Morado, A day at the Beach, and a Buena Vista

So the month of October is the Mez de Morado or Purple. And the whole month is to be marked as a celebration for Senor de Los Milagros. If you are wondering who that it is, well it's Jesus of course. The man of many miracles. Coincidentally I have been reading through the book of Mark the last few weeks and relishing on all of Jesus's miracles. Not coming from a Catholic background, this tradition was a first for me to witness. I will try to explain how it is celebrated, but remember I am just a foriegner and have no expert opinion. Supposedly there are marches or processions all throughout Peru during the month in which the image of Jesus is carried by a carefully selected group of people and everyone follows behind.



The procession in Lima is apparently massive. The one I witnessed was organized by the Air Force and it was small and intimate, but it still had a marching band. Different departments within the Air Force organized their own stations around the base decorated with lots of purple items, images depicting Jesus' miracles, flowers, and candles. The priest led the procession and stopped at every station where a hymn was sung, scripture was read, and prayers were recited. My feet really hurt by the end, but I wanted to see the whole thing.





At the end a group of man made the heavy image of Jesus appear to dance three traditional dances, it looked like backbreaking work. And Jorge made sure I was aware that the actual images of Jesus are not to be worshiped or adored, and instead the actual man behind the miracles is to be adored. I concur.

So a while ago we decided to go to the beach, sounds like a nice laid back idea right? Well in order to get there it was quite a journey. We had to take a long mototaxi ride out of the city to the beginning of a long dirt road where our mototaxi driver decided that he wouldn't take us any further. So then we have to get in another mototaxi that is willing to take us to the water's edge. Then we get on a little "pequi-peque" boat, named for its sound, and slowly but surely arrive at a river beach called Tipishca. And it was well worth the journey.

We soaked up the sun, lost two matches of volleyball to local students, ate shambo ice cream, went swimming, drank some Inca Cola, and then the clouds started to roll in.

I woke up Jorge from his nap and asked if he thought it would rain....and he said, "We have to leave right now." So we did. So that lovely little journey I described earlier, we had to do it all over again backwards in a frightening thundering rainstorm. It was kind of awesome.

And on our mototaxi ride through the muddy road, that now resembled a river, we were joined by a german woman who is one of those extreme travelers I always feel intimidated by. She had been traveling around South America by herself and volunteering in conservation work. She fell in love with the jungle all around Iquitos and is now buying a piece of land in the middle of the jungle and plans to live off the land. Hm, that's not for me, but good for her. Two days later we saw her in the internet cafe and I felt sorry for the people sitting next to her because they didn't even know they were sitting in the presence of a world-traveled jungle warrior woman.

We went to eat at a restaraunt Jorge had heard about from a friend. It was called Bucanero. It had a big glass room at the back of the restaraunt that had the best view I have seen so far in Iquitos. It overlooked a bustling port on the Nanay River. It was breathtaking and lucky for us we caught a glimpse of rainbow while we were there. And the food was delicious. I really can't remember what we ate but involved alot of meat and it was delicious.

Well that's all for now. I had some interesting adventures on Halloween, but I will write about those the next time I get a hold of some internet. I love you all!

Planes, Motos, and a Birthday

So it's been about two weeks and since we arrived in Iquitos, and I don’t think I have stopped sweating the entire time. It’s so hot here. But when the sun goes down or a rainstorm comes through the temperature drops a lot.

We’ve been getting a lay of the land, learning the best places to eat, where to shop,...... etc, etc. We’ve also been spending a lot of time making new friends here. Everybody has been extremely welcoming and helpful. It feels like we have become a part of a bigger family here.

So vacation mode has persisted a bit longer for me here, as I am searching for work here. It’s not quite the same as looking for a job in the states. There’s not exactly a “Craig’s List” or a “CareerBuilder” here to access. So you gotta know some people who know some people. Fortunately I've got a boyfriend who knows alot of people who know alot of people. It turns out that private English lessons are highly desired but hard to find. So word of my arrival has spread and I am beggining to line up some students. So far I only have three, but several others who are interested. I've got two little elementary kids to teach and a university student. I am so excited, I start tomorrow! Yay! Wish me luck.

