Field Trip!

This past weekend we had our annual field trip to Iquitos with students from the library.  The field trip was for students under 12 who had come to the library the most throughout the year.  We took 18 children from the jungle to Iquitos to visit the ACOBIA manatee reserve and the Quistococha Zoo.  The zoo also has a beach, so after lunch we played in the water until it was time to go.  I had a wonderful time, and I think the kids did too!!  Next month we have our field trip to Iquitos with the teenagers of the library, hopefully it will go as smoothly as this trip.  The only casualty we had was my camera!

Meeting the Manatees

Feeding the Baby Manatees

Petting the Manatees

The Kids with an Anaconda

Playing on a Vine

Getting Ready to go in the Water!

Sandra

Playing with the Kids

Rivaldo

Catching Up!

Good news- the reason I have not written anything since April is because I have been super busy and incredibly happy!  A lot has happened in the past 5 months!  I can’t believe it has been that long since I moved to Explorama Lodge, it doesn’t seem possible.  I think the best way to catch up is one month at a time.

Abril

In April I headed to Explorama Lodge to help Dr. Nancy Dunn at the CCC Amazon Library as she prepared to move back to the States.  She had decided to leave the library to CONAPAC, (it was an independent non-profit organization before). Basically I was there to learn the ropes.  The library is open Monday-Thursday in the afternoon (the kids are in school in the mornings).  So everyday I worked with Nancy in the mornings, either at her house or in the library and spent the afternoons at the library with the kids.  I spent a week there in January, however when I was there it was closed for inventory, so I finally got to spend time with the kids!  

Waiting for the library to open!

The students come to the library after school to read.  They ready silently for the first 20 minutes or so and then we read out loud in groups.  The last hour of the day the kids can play games and do puzzles.  The library has almost 4,000 different titles, from children’s books to encyclopedias and everything in between.  There is no library like this in all of Loreto (the department of Peru we are in).  The library lends books to students over the weekend, which is unheard of in Peruvian libraries.  Nancy told me that there is a saying in Peru: “It is foolish to lend a book, but more foolish to give it back!”  The library has many special programs, like scholarships for higher education, field trips to places like the zoo in Iquitos and Explorama’s Canopy Walkway, computer classes, English classes and a music program.  There is a teacher from Iquitos who comes each week for 3 days to teach music in the schools in the mornings and to direct a children’s choir, teach guitar lessons and violin lessons in the afternoons. Again, there is nothing else that compares to this music program in the jungle, and something like it would be very rare even in the city.  In mid April Nancy left for a three week vacation, leaving me in control, kind of my test run.  

Choir practice

Mayo

In May we tried to do a different special activity each week at the library.  First, we experimented making toothpaste with baking soda, salt, and mint extract.   It was fun but kind of gross, all of the kids agreed that we needed more mint! We had a bunch of toothbrushes that we donated so each student took home a ziplock back of toothpaste and a new toothbrush.  Next we made Mother’s Day cards; they were all very sweet and very covered in glitter!  

Priscilla with her card for her mom

 Our last activity in May was making ice cream in ziplock bags.  It was a huge mess but so much fun.  The kids loved having a cold treat!  Also throughout May we were preparing for Nancy’s goodbye party.  The kids learned a song to sing to Nancy and they each made a page for an album to give to her.   Throughout April and May the Amazon River is on the rise.  It floods annually in these months, and this was my first time here to see it.  I will have to post a separate blog entry to show the difference between high and low water, it was amazing.  After a while the water rose too high to reach the library on foot, so each day someone from the Lodge would take me in a boat to the library, picking up students on the way.  It was like our own little school bus, the kids would be waiting at someone’s house for the boat to pull up to the front steps.  Each day, one of my favorite students, Ronal, would make sure to sit next to me.  At the end of May Nancy came back and I left for the States.

On our way home!

Junio

For the month of June I was back in Michigan.  I had a great visit.  The first week I was home I was able to talk to my mom’s next Fremont Rainforest group.  They are not coming here until June 2012, but they have already begun to prepare.  I also helped out with their bake sale, I baked enough cookies and pies to make up for almost a year with no oven!  A highlight of my time at home was spending time with my best friend Hillary and her beautiful new baby Colbie. 

Colbie!

Hillary and her husband were trying to adopt when I left in October, of course after a long wait, they were matched and had their new baby just one month after I left!  I was very anxious meet Colbie- she is adorable and may be the happiest baby ever!  I got to spend time with Hillary and Colbie in Fremont as well as at their home in Madison, WI.  I also got to stop for a way too brief visit with my friend Dena and her baby Gannon.  Gannon was courteous enough to be born right before I left, so this was the second time I got to meet him.  He is super cute too! 

