House Guests

We have new house guests. They are quite small but full of energy. We adopted these two kitties form one of my students. They came from a litter of 6 kittens, and although Coco wanted to adopt all six we settled for adopting just two. I was afraid we would hear alot of whining through the night, but the two seem really happy to have each other. They are both males and they are about 3 months old. They are so funny to watch together. We laugh so much watching them play.

So here´s ¨Pepper.¨



And here´s ¨Garlic.¨

Operation Smile

Lately Coco and I have been able to help out at more community service events throughout Iquitos and with every opportunity it has been a priviledge to participate. And this week I was so happy that I had the opportunity to work with Operation Smile. I remember hearing about the organization years ago and I remember thinking that I would love to some day see it in operation and be able to help somehow. But the idea of volunteering with such an organization seemed out of reach because typically volunteers have to apply, then fundraise, then travel to the location. I overheard at a baby shower that a group of the Air Force wives were planning to go to the hospital in Iquitos where Operation Smile would be setting up for its surgeries.

Operation Smile comes every year to Iquitos, and there were a few patients returning for follow up evaluations. I was present at the site only for evaluations and the surgeries were occuring in the days following. As patients and families arrived I was helping with the picture taking process. All the patients have to have before and after pictures taken. So my job was to make the kids laugh so that they would smile and look at the camera. I can´t think of a better duty to have, really it was a pleasure. The children were so sweet and it was great to meet the volunteer team of doctors who were all from Peru. Over 80 patients came seeking surgery and most will recieve the surgery unless they have other medical complications. And the next stop for this particular Operation Smile team is Ecuador.

http://www.operationsmile.org/

Old News

This is another lost blog from my visit to California. I know I'm in Peru and I should keep the focus on Peru...but I was looking through old pictures and wishing I would have posted these.

I took these in my lovely hometown during Heritage Days. In the middle of the town there was a camp set up resembling what a Civil War Camp might have looked like. The camp didn't seem to miss a detail and the participants, or "residents" of the camp, each had a character's role to play. And I didn't really hear them break character at all in conversation, which was also kind of awkward. We were speaking in past tense and they were speaking in present tense. But everything they had to say was pretty interesting.















Coincidentally our town was hosting an exhibit all about Abraham Lincoln. Along with the history of his life, a large collection of vintage clothing was also on display at the museum. There is a local family that has maintained and restored the clothing. The details were unbelievable and so were the ladies' waist measurements.

Driving

This last Saturday we decided to go for a drive on the moto. We left in the early afternoon after I finished my classes. We decided to just drive as far as we could go on one tank of gas. Technically Iquitos does not have a road connected to any other major city, everything must come to the city by boat or plane. But there is a long paved road leading out of the city. Coco did all the driving and I sat on the back of the moto taking pictures.






So here´s the photos from our little two hour tour.



















I think our favorite part was stumbling upon these friendly cows. It made me wish we had a pet cow.








Turns out there was a series of towns named after dates. There was one for July, one for February, and this one for my birthday. What are the odds?






We ended up getting the chance to chase a rainbow on our way home. The brightness and the colors of it were so beautiful, and the pictures don´t really capture that. But we chased it all the way home, watching it change shape and hoping we could be right underneath it.