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)

overdue update

oooo I feel awful, committing myself to a blog then not updating it often enough. Anyway, to get you back up to speed, at the end of last month we took Junior, Rosita and Dante to Papa Johns (American Pizza chain) to celebrate their birthdays. Its always a joy to take the kids out of the orphanage as they don't often get that opportunity. After pizza we went to a games arcade, similar to Timezone, but with more ride-on rides and an indoor play gym thing as well. Oh and bumper cars. The highlight of the trip was watching Rosita on the rides which Bryson, instead of putting a token in it, decided would be just as much fun if he just shook the ride himself; "Look she loves it! And we saved a token!". Don't worry, Rosita got some real rides after Steph and I had had a good laugh about it.

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I managed to get out of Trujillo for a mini-break to Huaraz. The whole area is really beautiful; lots of mountains and incredible landscape. Its pretty high up and it was my first experience of being at high altitude, so imagine my surprise when climbing a set of stairs got me puffing. After a day of acclimatizing I went on a 5hr hike/walk to Lake Churrup. It was a very very slow and tiring walk. My great achievement was getting to the lake before the two old German ladies, who had a 15min head start. They beat us on the way down though.

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September was also bible month in Peru. The kids, staff and volunteers all had to put together skits and throughout the month and then they were all presented at a special assembly in the Capilla last week.

The Chispas (sparks), little girls house, did Daniel and the lions den. Sofia, dressed it gray, was the stone that covered the den that Daniel was put in with the lions. She created that part for herself because she didn't want to be a lion and I've never seen a happier stone in my life haha.

Rosita (crying), Brigitte, Camila, Christina Grande (behind Sofia), Sofia, Oriana y Christina Pequeña

Tesoros (treasures), the little boys house, did a skit about...umm ok I was a little distracted because they were wearing bow ties. I think it was about the sanctity of Gods word and treating the bible with respect? They sang "Jesus loves me this I know" at the end in Spanish then English. It was like being hit in the face repeatedly by a fluffy bunny stuffed with adorable and cute. 

Pedro, Jorge y Pablo (Pedro's twin)

Luces (lights), the older girls house did a skit about a tourist trying to find something valuable and all the locals were trying to help her find it. In the end someone finally pointed out that all the treasures in the world are incomparable to what God has in store for us, so she ought to be seeking out God. I could be wrong about this one - its what I could stitch together based on my interpretation of Spanish and short attention span, which are equally poor.

The Amigos (friends), older boys house did David and Goliath. The star of the show was Abel dressed as a soldier, he had the most convincing menacing face.

Abel

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Boredom got the better of us on Monday night. We played Ludo, which I lost (I had the game in the bag until  at the critical moment I lost a player and then the whole game gaaaa) and Spoons. Both games I had never played before but I faired pretty well in Spoons, until the last round. In the last round people could grab as many spoons as they could, which explains how 3 of us lost. Our dare was to walk around the laundry rooms with only two feet touching the ground - so considering there was six feet amongst the three of us we had to get creative. Of all the photos that were taken, I this was the only one with a half decent angle. And yes I drew the short draw.

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Exciting things happening this month! The 10year anniversary of the orphanage is coming up soon! This means partying, celebrating, entertaining and fundraising. Thats all for now. I have to go find athletic tape for my knees. No luck so far and I looked in at least five pharmacies.

sandboarding

whoa so my 2 months anniversary here in Trujillo has just past. I'm finding it hard to believe how fast the time flies. I've been delaying updating my blog as I had my camera nicked a few weeks ago. Good news is though, that the replacement arrived today! Two new volunteers brought it down with them from the US.

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This week the kids are on vacation, so we have activities planned for them all day instead. So this afternoon we took the older boys up to the sand dunes to do some sand boarding. I didn't join in - I was the official photographer =) The photos don't properly illustrate how steep those dunes are or how unsteady the sand is. It was a difficult climb up two steep dunes but it was worth it.

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I promise to also upload some pics of my kinder room redecorated...soon!

Group hug

I made it 2.5 weeks without getting sick! I consider that an achievement. Was hit with a cold and gastro on Thursday - such a pleasant combination. The gastro is gone but the cold is lingering.

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In happier news, an Australian missionary visited the orphanage on Thursday. It was such a pick-me-up to be speaking real English again! I don't quite remember the details, but shes from Croydon and shes been living here in Trujillo with her family for about 3 or 4 years. I'll definitely be keeping in touch with her.

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Found out this week which children are currently in the process of being adopted. I'm really pleased that they'll have all the opportunities that come with an overseas adoption but at the same time I'm already feeling  upset. That's just my selfishness talking though. 

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Its been a crazy fun week with the Tim Brooks group. They left yesterday afternoon for Lima. I knew they'd achieve a lot but the end result still blows my mind. Kinder room cleaned a reorganised, orchard weeded and fertilized, security cameras put up, wireless access in the school, parental controls in the library, an excursion for everyone at the orphanage, health education classes, lice treatments and vacation bible school each afternoon. This is all as well as all the gifts they got the kids and volunteers - the new desktop in particular was a huge blessing to the volunteers!

Museo Cao

Isabel dressed as a Bruja (witch)

Feeding the masses at Rokys

The group always had energy spare to play with the kids

Day trip to Huanchaco

The group! (most of them anyway)

Lice treatment night

Happy little lice-free girls

Farewell assembly for the group with the kids

Final farewells

Big Thankyou to the Tim Brooks group for all the time, effort and energy they spent on the orphanage! Very much appreciated.