 1367 Comm Ave, we went for the apartment with grafiti on the outside.


Here's a picture of the artwork that my nieces did for us. We would have put it on the refrigerator, except for the fact that we do not have a refrigerator.


We have a stove - well, at least the burners, no oven. The burners run on propane, which you would think is dangerous to keep in your apartment. But, in Peru, they deliver the propane (3 tanks deep) on a single motorcycle, which has got to be far more dangerous than keeping one tank in an apartment.

The third tank goes on top.

Its taking a bit of time getting used to going to the market for food and we actually spent most of the week with "stomach problems", but we are both feeling better now. Here's some pictures of the market . . .


The produce section (not a single part of the animal goes to waste) . . .



Fruits and vegetables . . .


The most olives that I've ever seen (Hannah - this picture is for you) . . .


The Peruvian spice rack . . .