Gannon!

I also visited with my grandma in Decatur, IL along with my uncles (on my mom’s side).  Of course I spent as much time as I could with Faye, Owen, and Ryann, my nieces and nephew.  We got crafty and made patio stones and birdhouses! 

Owen and Faye

patio stones

I also was able to spend a little time with my brother Brian and his wife Jamie, and my brother Tim and his girlfriend Coco.  Of course I spent some quality time with my parents too! 

Julio

When I returned to Peru it was now time for Nancy to leave.  Her goodbye party was while I was gone, I hear it was a success.  Her last day at the library was bittersweet.  She surprised me with a cake to welcome me as the new library director, it made me cry.  It was a little overwhelming, it had been my dream to live here since I was 17, and now it was happening for real! 

It was very exciting but at the same time it was heartbreaking to be there as Nancy said goodbye after building this library from nothing 13 years ago.  It is amazing to think of all of the lives she’s touched, and how lucky I am that I get to continue the work that she started.  So, now it’s official, I am the director of the Amazon Library Project!  Well, not totally official, I still don’t have my Peruvian work visa, but I almost do!  My mom came to visit for 10 days in July.  We spent time at the library, we spent time at Ceiba Tops luxury lodge, relaxing by the pool, we visited a community on the Napo River, and we went to Monkey Island, to the manatee reserve, and the butterfly garden and animal orphanage.   

Mom with a red uakari

We also visited Las Malvinas, the school I work with in Iquitos.  It was great to show my mom where I live and introduce her to my wonderful friends here. 

Agosto

Most of the month of August I spent with two Global Explorers groups as their expedition leader.  My first group was from Houston and my second group from New York City.  They were part of a special program sponsored by AFAR travel magazine, the students all had to write articles and take photos to create their own magazine, it was a really neat project.  I always enjoy working with student groups, I love their excitement as they experience the Amazon for the first time.  Every trip is different, I always get to see new things.  This time, we saw a mother and baby 2-toed sloth while on the canopy walkway.  I have never seen a 2-toed sloth in the wild, just 3-toed sloths.  At first they were just hanging on a branch, kind of hard to see, but then they moved to another tree, crossing on a branch out in the open air.  It was a National Geographic worthy moment, it was breathtaking, they were beautiful.  

2-toed sloths

 I traveled to Lima with both of my groups to make sure their flights went smoothly.  My first trip to Lima I went a little crazy grocery shopping, they have so many things there that they don’t carry in Iquitos! My second trip to Lima I went with my lawyer to Interpol to get finger printed, photographed, and to have my teeth examined in order to get my visa!  I will have to go back to Lima one more time to go to the immigration office, but it sounds like it will take a little time for all of my paperwork to go through before that.  Then I will have my visa and be able to stay here! After returning from Lima I had a few days in Iquitos.  I still come to Iquitos on the weekends to check in at Las Malvinas, work in the office a little, and to do laundry.  In July, everyone else moved out of my house!  I was pretty excited about this, except they took Tony the cat with them.  She was very sweet so I was sad to see her go.  I was thinking I’d just not have a cat there, but with the open kitchen I really need a cat to control the rats.  So, I just welcomed 2 new kittens to my home!  I adopted them from Amazon Cares, an awesome non-profit in Iquitos.  Their names are Shungo and Moshaco.  I got their names from a dictionary of local words that Nancy left me.  Shungo is the local word for heart, and Moshaco is the local word for womanizer.  Their sister also is here with us for a little while, she belongs to my friend Cliver, we just haven’t been in the city at the same time for him to pick her up to bring her home. 

Shungo, Moshaco, and Chiquita

Now that my groups are finished, I am just focusing on the library.  We have some field trips coming up, I am going to start teaching English, and we are installing mini water treatment plants in both libraries (did I mention there is a 2^nd library in a community about 20 minutes away?!).  I’ll also help out with other CONAPAC projects here and there, like end of the year community evaluations. 

