Peru

Final Days in Puerto Alegria

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Today, Friday, is my last full day of normal life at the Casa Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria since tomorrow, I will spend all day in Iquitos, giving a tour of the Belen market, medical clinic that Scripture Union runs and spending an afternoon at Quistococha (which is a local zoo and lake where we will go swimming). After a long day tomorrow, I will leave the team in Iquitos to stay at a hotel, and return for my final night in Puerto Alegria before returning to Lima on Sunday.

When I first arrived to the jungle at the beginning of July, I did not know what to expect. Would I make it in the heat, with the mosquitos? How would I handle a slow, very relaxed life? What I completely forgot about is that when you live with 40 boys, there is never a dull moment. Between stories, jokes, photos, hugs, swinging in a hammock, soccer games and work teams, the past 7 weeks have been full of good memories.

A few days ago when I was heading into Iquitos very early in the morning with Gene, we were talking about my time here in his house. He couldn´t believe that I had been here for such a long time already and didn´t realize that this was part of my final week working with him, the Girasoles boys and work teams. I told him how happy I was to have spent my summer at Puerto Alegria and how much I would miss each one of the boys and people at the home. He laughed, smiled, patted my shoulder, and asked when I would be back.

I could easily spend another 2 months here in Puerto Alegria.

Singing & Dancing

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These are a few of my favorite moments from being in Puerto Alegria.

One of the educator/assistants at Puerto Alegria, Rodbin, entertaining a couple boys by singing “Si Tuvieras Fe/Te Adorará” (one of my favorite songs) one afternoon.

(Here’s part 2 of the song. When Rodbin noticed I was recording, he stopped for a few minutes and then started singing again)

One of the weeks in Puerto Alegria, we divided the boys into two teams, Grupo Rojo (Red) and Grupo Azul (Blue) and had various competitions throughout the week. The final night that the team from Alabama was with us at the house, there was a choreography, song and skit competition. This is one of the many choreographies that was presented that last night by the Grupo Rojo. Marcelino is in the white t-shirt, Geilerson is wearing yellow, and Luis is the little boy doing his own thing in front of Marcelino and Geilerson.

Ronald, one of the older boys from Puerto Alegria dancing to El Pato, even though he clearly didn’t want the attention.

Excited Oriel

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Excited Oriel, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

One thing I have always wanted to do here in Peru, or any country I visit, is go to a professional soccer game. Of all the sports in the world, watching soccer is definitely one of my favorites. Seeing Real Madrid play one cold December night in Spain was just amazing, and after tonight, it will have some competition for my favorite game.

Yesterday when the team from Nebraska arrived, they mentioned that they wanted to do something special with the boys – take all 44 of them somewhere in Iquitos. We had been to the movies recently, out to dinner, and the weekly customary trip to Quistococha (the local zoo/lake in Iquitos), but they were looking for something different. It was sugessted that we all go to the Saturday night CNI (Iquitos) versus Ancash soccer game at the city stadium and they loved the idea.

Tickets were bought and at 5:30pm, we all boarded the boat in Puerto Alegria to come into Iquitos for the game, which started at 8pm. Our seats, which were S/. 20 (soles or about $7), were right in the first few rows of the stadium near center field. I sat with Oriel, the little boy pictured in the photo above, and was able to share his first ever soccer game with him. He was so excited to be there, at just 5 years old, that he kept pointing out everything new he saw. Every time the players swapped out during the game, every banner that was being waved, the trumpets that played every few minutes, and all the other people cheering and enjoying the night. To see him so happy, excited and interested in what was going on was definitely a joy for me (therefore puts this game in a tie for my favorite soccer games).

Since the game started at 8pm, we didn´t leave the staduim until at least 10:30 to return to the port, where we would find the boat to make the long trip back to Puerto Alegria. (Since it was so late, Oriel missed the last 10 minutes of the game because he had fallen asleep. I had to carry him in my arms out of the stadium and on to the bus.)

We didn´t make it back to Puerto Alegria until very late that night and it wasn´t until 1am before everybody was in bed and asleep. Despite it being a long day, it was a great experience – something I will have a hard time forgetting.

For those that are interested, CNI (the home team from Iquitos) won over Ancash (which the province where the Girasoles Kusi home is located), 2-0. It was a good game to watch.

Daily Schedule in Puerto Alegria

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One thing I was nervous about living in Puerto Alegria for a long time was its isolation from the city and lack of things to do (for those of you that know me well, you know that I like to keep myself very busy and involved with many projects). While each day follows the same schedule, because there are 44 boys here, every day is completely different.

But, when there aren’t any work teams here, our typical daily schedule is:

6am : Wake up
6:30 am : Devotional
7am : Breakfast
8am – 12:30pm : School
1pm : Lunch
2:30 – 5pm : Math and communication classes at Puerto Alegria
5:30-6:30 : Daily soccer game between Gene and the older boys
6:30pm : Dinner
7:30 –9pm : Movies
9pm : Bed

The past three weeks the boys have been off of school for mid-year break so we have been starting the day a 7am and they spend more time in their math and communication classes with the two teachers who live in the house with us. Happily, this meant more time to spend with the boys.

Despite my typically busy American life, I have happily spent a day swinging in an hammock, laying on a bench with one of the younger boys, or spending the entire morning talking with the educator/assistants here.

It’s going to be hard to return to the “real world.”