Tarapoto= Fatality

Our hammocks on the boat up the Amazon River

People waiting to see their goods.

On our way to Yurimaguas.. traffic jam.. Zoe and I playing cards in the middle of the road in the jungle with 20 peruvians watching!

at least thats what the I Phone thinks Tarapoto is when i typed it in.... yikes! Tarapoto was our first destination in our travels to "la selva" (aka the jungle)
   On December 3rd Zoe, amy and I set off for the jungle. We left Trujillo at 3:30 pm and arrived in Tarapoto the next day at 11 am. Officially the longest bus ride i have ever done.. EVER. it actually wasn't even that part.. maybe because i took some drugs to fal asleep and paid more to ride in "first class" aka full cama.. that basically means the seat reclines 30 degrees more than the other seats in the bus. When we arrived in Tarapoto Sunday morning.. we took a mototaxi to the taxi station. once we got there they were like sorry the roads are closed to Yurimaguas.  Ugh..... Yurimaguas is the town where the boats leave to go  to Iquitos/ Jungle on the amazon river....
     so we stayed in tarapoto for the night... there is actually a hostel there named " El Paso Texas" so weird!!! Zoe was on a bit of a budget to we looked of "budget hotels" so each of us paid approximately 7 dollars to stay in this dumpy hostel..i actually called it the miami prison... there were holes in the ceiling and in the walls.. but it did have the be achy jungle feel.. hahaha... and believe it or not.. there was cable television and we were able to watch Project Runway!!!
     The next morning we got uo and left the miami prison at 7 am to head for yurimaguas.. so when we get ti the taxi place.. they are like we have to wait.. we couldn't really understand why but we were getting anxious because it takes 2 hours or more to get to yurimaguas  and we were told our boat was leaving noon... it seems to me though that americans seem to be the only ones in hurry in the entire country of peru.. just seems to me... any who we finally left around 9:30 am...whipping around those mountainous roads through the jungle.. and then BAM .. traffic.. oh gripes.. the roads were still closed from the massive landslides..so we sat.. and sat.. and waited.. and sat.. and finally i was like my stomach is killing me.. maybe fom the malaria pills.. any who. in case you were wondering there are no bathrooms in the middle of the jungle!! so zoe and i decide maybe the charter bus will let us onto use the bathroom.. the one  time i thought  it was good to be a gringa ( they seem to be so fascinated by us they will let us do things that other people can't.. i know bad of me to take advantage of this.. but my stomach was hurting...  NOOOOOPE..
 they wouldn't let us on... so with everyone watching our ever move , at this point there are a ton of cars just sitting.. we had to use the potty in the woods.. not normally an issue for me... i really didn't want so mysterious rash on my bottom!... all went well and no rash appeared.. when we returned to the taxi i was like " i cannot sit in this car any longer.. so we decide to play double speed  .. and where better to play double speed  than on the road in the middle of the jungle... and as i said before people are very fascinated by us.. so at one point while we were playing there at least 20 people surrounding us.. SOO AWKWARD! i have never had such an audience while playing cards! LOL
    After waiting for 3 hours they finally open up the roads.. it was so crazy.. massive red boulders and these trucks of 15 people in the back.. trying to trek up these steep bumpy roads.. we finally arrive in yurpimaguas around 1:30 and rush to the dock to catch the boat... our mototaxi driver had told us it wasn't leaving that day.. but we wanted to see it with our own eyes.. we get there and he says.." see i told you .. we aren't liars in yurimaguas like they are in iquitos" ok..  so i felt bad for not trusting him.. but still... so now we had to find a hotel... now yurimaguas is a MAJOR DUMP..... but we did end up finding a nice clean hotel...
     so now three days into our travels and we still haven't made it onto the boat... so tuesday morning we get up and get groceries for the boat and anything we might need for three days of isolation on the amazon river!  we bought our hammocks in yurimaguas, needed water, sandwich stuff, fruits, etc... and there isn't even a grocery store in this town either...we took our mototaxi to the dock around 11:30 am to catch the "12:00 PM" boat....as soon as we get to the area these two men jump onto out mototaxi.. i am thinking what the hell are they doing... so when the mototaxi stops they grab our stuff to array it onto the boat.. i didn't want to pay them so i grabbed my two bags, hammock, 3 massive bottles of water, and went on my way....but i was actually glad they came on with us.. because they ended up hanging our hammocks for us.. which i don't think i could have done  on my own...amy wanted mosquito net since she wasn't taking the malaria pills.. so these same men went into town and bought her one! what a deal..  oh and as we were setting our stuff up this man is standing in front of us.. i am thinking.. he looks so familiar.. OOOH he is the hotel owner from where we stayed... he wanted his towels back.. hahaha.. i don't want your towels.. in fact there weren't any towels in the room.... he jut stood there and i kept saying "yo prometo, no quiero tu toallas" (i promise, i don't want your towels).. i mean he tracked us down and searched the boat for us  for his stupid towels that we didn't even have!! poor guy.. i am sure all of the grungy travelers do that though!
