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.