Blogging From Beneath My Mosquito Net

Today was moving day for me again, this time from Iquitos to Explorama Lodge!  I will still go back to Iquitos some weekends, but for the next 7 weeks Explorama will be home.  I have been very excited to come stay here to work at the library, but today as I said goodbye to my friends in Iquitos I started to get a little nervous.  Of course I will see my friends who are guides sometimes as they pass through with tourists, but with the exception of student groups, this lodge doesn’t get as much traffic as the others do. I’m sure there’ll be many occasions when I am the only “guest” here.   I slept on the boat on the way here, and as soon as we turned on the Yanamono River to get to the lodge all of my uneasiness was gone.  It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day, I kind of sat in disbelief as I rode to the lodge just thinking – I can’t believe I get to live here!  I have never seen the river so high, it is incredible.  I have been so anxious to see the lodge during the high water season, when I got here I took out my camera and walked around taking pictures like it was my first time here.  Even though I was just here 2 weeks ago, the change is dramatic.  

The Explorama Dock, (usually there are a lot of stairs to get down to the water!)

The Bar at Explorama (2 weeks ago it was dry underneath!)

As I walked around the lodge I sort of felt like Snow White, it was as if all of the animals came out to greet me!  First, Pirata the puppy decided to accompany me as I walked around. Then as we walked the macaws and the parrots swooped in to see us, a huge lizard scurried past us, butterflies fluttered around, and finally about 6 saddleback tamarins came up to the dining hall to eat bananas!  -All within about 20 minutes. 

Pirata

I unpacked my things and settled in and checked e-mail. I ate dinner with my friend Cesar and joined the staff in the back to watch the Peruvian presidential debate (the election is April 10).  As it turns out the wi-fi signal reaches my room, so I am writing from under my mosquito net!  The mosquitoes are going to be a big challenge while I am here, they are intense right now.  Tomorrow I head to the library after breakfast.  This time Nancy, the current director, is going to pick me up, so no solo canoe adventures for me just yet!

My New Home

My New Room

View From My Front Door

Surgery Update!

Resting After Surgery

Malvina, the dog from the school garden, is doing great!  I picked her up yesterday afternoon after her surgery, she is well on her way to being a healthy dog!  She stayed with me last night and this morning I brought her back to the garden.  I couldn't resist buying her a pretty new collar and leash, I'm sure she loves them!

Heading Back to the Garden in a Moto-taxi

MARZO!

This has been another super busy month!  I started March with another Environmental Expeditions group, this time from Foxcroft, an all girls boarding school in Virginia.  This group was a lot of fun, the girls were great, really down to earth.  With the girls from Foxcroft I had a chance to see first hand how Carnival is celebrated in the jungle.  The Carnival celebration here is related to Lent just like Carnival in Brasil and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but in the jungle it lasts almost the entire month, and I think its link to Lent is pretty weak these days since they keep celebrating once Lent has started. In the villages they celebrate with an humisha.  The humisha is a palm tree that is cut down, little gifts are tied in its branches, it is planted upright again and then everyone dances around the tree, taking turns whacking it with a machete until the tree falls and everyone runs to get the gifts, kind of like a piñata.  I have participated in cutting down the humisha many times visiting communities with school groups, the difference for Carnival is water, and getting filthy!  As you dance around the tree people start throwing buckets of water at you and then smearing whatever is available all over your face!  With the girls from Foxcroft they started with achiote, which is a plant related to paprika with smooshy red seeds inside of a spikey pod that is often used as a dye or face paint.  After they used all the achiote on hand they switched to real paint, then smashed bananas, then mud, and finally ashes!  The girls got really into it and had an all-out war with the local kids to see who could make the other more disgusting! With this group I sat out, watching everyone’s cameras to make sure they didn’t get wet.  I had a chance to participate with my next student group, from Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland.  Luckily at this community they stuck to achiote and water, no paint or ashes!  It was a lot of fun.

One of the Girls Taking a Whack at the Humisha!

My group from Sandy Spring was also pretty great, we saw so many animals!  The very first night we saw two snakes while we were on a night float at Explorama Lodge.  Our luck stayed with us the entire week, I saw a lot of things I have never seen before.  We saw tons of frogs, 3 sloths, hoatzins, tarantulas and even an extremely venomous fer-de-lance snake.  I watched as a gecko dropped its tail on purpose, escaping from one of my students (who wasn’t supposed to be picking it up in the first place!!).  The tail, now totally detached from the gecko, wriggled like crazy on the ground while the gecko froze, hoping we’d only notice his spastic tail.
  