   So we wait and wait and wait... and finally set off for iquitos at 6 pm.. 6 hours later than what we had been told.. Peru is all about patience.. wasn't really a big deal either because we hadn't planned any of our trip out before hand which was good considering we had two delays....
   THE BOAT,.. there were two levels on the boat.. the first floor was PACKED.. and mostly all peruvians who look like they have to do this at least once a month.. oh did i mention the only way in and out of iquitos is via boat or plane.... the second floor had more backpackers but also a lot of peruvians as well... the bathrooms weren't near as bad as i thought they would be either... it was interesting though because the water in the toilets come from the river meaning the water in the toilet is diarrhea brown.. yes. i had top paint that picture because it grossed me out to look at it... also, there were shower heads in the bathrooms with the toilets.. and guess where that water comes from.. yep you guessed it.. the Amazon... no ma'am i am not showering in that water.. no maam...it seemed to me that all of the peruvians showered ever day and NONE of the tourist showered.. i know they think we are soo gross.. but i don't care.. i dint shower for three days.
    being on the boat was interesting because there is literally nothing to do.. obviously..so it was like, well i can lay in my hammock or i can sit on a bench, or i can walk the 3o meters around the boat or i can sit in my hammock or i can sit on the bench! i did try to study my spanish a bit too... the first night was kinda long for me because every noise i heard i  was convinced people were stealing our water, clothes, what nots.. i had my valuables with me on the hammock. so i was being a little ridiculous too... at FIVE IN THE MORNING.. i am woken up by a lady with the most irritating voice saying "HAY PINAS.. HAY PINAS.. HAY PINAS" (i have pineapple, i have pineapples, i have pineapples).. i dont know about you. but i don't want a friggin pineapple at 5 in the morning.. i didn't realize it at the time but we had stopped in a town called lagunas to pick up people and drop off others and pick up goods... HAY PINAS.. HAY PINAS.. lol...
    Breakfast was served at 6:30 am.. and in order to get food you had to bring your own container and utensils.. way better for the environment too if you think about it! the food actually wasn't that bad, we ate a lot of rice, beans, and chicken.. kinda felt like all we did was eat out of boredom..
     it was so interesting stopping at these villages because it literally looked like the entire town of 30 people we standing there waiting for the boat to load their goods or to get on the boat and sell their goods to everyone on the boat.. we bought a massive bag of bananas for 30 cents.. and i bought some yuca .. like a potato, empanada.. it was zoo good.. we bought popcorn, guava.. a fruit that looks like a stick then you open it up and it looks like clouds.. mangoes, it was fun trying all sorts of fruits and such.. and surprisingly i didn't get a stomach bug!!!
   SIX days later we finally arrived at our final destination of Iquitos! I was sooo ready to take a shower at the point it wast even funny!  Iquitos is a very interesting city.. very different than trujillo.. and although i know there is a lot of poverty in trujillo it doesnt even compare to the amout of poverty and desperation we saw in iquitos... kids begging for food on the streets.. homeless people waiting  near your table with a bag to take the food you don't want,. i couldn't get over the stark difference.
   Friday morning we went to an area called Belen which is right on a tributary of the amazon.. in the summer months when it rains so much the water rises to the second level of the houses.. of course they plan on that as well.. houses are built on stilts. the mark in belen was phenomenal as well.. they were selling things like piranhas, turtles, herbal medicines and exotic fruits.. by far my favorite market i have even been too. after the market we got in a canoe and went up the canals and wow. these houses look like they could blow over.. ad the toilets were basically outhouses  on a dock in the water... same water they bathe in and drink.. CANNOT EVEN IMAGINE!!...

