No Hay Luz

Losing power here is a very common occurence. I would say that on average we lose power 1-2 times weekly. Usually only for a few hours or so, but always at an inconvenient time....like right before I want to start cooking, or right in the middle of watching a movie...... really we have just become accustomed to it. But every once in a while the power will go out for an entire day. And this week it has gone out every single day for a significant amount of time. And coincidentally it has been blazing hot here, almost unbearable. So without even so much as a fan blowing, we have been suffering a bit this week. But the thing that I do enjoy about the power going out, is seeing the city by candlelight. I love driving through the city and seing all the candles in the windows and the soft glowing of light that can only come from candles. Plus the stars become brilliant and it reminds me of home. Last night was the procession for Señor de Milagros (you may remember my post about this ceremony) and I took these pictures inside the church where the ceremony finished. And today I am happy to report that we have had power....so far.....

Our Jungle Abode

If you´re wondering what the inside of a real Amazon house looks like, then you might have to keep wondering because our house looks like any other house you might actually see in the U.S. There are houses in the Amazon made from regional wood with roofs made from layered Bijoa leaves. And those houses are designed to float on water as the river rises and falls. But our ¨more traditional¨ house is located within a military housing community called the Air Force Villa, which houses Air Force officers and their families. I´ll put some pictures up of the Villa later, but for now, I´ll give you the tour of the house.

The house has 3 bedrooms (but we use one like a storage room because we have no garage) and two bathrooms (but only one is functional). We don´t own the house so we haven´t invested in many cosmetic changes in the house because they wouldn´t really be an investment. We´ve only done the bare minimum.  But basically, we adore our humble house in the jungle and we are glad to call it our first home together.

So I´ll start with the guest bedroom. just in case you´re planning on visiting......

Here is our bedroom. By the way, the house came with blue carpet, so that´s what we´re working with in the bedrooms. Yep, blue carpet.

Here is the bathroom, nothing too exciting in there.

Here is the living room/dining room combo.

And on to the kitchen. You´ll notice we are missing a stove and an oven...but not to worry, when we need to boil something we use the rice cooker, for cooking or grilling things we use the small electrical grill, and for baking we use our small toaster oven. I haven´t with a good old pot or pan in about 6 months.

There is a door in the kitchen which leads to the outside laundry area and the extra storage room and bathroom. They are kind of in a state of disaster so I´ll spare you the images.

Besides the untamed small back yard, that´s basically it. If you want to see more...you´ll just have to come here.

Jungle Fruit

Coco brought this home and claimed it was fruit. It´s called Jarina and its a fruit that looks like a hedgehog and tastes like a goo-ey coconut once you break it open. The fruit we find here is so strange sometimes I feel like we´re on another planet. So for this fruit all you need is your handy machete, (because who doesn´t have one of those lying around their house, oh just we do), crack it open, and spoon out the gel like coconut fruit inside.

Flying Solo

I´m proud to report that Coco completed his first solo flight in a Twin Otter Plane. He´s been training with the Twin Otter as a Copilot for quite a while and he finally accumulated enough hours to complete his solo flight. I was lucky enough to be there, and I was pretty excited to get the chance to see him fly. I know he´s a pilot, but I honestly have never actually seen him fly.

He flew from the Port of Nanay to a nearby town and back. This is the area around Nanay near the landing area.





I was waiting there for him along with the other pilots.



Here he is taking off.








Once he returned and was parking the boat, a group of officers and pilots headed to the dock to congratulate him.








Plus, a little marching band showed up.



Then he had to get his butt kicked. Yes, that´s correct. He had his butt literally kicked, 4 times. First he was kicked off the wing of the plane by his instructor and then later by three other officers. And trust me, they didn´t hold back...they were wearing boots.









Here´s some more butt-kicking. He took it like a champ. But then he recieved a warm embrace by the butt-kicker/flight instructor.




And is if the butt kicking wasn´t enough, he was then forced to drink a whole beer without lowering it once. I don´t know what was more impressive, the flying, or his ability to drink a beer like that. He says he gets more nervous about that then the flying.





He did a great job and he has been studying so hard for this moment. I was extremely proud. Good job baby!