Hyla tuberculosa Frog

We had a good view of the pink river dolphins, and while out birding before breakfast one morning they even saw a mother and baby dolphin! (I had decided to sleep in that day of course!)  We saw lots of lizards on the canopy walkway, I finally saw a pygmy squirrel on the walkway, and even the couple of students who were too afraid of heights to go up got to see a troop of monkeys while waiting below.  The highlight for me was waking up to the sound of scratching outside my room at the ACTS lodge.  I had arranged to have a room clear on the other side of the lodge from the rest of the group because they were pretty chatty and I wanted a little break! When I heard the scratching I debated getting out of my mosquito net to see what it was, I figured I wouldn’t see anything, but I couldn’t resist. I opened my door to find a huge bicolor spined porcupine outside, eating the wood floor!  It was awesome!  I have never seen one in the wild.  I took some pictures and as I crouched down to get a better view, he puffed up a little, so I went back to bed!  I didn’t want to see its giant quills any closer!

Bicolor-spined Porcupine

It was an incredible week.  One night we took boats out to a sandbar in the middle of the Napo River to look at the stars.  It was too overcast to see very many but when we got on the beach we could see flecks of gold glistening in the sand and we all sat around while Willy, one of Explorama’s fabulous guides, told us some of the legends of the Amazon, it was magical.  I always tell my groups that it doesn’t matter how many times I go out into the jungle, I always see something new, it is always special, I always learn new things, and after nearly 13 years since the first time I came to the Amazon this remains as true as ever. 

With both of my groups in March we went back to monkey island.  I just love this red howler monkey.  Her name is Perla and she is pregnant!

Perla

I have had about 2 weeks back in Iquitos since my last group left.  The family that lives at my house is still here, they were supposed to move out at the beginning of the month.  We had some issues because while I was gone they used all of my Cholula hot sauce that my mom sent me! A serious offense in my book. They made it up to me, (I guess), by cleaning out, and getting rid of the broken oven that was full of dead rats!  I may buy a new oven when I come back from the States in June, until then I’ll have to stick to no-bake cookies (which have not turned out so great with the humidity here!)

I have been working at the office now that I am finished with student groups until July.  I am thrilled because I am now the proud owner of my very own Explorama shirts, with my name on them and everything!  I think everyone else here may be sick of wearing them, but I love them because, flattering or not, they make me feel like an official part of the Explorama family.

School started again in mid-March at Las Malvinas where I worked before with the school garden.  I’ve been out to visit a few times but it is still a little early to do very much with them, especially since I don’t have much time in Iquitos right now.   We have been waiting for enough rain to stock the fish pond.  We were hoping to get the fish in this week, but it looks like the water is not going to be high enough.  While we were at the school checking it out we were visited by Malvina, the guard dog.  In case there wasn’t enough going on right now we decided that the dog needed to be fixed, deparasitized, and treated for fleas and possibly mange.  She technically belongs to the school, but she guards the garden, so to set a good example for the students we decided she needs to be well taken care of.  So today I picked her up at 8:30 with Gilbert the gardener and took her to the clinic in a moto-taxi! She had never been in any sort of vehicle before. She will have to spend the night with me tonight, and tomorrow I will bring her back to the garden, along with about 20 little palm trees that are supposed to arrive this afternoon from Napo!

Saturday begins the annual Adopt-A-School volunteer trips for CONAPAC, they will spend two weeks visiting all of the communities CONAPAC works with delivering school supplies and doing some service projects.  Volunteers began arriving yesterday, and I was lucky enough to head out to the Iquitos Manatee Rescue Center with some of the volunteers!  The project has been around for a few years, rescuing baby manatees and rehabilitating them.  They need milk until they are 2 years old, and are hand fed by the staff.  After they no longer need milk they eat water hyacinth.  Since they are so used to people the manatees then spend another year or two in a pond where they have little or no contact with humans to hopefully get them ready to be released back into the wild.  This April they will release their first manatees back into the Amazon.  Hopefully it is successful!

Feeding a Baby Manatee

Of course I have to mention that today is my 30^th birthday!  So far so good!  Tonight Cynthia and I are going out to dinner to celebrate because it is also her birthday!  Happy birthday Cynthia!  We are going to Al Frio y Al Fuego, a floating restaurant on the Itaya River.  I have never been there but I can see it from the office! We’re going with some of the volunteers, they have all known each other for a long time, and tomorrow night I am celebrating with more friends at my house.

Sunday I head to Explorama Lodge for about 7 weeks to work at the CCC Amazon Library!  I am very excited.  The Amazon River is on the rise and I can’t wait to see Explorama as the river grows.  I will be taking a dugout canoe across the Yanamono River each day, then walking about 20 minutes to the library.  Hopefully there will be no blog posts to follow about me tipping my canoe!  The little dugouts are a lot shakier than the big aluminum canoes I grew up with!  I will be heading back to Iquitos on some weekends- Cynthia has decided to make a Thanksgiving-style dinner for Easter, I am looking forward to it already!