i am so thankful for clean running water... for  food. even though i  complain about it, for the ability to go to a doctor when i need, and clean clothes..

Thanksgiving Peru Style!

Ghetto Thanksgiving Spread!!

Yumm! A fried turkey head.. kiss it Dona Lita!

well our thanksgiving preparations began  a month or so before thanksgiving ....i started looking in the grocery stores to see if there was stuff we couldn't buy here... so my father carried a massive can of pumpkin all throughout peru to give it to me at the end of his trip..... it was so worth it though.. thanks dad!!!

      so we had our thanksgiving this past sunday.... had to move the date because two of the americans were planning on seeing britney spears in lima..either way... it worked out better having it on a sunday where we could cook all day...

   and cook all day is exactly what we did!! i was actually loving it even though our kitchen is gross and we don't necessarily have all of the cooking supplies we needed but we did our best... for instance.. we were using old t-shirts as pot holder, a blender as vase for the flowers (bought them in the market for only 6 soles.. approximately 2 dollars )..  our oven is so small that we had to ask a bakery to cook our turkey  for us!

    it was so funny.. nico bought the turkey a few days prior... and everyone was so mortified at how much he paid for it.. but really  the price was no different in the states.. its just that they don't really do turkeys here.... anyways on sunday when he went to pick it up.. he took three spanish girls with him.. they were soo cute when they carried it in the house... the turkey was carried in these plastic bins.. you know the ones you put clothes in.. when they opened the bin.. we all screamed!!!! the turkey still had its head..  OMG!!! how can you eat it when you can look at its head.. UGH!!

     i have never seen people more excited about thanksgiving than those three spanish girls!! carmen, nerea and laura.. they were ever taking pictures with the "thanksgiving spread"  it was sooo cute!!

     oh let m e just tell you... fruits and vegetables are soooo cheap here.. i bought enough potatoes for twenty people and it only cost me $3.. awesome!!

     anyways.. i know this blog is a little all over the place.. trying to watch a movie at the same time!

  anyways tomorrow s the real thanksgiving and it is so weird to think that while everyone at home is getting ready for thanksgiving i am here in peru where no one really understands how important it is to us... 

   i have to work in the morning, go get  a vaccination for my trip to the amazon and then grocery shop for our picnic on the beach for the kids in the nursery on friday .. so like i said.. just a normal day tomorrow.... hope everyone has a great holiday!!

my new normal!

Zoe and I at our favorite juice lady next to IndoAmericano

Huanchaco, Huanchaco, Huanchaco

it has been brought to my attention that i haven't written on my blog for a while.. thanks dad.... things have become so normal for me i don't see any reason for writing about it my blog.. but i know once i leave it will be like.. oh that was so not normal for me in the united states... so i think i will create of things that have become normal here in peru
men wearing
1. not flushing toilet paper in the toilet.. i never realized that it was a luxury to do such a thing
2. gringita is not a person but rather a color... the kids told me my hair color was gringito... too funny.. for those that don't know.. gringa is a white girl and gringita is a little white person...i prefer to think of it as a term of affection
3. men peeing on the streets.. the smell of urine is so offensive...but i suppose i shouldn't be critical because most of the people in el porvenir don't have running water... the other week one of my  kids in the PE class ran ahead of me and peed in the patio.. i was like NOOO  you can't pe pit side.. when i asked him he understood why he was in trouble he gave me these big brown eyes and was like /nooo... that is probably his norm.. i felt so bad afterwards for making him feel bad.. but he does need to learn that at SKIP we di have toilets!! LOL
4.seeing dirty dogs in the public school and no one doing anything about it
5.  RAT POO... that is unfortunately part of my norm...damn mice are everywhere in the house
6.  riding in the very far back of a taxi and ducking when we drive by police.. yesterday caitlin and i were in the far back and people kept yelling at us "down down , police.. duck" we went down as though someone was shooting at us.. LOL
7.  buying pirated dvd's on the street for an american dollar... its awesome!! i am eagerly awaiting the day "the help" makes the streets of Trujillo.
8.  Fresh orange juice!!  they sell it everywhere here .. people will push carts around with oranges.. and when you order they make it right in front of you.. the serve it to you in a glass so you must drink it right there with the cart person.. Zoe and i order an orange juice every tuesday thursday when we go to Indo.. its awesome.. it is only one sol which is equivalent to $0.35.... the lady even fills our glass up again..
9.  the buses are always an experience.... men hang out of the bus yelling the buses final destination.. for instance "huanchaco huanchaco huanchaco huanchaco huanchaco" over and over and over... and when you get on and off the bus prepared to run to jump on and to get off whilst the bus is still moving!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

