| Peru--Installment 1 | | Date Created: Jun 04, 2006, 08:33 PM |
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I’ve done this once before and Will laughed at me for being so paranoid, but I did it again today. I woke up from a nap (that’s right a nap—I know I don’t have time!), and I couldn’t find him. The boys were napping, too. The house was silent. I looked in our room, in the bathrooms, the garage. Nowhere! His car was in the driveway so I figured he must be doing something in the yard. So I took a shower not too worried, but when I woke up he still wasn’t here. I got dressed and went outside and circled the house. Nothing. I panicked. I could feel my face get red and my hands start to quiver. I mean, who would blame him for walking out the door and never looking back? Lord knows I’ve thought of it myself! But there was one room I hadn’t checked. The boys’ room. I could hear Georgie in there not napping so I didn’t want to open the door only to get him more stirred up. But I had to. There was no where else to look for Will. And there he was. Curled up on James’ toddler bed fast asleep while George was singing songs and playing with his zebra in his own bed. I told Georgie night-night, shut the door, and breathed a sigh of relief. For a second I even felt a burst of new energy. Enough to finally write some. So, I guess, thanks for the scare, Will!
Since I’ve got a renewed sense of feeling pretty okay, I might as well use the energy to finally write about Peru. So if you’re one of the readers who only read to hear about the boys (no hard feelings!), you might as well quit reading for the day!
The Lima airport was surprisingly 1st-world. An internet café, a food court with Papa John’s and McDonald’s, and chic glass walls and contemporary seats. The Iquitos airport was more what you would imagine an airport on the edge of the jungle to be. The walls don’t go all the way up to the ceiling so the air can circulate. Old squeaky fans turn and turn in lieu of air conditioning. And two burnt-out, abandoned airplanes greet you at the end of the runway. Not a very assuring sight, but one that does make you glad you made it! As soon as we entered the airport, motortaxi drivers crowded around us, but we managed to make it out the door where Todd and Jessica waited for us! Will rode on the back of Todd’s very sexy motorcycle, a “Honda Hero Passion Plus.” I don’t know if that’s the full name of the model or if the original Japanese slogan doesn’t quite translate to Spanish. Either way, Will and Todd shared the passion while Jessica and I hopped onto the back of a motortaxi. Iquitos is on the Amazon river. There are roads within it and I believe, one road south that goes 2 hours to Nauta and dead-ends there. Besides that, there are no roads out, only by plan or boat. So there are some cars, but mostly there are motortaxis. And I don’t even know if that is what they are called, that’s just what we called them. Anyway, they are these three-wheeled motorcycles with a bench seat on the back and a canopy overhead. Besides the gasoline fumes that swirl all around, I found this an extremely pleasant way to travel. You go fast, getting a nice breeze, because of their size, several can fit in the space of two cars, you get a close-up experience of the sights around you including the passengers in motortaxis three inches away. They’re convenient, inexpensive, and I liked them! I would love to have one to cart the boys around in. The one drawback is safety, but while I was there that never really crossed my mind. There are so many motortaxis, scooters, motorcycles, and buses crowded in wrecks seem inevitable but never seem to happen, only just miss happening. Which is good because there are lines marking lanes on some streets but they don’t seem to mean anything, and there are no seatbelts or helmets, and if there were blinkers, I’m sure they were used either. You’d think it’s be scary, but it wasn’t. You sort of just hold on and enjoy the ride. was so impressed over the entire trip by how well Jessica speaks Spanish and how she could easily explain to the motortaxi drivers where we wanted to go and how much she would pay and where to drop us off. I will probably say this a million times, but Jessica and Todd were amazing hosts. Will and I didn’t have to figure anything out, handle anything, worry about anything, do anything. And that was just what we needed!
The first thing we did when we got to Todd and Jessica’s was take a nap. The house they live in was perfect for napping, as well as for card playing and beer drinking. We closed the door, flipped on the ceiling fan and the very soothing window unit, and fell into the carved wood bed, asleep within a minute. We ate a good lunch at a place on the water and I experienced many a wonderful thing about Iquitos for the first time. For one, their food is delicious and all hopes of dropping some pounds due to yucky food were dashed. Also, you can’t put toilet paper in most toilets. Use the paper and then put it in the trash can. This means choose wisely where you poop. The most important discovery for me personally was el jugo—the juice! The most delicious frothy concoction I have ever tasted. Fresh orange, banana, and papaya juices meant to be mixed and served and enjoyed and I will never forget the taste. And we had our first Peruvian beer which is also not to be missed by beer lovers who like a beer you can drink a lot of. It has just the right amount of body and lack of body to taste good but not slow you down.
After lunch we went to one of the poorest areas of town called Belen. It has two sides, one on land with streets that slant down toward the river and the other that is an extension of the streets into the river. Houses floating on top of the water or held in place on stilts you could hardly compare to our concept of sturdy pilings. In the streets, people have tables or tarps with things to sell. Mostly chicken, fish, fruit, and grains, but every once in a while things such as candy or underwear.
Oops! Gotta run! I'll have more tomorrow if all goes well! Have an awesome Monday! |
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