Sunrise on the Amazon River

What's New In Peru

Well, since the last time I posted I have been pretty busy!  I spent the first week in February working as a facilitator with a student group traveling to the lodges.   The students were from The Field School in Washington D.C. traveling with an organization called Environmental Expeditions/Eco Teach.  The program is very similar to Global Explorers’ program so I jumped at the chance to work with them.  The group was made up of 22 high school students and 3 teachers.  I think everyone had a great time except me, I ended up being sick the entire time they were here!  By the time they left I was feeling much better, but I still haven’t gotten rid of my cough.  Each time I get to go out into the jungle I get to see something new.  This time we spotted these amazing caterpillars by the canopy walkway! 

Caterpillars

We also went to see Victorian Lilies, which somehow I have not gone to see since my first time here nearly 13 years ago!   

Victorian Lilies

 Another highlight of the week for me was getting to meet Pacho and Lyka’s puppies, they live at Explornapo.    

Pacho and Lyka's Puppies!

We ended the week visiting Monkey Island, (a different location from the place I visited after Christmas).  They have many of the same species, but a few different ones like Red Howler Monkeys which I have never seen in the wild, (I have only heard them).   When we arrived one climbed onto one of the students and made his presence known!  It was thrilling to see these monkeys up close and personal. 

With a Red Howler Monkey

When I got back to Iquitos I changed rooms at Peter’s house. Now I am in a room that is more like an apartment because it is made up of a bedroom, a bathroom, and another room that is like a living room.  Two very exciting things about my new room- air conditioning and hot water!  I never imagined that I would move to Iquitos and have hot water and A/C!  The hot water heater has to be turned on about 40 minutes before I want to use it, and right now the hot water only comes out in a trickle when I turn it on, but still, it is hot water! Also, for the moment I have a TV and cable!  Enrique, who also lives here, is letting me use it while he is in Lima for a few weeks. 

My Bedroom

My Bathroom

My Living Room

Also awaiting me when I finished my week in the jungle was a new desk in the CONAPAC office!  James and I will share the desk, but he spends most of his time out in communities, so when I am in the office I will usually have it to myself!  

My New Desk

I have also started a personal project at the office which is to spoil Ricky the guard dog.  He is about 100 years old and moves about as fast as a snail.  The only time I have seen him very animated is when food is involved, so I have started bringing him treats and leftovers from lunch.  I guess I’m missing my dogs from home, my dog Moxie died in January; and feeling bad because I have decided that Luna, the puppy at my house, has to go!  I love dogs but she has worn out her welcome! No one is here taking care of her most of the day, she needs a lot more attention, plus she pees all over the house and terrorizes Tony the cat. 

Ricky

 Saturday I had lunch with my friends Roger and Mary and their family.  First we stopped at their house because Roger wanted to show me James- a baby margay or ocelot that someone gave him!  Roger is not sure if it is an ocelot or a margay, the people who gave it to him only told him his name is James!  Roger is in the process of figuring out what to do with James, he seems pretty little to be released into the wild and even if he were bigger its hard to say what his survival chances would be.  I imagine that he will end up at some type of animal refuge if they can find one with the resources to take care of him. 

With James at Roger's House

Also on Saturday I finally made it to the stadium for a national league soccer game!  I watched Iquitos’s team CNI (Colegio Nacional de Iquitos) play La U (Universitario) from Lima.  They tied, it was a pretty good game.  One of my favorite things to do when I lived in Honduras was to go to the stadium, so I have been anxious to go here.  I don’t really consider myself much of a sports nut but after my first game in Honduras I was hooked.  There is always an exciting atmosphere in the stadium, lots of passionate fans, lots of energy.  

My Friend Alberto and I at the Stadium

 March is going to be another busy month for me.  I have two more student groups with Environmental Expeditions/Eco Teach plus the school year is starting here so I will be visiting Las Malvinas school as much as possible to get them excited about working with their school garden this year.  Not to mention I’ll be turning 30 at the end of the month and then moving to Explorama Lodge for about 6 weeks to work in the library!  I just booked my tickets for a visit home at the end of May for about a month.  Time is always flying here so I know that May will be here before I know it!

Passion Fruit Flower at Las Malvinas