wow.. that statement couldn't be ore true here in peru.. where do i even start,..
 On wednesday in my group 3 class, i let a little girl go get water outside our classroom. the water is actually water bottles we fill up at our house from the water bottles we use...there is no running water at the SKIP office..and i would  actually venture to say there isn't running water in most of the houses where our kids live.. so anyways.. i let this girl go get water outside and she is taking a while.. so i peek my head outside to check on her... so what did i catch her doing?  stealing the tops from the water bottles...i am thinking what in the heck is she going to do with those things... of course i make her give them to me.. even though it didn't really matter if she took them.. but of course she has to learn she can't take whatever it is that she wants... so i ask her why she needs them.. i didn't really understand why but i heard the colegio which is her school.. i told her i would collect some from the house. and give them to her tomorrow.. gotta get someone to translate for me.. because i am dying to know why she is hoarding bottle tops...
     at the end of the same day while my kids were playing a bit i was going through some of the games and junk in the classroom.  there is a spider man puzzle but the box is so  old and ruined that it isn't even holding on the pieces. so what do i do? i toss the box... to which one of my kids runs to the trash and picks it up and is like.. i am taking this home with me!!! he was so excited to take an old wrinkled puzzle box home... he even put in the window to see if he could see it on the other side of the window..
    there are two ways i can interpret these situations .. one to feel sorry for the kids i work with because they get excited over what we would consider trash or two.. to feel sorry for americans because we are so wasteful and not thankful for the things we have in our life...think about how much stuff we throw away on a daily basis that could be used for something...my trash plus your trash plus the millions of people in the states..its sickening to think of what we are doing to our environment.. just sickening.. i am not suggesting we hoard bottle tops and hang trash on our walls.. but just think about all of the little things in our lives that we throw away without even thinking about it....

Where am I???

Playing Soccer in the street outside of SKIP

Oh wow, so yesterday, Tuesday, was the first day i have actually been scared. Zoe and I went to IndoAmericano school yesterday as normal to teach our English classes. WE left school at 12:30 and hopped  into a taxi.  I wasn't really paying any attention until i looked up and our cabbie was reversing super quickly. it was then that i realized that their was a man running after us and threw a rock at the cab. fortunately it didn't hit us.. but i was freaked. Apparently these drunk men had put rocks in the middle of the road to get the cars to stop.. i can only think they did this to rob the cars... fortunately our cab driver saw this and quickly put it into reverse and slammed the accelerator... i let out the most guttural (sp)  gasp come straight from my stomach...  there was a bus there too and it obviously had to stop and we saw the "drunk" men get on the bus for a second. i am guessing they robbed the guy that works the door.. the one that collects the money from everyone on the bus and stands in the door to hurry people on and off the bus. All i can say is thank God that our cab driver thought quickly enough to avoid a really bad situation.  It makes me sad for our kids that they have to see this kinda thing so often. I can't even imagine.
 
    On a lighter note..when we went up to SKIP yesterday afternoon i ound Liz holding a tiny skinny little kitten.. i hate cats but this one was pretty cute! she decided that kitty she named manzana (apple in spanish) needed some milk.. so we walked a block down and bought some condensed milk in a can and had the store owner open it for us! When we got back to SKIP Liz tells Dona Vikki (a woman who works there from El Porvenir) that she wants to keep the kitten at SKIP! Dona Vikki laughs and was like oh no the kids would kill it! Then liz decides she wants to keep it.. next thing you know.. this woman walks up.. pretty much grabs the cat out of liz's hands and stuffs it into a box and puts the box into a big bag. the look on liz's face cracked me up because she really did want that cat.. not sure what she would have done with it.. but oh well! i mean she stuffed the kitten in a box and then into a bag.. the animals are thought of so differently than in the states.. i don't think we would ever stuff a cat into a box!
      Ok.. so now the gross part of my day. Liz and I did Deportes with the kids. Deportes is basically PE class. At one point we took a break and got some water.. while on break we saw a dog come over and he was chewing on something rather long.. we thought it was a snake si i had to go check it out..i walked over there and was immediately  GROSSED out.. the dog was chewing on a super long hairy dog tail.. are you kidding me!!! this dog was eating another dog's dismembered tail... i had the most horrified look on my face when i caught the eyes of some men playing soccer and they just burst into laughter.. OMG!!! i guess dogs need to ea too. huh!
   so my day in a nutshell... a man throwing a rock at our taxi, tiny kitten getting stuffed into a box, and a dog eating a long furry dog's tail.  Doesnt get any more interesting than that!
 

whoa!

