This past week, somebody from a work team donated an Elmo sweatshirt to the boys at Puerto Alegria.
Luis was the lucky recipient.
More photos from the past week are now online at Flickr.
Puerto Alegria
Excited Oriel
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
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.”
4 Days Alone in Puerto Alegria
Since I left a group from Alabama at the airport on Monday morning, it’s been both a busy and quiet week in Puerto Alegria. Unfortunately, I was unable to come into Iquitos as often as I would have liked to, but this happily allowed me to spend more time with the boys living at the Girasoles home in Puerto Alegria.
Since there wasn’t a work team, there wasn’t much for me to do than play and have fun. Therefore, this past week was full of soccer games, photographs, listening to Michael Jackon/DC Reto/Shakira (their favorite artists) on my iPod, dancing the choreographies, watching movies and making pop corn at night (which they call pop pop) and lots of sitting around and talking. I enjoy having work teams at Puerto Alegria, but it´s always fun to be the only one there too.
This being said, I’m off to the Iquitos airport to meet my last team for the summer. A group from Nebraska arrive today, and on Monday a small group from Berkley will arrive to install solar panels so we will have electricity all the time – which means we’ll now have a refrigerator!
Sadly though, this is my last group and I’ll be leaving Puerto Alegria and Iquitos next Sunday – August 16th – and returning to Lima.
Willy and Luis
I’ve written about Luis before, but this was just too cute to pass up.
Luis is the youngest boy that lives in Puerto Alegria. At just 4 years old, his mother left him in the care of Scripture Union. Since he is so young, he depends on Willy a lot for help – like any other 4 year old would depend on their parents. Since Willy takes a huge role in caring for him, Luis refers to him as Papí Willy, instead of Hermano Willy (brother Willy) like the others do.
When I took this photo, Willy was helping Luis with a coloring book. Actually, Willy was coloring while Luis was just sitting there watching.