Peru

Are We Still in the Jungle?

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This morning, I woke up to another cold day in the jungle. The past few days there has been a considerable drop in temperature, so much that it feels like we are no longer in the jungle, but in the sierra.

When I walked into the dining room for breakfast, I was greeted by the boys, many of which were wearing their very thin blankets and sheets as robes and capes. Many had multiple short sleeve shorts on, and one of the educators told me he was wearing 5 pairs of socks. It was cold, but not quite that cold.

Being from Michigan, it makes me laugh to see all of these tough boys freezing in weather we at home would find in the fall or late spring. But for the people that live here all year round, it is cold – like how it occasionally drops very low during winter. Unlike how we are prepared to brace cold weather with warm jackets, hats, gloves and boots, very few of these boys have anything more than shorts and t-shirts. Why would they have long sleeve shirts when it is usually very hot?

According to the news, a cold front has been making its way north, from Madre de Dios, through Ucayali and making its way to Loreto – the state where Iquitos is located. The front should pass within the next two or three days, which will make for some uncomfortable weather, something we are definitely not accustomed to here in the jungle. This cold weather has apparently taken over the entire country, not just in the jungle, and has called the government to issue a “state of emergency” within the country.

My final work team arrives later today and they are going to be in for a surprise when they get off the plane!

Ica Candy Trip

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As a sequel to the Mala Trip video my brother Randy made in 2008, here is the 2010 Ica version, starring the youngest members of the Dearborn team, Sarah, Brandon and Griffin.

In this video, Sarah, Brandon and Griffin take you on a ride through Ica to a market where they purchase various Peruvian candy bars to share with the 33 boys living in the abandoned boys home at Girasoles Ica and the children of First Presbyterian Dearborn.

The Week in Photos

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Here are some photos from the last week in Puerto Alegria.

Luis, at 5 years old is the youngest boy at Puerto Alegria. He was not too keen on watching the World Cup final game on Sunday and was more interested in making silly faces.


Luis, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Jair is one of the boys from Caballococha who speaks Tikuna and not very much Spanish. Because of this, he is usually quiet, but has a beautiful smile.


Jair, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

One of the groups brought packets of glitter for an art project. Of course, the glitter never made it to the project, but rather all over the faces, arms, backs and legs of many of the younger boys, not just Dairo and Junior as seen here.


Dairo, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Junior, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

It has been hot and humid this week, which means lots of swimming in the river!


Xavier, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Segundo and Tercero are the oldest boys at the home in Puerto Alegria. After the last work team left on Friday afternoon, the older boys returned to their rooms and I now have neighbors. The twins’ room is just a few doors down from mine and every morning, afternoon and night they walk past my room trying to startle me, share some silly joke, make a comment, ask to borrow a magazine or just look in to see what I am doing. I can’t help but laugh when they do this because they act just like they are my little brothers.


Segundo & Tercero, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

When there isn’t a team at the house, life is somewhat slower and more time is spent on chores, homework, school and just hanging out. When I started to read some of the magazines I brought, pretty soon I had a group of boys wanting to read too. Even though the majority of the magazines are in English (afew are Spanish or bilingual), they still enjoyed looking at the photographs and seeing what is going on in the world.


Luis Enrique & Marcelino, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Reading, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

And finally, here’s a photo of the 40 boys who live at the home, plus the house parents, directors and staff.


Girasoles Puerto Alegria, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

A Rainy Night in Iquitos

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Every trip to Peru is ripe with adventure, but I think last week’s events top the list. No more is the “day of 10 parades and one protest in Cusco” or “the 2 boats, 5 buses, 1 plane and 2 cars in 36 hours” or one of the others at the top of my list of Peruvian adventures.

Let me tell you how one of my days this past week went.

On Sunday evening, Moises (the house parent at Puerto Alegria) and I decided that we would go into Iquitos the next day. He had a meeting in the afternoon, and I needed to check email and just spend a day in the city. We decided to leave at 11am, so Moises could get to his meeting on time, and we would be there until 2 or so.

When I woke up the next morning, Moises greeted me by saying we were going to leave in 15 minutes so he could take Luis, who had recently fallen from a tree, in to the hospital to have his cast and broken arm checked out. That was fine with me, and we met down at the boat to find the motor not working. 25 minutes later, with the help of the groundsmen and watchman, the motor started and we were off.

Since a group was arriving at the end of the week, Moises decided to send the boat and motor to the mechanic to have it fixed so we would not have any issues in the next week. We parted ways with the boat and headed into the city. We had left the house before any of us had breakfast, so Moises, Luis and I went to a little café on the street in the city and got something to eat. Breakfast here isn’t a bagel and cream cheese, or rolls with cheese and ham. I had arroz chaufa (fried rice), while the guys ate something much more hearty.