It has been an interesting couple of days for sure!I will just start from last Thursday....Thursdays are the nights that we have family dinner at the house.. it is usually cooked by the newest volunteers to come into the house.. so this time.. it was prepared by two girls from argentina, Julieta and Noellia.  They prepared empanadas.. YUMMY! while they were preparing it they realized the only glitch ewas the fact that we only have one very small oven.. so they walked to the empanadas to bakeries in the area to see if they would cook them for us.. everyone said no but one place a few blocks over.. i can't imagine walking into a bakery in the states and asking them to cook something for me! We finally ate around 10 PM and the empanadas were delicious.. both julieta and and Noellia have vowed to never make empanadas again in Peru!
    Friday night Danny, a girl who has been here almost a year, volunteered to teach us how to make pizza for dinner!! A lot of people were out of the house so it was nice that only a few people hung around for the pizza making! it was a great night.. good music. dancing around the kitchen and lots of laughs! my kind of night!!!
      Friday night was an early night because all of the girls had decided to get up early and go to the Sol Market. Sol Market is the nme us gringas gave it because the currency in Peru is Soles (Sol) and everything at this market is basically a Sol... unless your name is Liz and then they always charge you FIVE SOLES!!! So the Sol Market is a bout a ten minute walk from  our house.... it is basically a street where people lay out all sorts of clothes on a giant blanket .. and i do mean all sorts of clothes!! there were people sleeping on piles of used clothes too.. not just children.. but adults too.. laugh out loud.. kinda funny seeing grown adults sleeping on piles of clothes they are trying to sell!  it was fun seeing the american shirts that were being sold there.. i even saw one from Dallas with the Ernst N Young symbol on it! Small world huh! i found a great shirt that on the back said "Goodbye Michael.. from Baltimore to Beijung"  i loved that stupid shirt because it was such a personal shirt and i had no clue who michael was..i know i am a weirdo! the woman tried to sell it to me for 5 soles which is roughly a $1.15.... i felt like she was trying to scam because i was a gringo and i declined their offer... i realize as i m writing this how ridiculous i sound though! I ended up only buying a really cute dress that was actually brand new! i think i have even it sold in the states..
     One of my housemates, Zoe, suggested we do a ten sol challenge where we can only spend 10 sols and buy the most ridiculous outfits and have a modeling session! that would be hysterical!!!!
    Saturday night we celebrated our volunteer coordinator's birthday, Karolina, at a fancy house in the country.  Liz, an English volunteer, is dating a guy named Javier.. we had the party at Javier's uncle's house ... it was a great little house.. you would never know it was there because it was on this street that looked like rubbish.. but when you got inside the gate it was a bit of paradise.. lush green grass, an area for dancing, a small little chapel, horses, it backed to the mountains.  it it such a stark contrast from what we see everyday in El Porvenir. This is the same Uncle that owns the fancy nightclub that we went to a few weeks back.
   Sunday we bussed it to Huanchaco and laid on the beach all day! it was awesome because the sun was finally out... i feel so sun deprived here.. so it was great!

It was great chill weekend and just what i needed!!

Semana de los Ninos

Why shouldn't dogs be allowed in your class?!?!

IndoAmericano: where games and dancing occurs

This week is the week of the children.... what does that.. not quite sure! Last Thursday, Zoe and I arrived to i'ndoAmericana to teach our usual English classes. When we arrived to our fist class there was a meeting in the classroom with the parents. At this school when there are meetings they don't wait until after school is over.. they just take up the children's learning time.. it is so ridiculous.. so anyways, we wait for the meeting to end and learn that they were discussing a field trip for the kids to go to Chimbote, a town two hours south of Trujillo. The field trip  is part of "semana de los Ninos"... the wek of the children... there are activities all this week and then on Friday they head off to Chimbote... So we ask the Professor, Santos, if we had classes this week and he tells us no.....so we proceed to ask the next teachers we work with if we had english classes this week.. 2 teachers said yes we had classes and two said no....
   What to do!!! Yesterday was Tuesday.. one of the days we teach there.. so Zoe and I decided to check it out since we were getting the "run around". We go to our first class and they are ready for us.. so we were like great! We do an activity with them  outside in the courtyard... then when we were ready to go back to the classroom for more of the lesson... the door is locked and the teacher is nowhere to be found... oh well,,, so we let them run around the courtyard with the rest of th student body.. we go to the next two teachers and they had no clue of what the schedule was for the rest of the week.. it is beyond me that you can run a school without a schedule.. BEYOND ME.. makes me so sad for these kids.. they already only get 4 hours of school a day and then their lack of scheduling causes them to lose out on even more educational time...
   Even though we didn't have any more classes, Zoe and I decided to stick it out to see what festivities were going to take place.. I was hoping to see some dances  and songs... but instead all we got to see were potato sack races and spoon/egg races! At one point they asked the teachers to be involved in the potato sack races... one of the teachers we worked with told her students NOO so they started asking Zoe and I if we would do it for their class... OF COURSE!!! sadly... not many teachers wanted to participate so they canned that race.. SAD FACE!! i am sure those kids would have gone crazy watching one of the only gringas make a fool of herself!!