La Selva

Getting time away from the orphanage is great, especially when you get to spend it in the jungle with some amazing friends. A couple of weeks ago I spent 10 days travelling to the jungle and back with Oscar, Sam and Bryson, which was, in a word "fuuuuuuunnnnn!". I did have heaps of little stories to tell but then I realised they are the "you had to be there" type. Hopefully the photos will suffice.

Trujillo > Chiclayo 3 hrs,  > Jaèn 6 hrs, > Moyobama 5hrs, > Tarapoto 3hrs

Oscar's uncles farm at Jaén

Woke up at 5am in Jaén and spent the morning at Oscar´s uncles house and farm. At the farm we tried the mangoes and cocoa, both of which reminded me of the Solomon Islands. It was very tropical (hot!). Thats a moto taxi which is a little carriage that holds two people, drawn by a motobike. 

A relative of Oscar´s, risking encountering virus carrying ants to get us some fresh coconuts.

Second stop on the first day was at Oscar´s other uncles house in Bagua chica. This little pig came running down the street and hid under our moto taxi because he was being chased by a puppy. 

Hunting at Bagua Chica on the first day. We were looking for deer but unfortunately none of them wanted to come out to meet us. Excellent morning out hiking though. By deer I mean the Peruvian version of deer, which is small (maybe 55kg), grey and has little horns. I don´t know what the Peruvian name for it is.

Thermal baths at Moyobama on the third day. Note Gollum in the background.

Sam is ultra-excited to see rain. It doesn´t rain in Trujillo so its been 3 months since I had seen rain. 

Finally reached Tarapoto our destination on the third day.

Day trip from Tarapoto to Lamas to find a local tribe. Unfortunately we didn´t find them, I guess the deer warned them we were coming.

However, as a consolation prize, we found a medieval castle. This was still being built and painted but we got to have a look around inside anyway. Its being built by an Italian guy, I don´t know any more about it than that.

Found this guy perched way up in a tree at a hotel we looked at. I´m not sure if this type of parrot is even native to Peru.

We ended up spending quite a bit of time in the ATM rooms, just to cool down. Very hot and humid outdoors.

Night time dessert bars on the street are pretty common in Peru and I´m not complaining.

Local food. The yellow ball on the left is mushed up and mixed up yuca (tapioca) and platano (plantanes) with some meat inside. Also on the plate is fried banana, which is delicious!

I´m eating some kind of bush big (?) in a peanut marinade, which I thought was pretty good even though no one else agreed with me.

We think that was the pig thing that I had eaten the night before.

 One of my favourite parts of the trip, swimming beneath this waterfall. The photo does not do the scenery justice; it was so green out there!


Bryson made friends immediately as usual.

The only downside...Oscar lost his wedding ring. It was pleasing however that everyone around us helped us look for it, even after we had given up a few of them persisted.

After a bit of miscommunication between the married couple (jajaja) we ended up in Yurimaguas which is a river port town. This was the absolute hottest day we had experienced so it was great to get out on that little boat just to feel the breeze.

Great shot of the typical selva man; shirt up over the belly, its all the rage.

Jungle produce at a market in Yurimaguas.

The girl is pointing out the bbq grubs to Oscar. Bottom left hand side, the eggs in the bag are actually turtle eggs. She said turtle but I think she meant terrapin.

Gross, yes he ate them. They are even more repulsive when you can see them moving.

Our last day in the jungle, so we went to Laguna Azul. A common feature of river crossings in the jungle; using boats to carry passengers and cars across the river, instead of constructing a bridge. I suspect the only reason for this is that the people running the boat will get paid for it but still...so inconvenient for the rest of us.

Tranquil Laguna Azul (Blue Lagoon). The water itself isn´t blue. It gets its name from the way that the colour of the sky reflects onto the still water.

Oscar is trying to make up for the lost ring by wearing the groom hat...and striking this debonair pose. Well it worked for Bryson and I. 

Another strange to me but common in Peru; dogs with underbite! Found this one roaming the resort/hotel at Laguna Azul.

And this underbite dog belongs to Oscar. His name is Zar. Its hard to tell he has an underbite because he is missing his lower teeth.

Band of Brothers

This post is dedicated to Jorge, Juan and Miguel. Its a pleasure to see that the kids with siblings manage to maintain their family bond amongst the dozens of other kids living at the orphanage. I admire how tough and resilient all the kids here are but what stands out to me about these three brothers is that they are so easily and openly caring and kind, which I think is uncommon for boys in general, let alone kids being raised in an orphanage. That and their personalities which are hard to describe but its something along the lines of crazy, innocent, loving and loyal.

Yesterday Abel, one of our special kids, pulled a Mike Tyson on little Jorge. Yup, Abel bit a little bit of Jorge´s ear off. Luckily Jorge is a trooper and doesn´t seem too bothered by the stitches or the bandage.
Jorge is very familiar with injuries but usually not this serious. Whenever I see him running around (barefoot), he always trips, landing face first on the ground but springs right back up again. In fact the only times I´ve seen him cry were during Tutoría; 2 hours of homework time in the afternoon. He struggles a lot with school work, especially writing, which isn´t helped by the fact that all of the kids are required to learn to write in cursive.

Juan, the middle child. Laughing hysterically because he had just scared me by blowing sharply in my face. His other front tooth has finally grown in, a little crooked but still good.  He is by far the most energetic (crazy) child at the orphanage. I think he might be responsible for introducing the monkey run that some of the little boys are now doing (running on all fours). Juan and Miguel both came over to me as soon as they saw me talking to Jorge; a testament to their care and loyalty to their little brother.

Miguel was being difficult when I tried to take this photo. He was begging me to take his photo but would cover or scrunch up his face when I tried to take it. He is the eldest of the three and has taken it upon himself to be the protector of the family. A role he takes very seriously. I've seen him sprint all the way across the orphanage to defend his brothers in a conflict. Its great that hes so eager to be there for them but hopefully he'll find a less violent way to display his care.

All in all, they are great boys. Even though they seem to be coping well with life in the orphanage, I still pray that they and the all other kids, won't need to be here much longer. 

at long last...

yup, finally posting pictures of the re-done Kinder room, that I promised to deliver back in July.

Before

After. Thanks to the Tim Brooks group for all their help

And thanks to Savannah and Jeff for the great new play mat

Also, coming soon, pictures of my recent trip to la selva (the jungle)