Charamatch!

On the weekend of July 4th I attended a big barbeque in my neighborhood. The gathering didn´t have anything to do with Independence Day of course, it was just a coincidence. But along with being a barbeque it was a big day of family sports and games with everyone from the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force. It was called ¨Charamatch¨ in reference to the locals who call themselves ¨Charas.¨





Here´s some of the action from the day. There was the three-legged race.




A few games of Dodgeball, but here they call it Mata La Gente. That means, ¨kill the people.¨ I think that´s a much more appropriate name for the game.




Eventually it was off to the pool for some serious swimming competitions.







There was a serious game of volleyball during a down pour of rain.



I participated in a game where I had to jump over hurdles and then sit on a balloon and pop it. And I also participated in a game where we had to run accross the field and dress a person up in fatigues like a soldier. If we missed a button we would have been disqualified. But I am happy to report that we took first place in both events.



There was a dance contest and some of my students participated. I felt like a proud mother in the stands cheering them on. They were so great!




Here´s some girls from the Air Force performing to a Michael Jackson mix. They did a pretty awesome tribute to ¨Thriller.¨




Of course no event in Iquitos would be complete without a random guy showing up on stilts.





Everyone cheered on their team in their own style.



This was our number one fan from the Air Force.



The score was somewhat even in the beginning, but in the end the Air Force ended up losing miserably.



The Navy won and here they are celebrating.




So glad I could be around for Charamatch 2010!

Lost Blog: Rachel´s Hometown

You may remember Rachel.



She´s the friend that came all the way to Iquitos to hang out with me and Coco before Christmas. I was lucky enough to see Rachel again several times over my visit to California. She fought desperately to get time off for my bridal shower and drove her nearly broken car all the way from her house to mine (about 4 hours drive). Luckily her car got her there safely, but it wouldn´t start when she tried to go home. So instead of watching her drive away in a tow truck I decided to take a few days off from wedding planning and get a glimpse at her hometown for the first time. And I am so glad I did. She showed me all the noteworthy spots around her quaint little town of NewCastle.

We went to the nearby city of Auburn and strolled through the historic area.











She took me to the beautiful old Court House.







She took me to see some old train tracks in town.









If there is anything I learned about where Rachel grew up, its that she grew up with gigantic statues towering over her all the time. They were all over the place.












I should also mention that Rachel lives right here in the middle of this amazing land. Just look at what she drives home to everyday. Beautiful.




I neglected to take pictures of her collection of farm animals in her backyard. I don´t know what happened, but they should be inserted right here. But anyways, it was a great journey and I enjoyed seeing the land where Rachel is rooted.