So I had a birthday about a week ago. It was my first time celebrating in the jungle, and it was amazing. Jorge and I took a long ride on a mototaxi out of the city to a place called Quistococha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:El_Chullachaqui_-_Quistococha_(Iquitos,_Peru).jpg) It was a zoo, a lake, and beautiful beach resort all in one. Similar to the zoo in Lima, you could get alarmingly close to the animals there. I could have hopped a little fence to join the alligotors, or I could have jumped right into the dolphin lagoon and swam accross to the monkey island. But don't worry, I didn't. So some interesting things I saw...well I have never seen that many alligators together, ever.

I have never seen a pink dolphin before. In a way it kind of looked like a regular dolphin that had a skin disease. But actually there is a legend here that goes along with the pink dolphin or the "Bufeo Colorado." Supposedley it is actually a wizzard that comes to the land as a good looking man to seduce women back to the depths of the water with him......hmmmmm.

I also have never been so nervous walking around the zoo. I was pretty sure one of those animals could escape at any moment, and that's when we came along a snake outside of its cage chillin on a bench. Well of course, there was a snake charmer guy who wanted to charge us to take photos with the snake. So Jorge, aka "Jorge of the Jungle" jumped at the chance to play with the snake. He held up to his mouth and put it around his shoulders just like Britney Spears. I can't say I was too excited, but I reluctantly played along and let the tail dangle around my shoulders. The snakes we saw in the cages were much larger and I assume they weren't quite as friendly.

The ants should have been in an exhibit of their own....but instead they were everywhere and they were huge. Some of them do bite so we had to be weary of them. But for the most part they were very busy carrying large loads and they reminded me of big trucks on a busy freeway.

Quistacocha was so beautiful. I felt like we had found a secret land that only a handful of people knew about. There was a big quiet lake with a white sand beach. There were little boats and restaraunts and people swimming.

I was surprised to walk to the far end of the beach and find a small group of our new friends. As a surprise Jorge rounded up some of the new friends and they joined us for the day. They even brought a cake. I am not sure who had to hold a cake on their lap for 20 minutes in a mototaxi, but I greatly appreciated it. We ate cake and lunch and then explored. It was a very special day and I enjoyed it so much. Later that night we went to the main plaza and had drinks and spent more time with friends.

One day we went to check out the new plane Jorge would be flying. It's a Twin Otter plane that takes off and lands in the Nanay river where it intersects with the Amazon. When the plane starts up the wind from the propellers blows so loudly and I felt like there was a little hurricane passing through. We watched as the plane did some test runs back and forth on the river. I have never actually seen a plane take off from the water like that.

Another day we went to check out a similar plane on the air base. Jorge wanted to study the plane and all its gadgets for the pre-flight checklist. And I just tagged along, but he let me sit in the pilot's seat while he sat in the co-pilot spot. Don't let the picture fool you, the plane never left the ground. But it was fun to pretend that it did. Jorge took his first flight today, over the jungle and to a small town on the border of Columbia. Tomorrow he flies to the border of Brazil. I am hoping for some souvenirs, but not expecting any...

This week we began riding around on a moto as my roomate left for a vacation and let us borrow it. So I'm not sure if you would call our first ride a total "success" but it was pretty fun. So some things we learned....Helmets may save your life but they will make you stick out like a sore thumb, if you see dark gray clouds in the sky...don't get on a motorcycle, and don't drive with sandals when you are operating a moto in which you need to shift the gears. So we wore helmets because the Air Force requires all officers to wear them. But nobody else here ever wears a helmet. You feel safe, but really nerdy. So we were the dorks with the helmets, wearing sandals and experiencing alot of rocky starts at green lights, and then it started raining, pouring. Poor Jorge he was in the front, and got the worst of all of it. But we survived, and now our moto rides are much smoother. We are driving like the locals. I can't believe what I see on motorcycles. The record number of people that I have seen on a moto is five people(it was four kids and a dad). I am so surprised when I see things like moms holding their little babies in one hand and sheet of glass for the house in another hand all while balancing on the moto. And we got upset at Britney for driving with her kid in her lap. Seatbelt laws aren't exactly a concern here. Sorry that I keep referencing Britney, I'll stop.

So I realize that I still haven't documented much of the city. So I think that will be my next blog assignment. I will take you all on a tour of this city....some tim

Well I love you all and I miss you.