After breakfast, we parted ways – Moises and Luis to the hospital and me off to the Internet. We were to meet at 3pm at the port where we dock the boat to head back to Puerto Alegria.

By 4pm, I had yet to hear from Moises. I wasn’t surprised; I did not expect to get a call until much after 3pm. By the time I did hear from Moises, he told me that our boat would have to stay in Iquitos all night to be fixed and we would be going back using public transportation down the river. Secretly, I was a bit excited about this since I wanted to go on one of the boats that pass by our house carrying people, goods, and the occasional livestock.

But, since it was later in the afternoon, those public boats would not be traveling up and down the river and we would have to rent a small, private canoe. Moises left little Luis with me at our usual port while he went to find a boat operator. As Luis and I waited for Moises to return, dark storm clouds came over the city and there was a flash of lighting.

By the time Moises returned, it had started to sprinkle and we were slowly getting wet. After 15 minutes in the small canoe (that was not covered), we were soaked. It had started to downpour, and the lightening and thunder had become more frequent.

iquitos_river_boat
Our boat looked something like this one. Luckily for these people, it wasn’t raining.

Without any form of rain jackets or plastic bags, our belongings were drenched in water, our clothing thoroughly soaked. It was getting difficult to go any farther so Moises asked the boat driver to stop along the river so we could take shelter in a neighbor’s house. Our luck, we didn’t stop at one of the handful of houses right on the bank of the river, the place we stopped was about 200 yards from the river. We trudged through the mud, puddles, and torrential rain to a stranger’s house where we rung out our clothing and waited for the storm to pass.

After 20 minutes of trying to warm up and dry off, we headed back out into the night, down to the boat. At the river, we tried to take off, but were stuck waiting for the boat driver to start the engine. Thankfully the rain had stopped and we were just sitting in wet clothing in the dark – a perfect haven for the mosquitoes of the jungle.

We finally got moving again and slowly made it up the river. The strangers we had stopped at had generously gave us a plastic trash bag that Luis was wearing and a large piece of plastic (like a table cloth) that I was using to protect us from the rain.

The next 45 minutes were just traveling down the river in the pouring rain, trying to avoid floating logs, other boats and not run into the shore.

At one point, the motor got caught in somebody’s fishing net, so we stopped to have it removed from the propeller. Strangely enough, it stopped raining when we had to stop to fix the engine or the propeller, but picked up with force once we were moving.

Another 30 minutes later, Moises tapped my shoulder and pointed out the familiar and friendly light of the house.

After almost 90 minutes (on a trip that should have taken no more than 25) we made it back to the house completely soaked all the way through. The night’s adventures made for some interesting stories with the boys when we returned, and they of course enjoyed laughing at how silly we looked in our soaking wet clothing.

I don’t think I have ever been so happy to return “home,” to Puerto Alegria, than I was that night.

From Ica to Iquitos

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In the past 24 hours, I have used 3 buses, 1 airplane, 2 taxis and 1 boat to make it from the Girasoles home in Ica all the way up to Iquitos and then, Puerto Alegria. This journey was not quite as exciting as the time I traveled on 5 buses, 1 airplane and 2 boats in 36 hours last year, but equally tiring and just as much traveling.

As my group from Dearborn prepared to return to the States, the last few days in Ica were busy with all of the things we wanted to do with the boys, Augusto and Nancy before leaving for the year.

On Saturday afternoon, our last full day at the home, Augusto, the house father, came to me at 3:30 in the afternoon and said, “Let’s all go to Huacachina and rent sand boards. I’ve called the bus driver and he will be here in 10 minutes to take us.” In good Peruvian fashion, we were out the door in 20 minutes and on our way to Huacachina, the nearby oasis in the desert, where the 40 boys and 15 team members would rent sand boards and slide down the huge sand dunes, inevitably covering themselves in sand. This completely unexpected adventure was a blast and was a great way to wrap up a fun week with the boys in Ica.

Alexis with his board.


Alexis, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

The line of Girasoles with their sand boards.


Sandboarding, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Getting ready to go!


Boarding, originally uploaded by katherinebruder.

Sunday and Monday were consumed with traveling, and quickly blurred into just one long day. We left the home in Ica Sunday afternoon to make the 5 hour journey from Ica to Lima, where we went straight to the airport. The team was flying to Atlanta at midnight, and I was heading north to Iquitos the following morning on a 6am flight. Instead of getting into 2 more taxis and renting a hotel room for just a few hours, I elected to simply stay at the airport, which made for a sleepless night.

My flight, which was scheduled to leave at 6am, did not depart Lima until at 7:30, making my arrival into Iquitos at 9am. But, the journey was not over yet. I had to wait until noon for our boat to be ready with all of the supplies and groceries to take me to the home. Once they were ready to go, it was another 45 minutes before we made it to Puerto Alegria where I was greeted by 40 smiling faces, and a familiar work team from the Philadelphia area.

It was nice to be “home.”