mosquitos and bedbugs and fleas, oh my!

¡Hola y un gran abrazo de peru, amigos and familia!

Over the past four weeks, we´ve had a wonderful time in Peru. Machu Picchu was beautiful and certainly lived up to its reputation. (Pictures soon to come!) After staying in hostels in Ollantaytambo and Cuzco (the towns closest to Machu Picchu), spending a night at the Lima airport (not as sketchy as it sounds, I promise - we weren´t the only ones rollin out the sleeping bags in dimly-lit corners), and staying with Bryan´s good friend Pastor Jorge in Iquitos, Bryan and I went to Nauta to spend a week or so with Chris, a missionary who lives there. A few days before, John, Bryan´s younger brother, got incredibly sick off of ceviche (a traditional Peruvian dish of fish ¨cooked¨ in acidic fruit juice) and actually ended up flying home that week. He´s at home and doing well now, so I´d just ask for prayers for his continuous health over these next few weeks as his body reacclimates itself to American food!

When we first got to Chris´ house in Nauta, we were shocked to find that we had some unexpected housemates: two kittens in Chris´ store closet completely tangled in what looked like fishing net. They were covered in fleas, newly born (maybe two days old), and bloody from trying to free themselves from the mess of strings and knots. We were able to free them and clean them up a little bit, but despite a few days of flea shampoo treatment, force-feeding canned milk through a floppy straw (try finding anything close to an eye dropper in Nauta), and covering them in lots of blankets so they could keep warm, they both died. It seems like such a small thing to get upset about - aren´t there starving children in Africa or something with which to occupy my mind? - but it was absolutely horrible. Add on to that the fact that Chris´ house now has fleas, and I´m sure you understand that that week for me was a doosey.

Thankfully, the rest of our time spent in Nauta with Chris was fantastic, and her unflagging optimism and can-do attitude definitely cheered me up. She´s now living in a newly constructed (soon to be) two-story house that she´s working to get ready for use as a pastors´ retreat center. Her vision is that the house might be a welcome haven for Peruvian pastors who are now missionaries planting churches in the Amazon jungle. Although Nauta isn´t a thriving montropolis, it at least has motocarros (think Central Park´s horse-drawn carriages in NYC...only your horse is a motorcycle and instead of ten thousand taxis littering the streets, you have motocarros), a decent marketplace, restaurants, a place to get cool drinks, etc - a perfect get-away for the men to relax, reenergize, read, and recooperate before they head back out to their churches along the River.

Right now, Chris´ place doesn´t have electricity; there´s no divide among the kitchen, living area, or bedroom; the only way to get to the partially finished upstairs is with a ladder; and her bathroom is blocked off with black plastic trash bags. All that´s quickly changing, though: the city agreed to wire electricity to her street today, and her sons and other work groups from the States will soon visit to help finish nailing in the upstairs floor boards, put in walls, redo her draining system so she can have two functioning toilets and showers, and bring in computers and books for the pastors. We´re so excited for all her hard work finally paying off! While with Chris, we got to meet her neighbors and friends (many of them under the age of ten and always wanting come in to play), start putting in the floor boards for her second floor, help organize the downstairs, hang out with the kids, have coffee and tea with the moms on her street, and dream with her about the materials she´d like to have available for the pastors while they stay there. Her dedication to this project and to the people of Peru was truly an amazing thing to witness!

In the middle of our stay with Chris, Bryan and I caught a barge to San Pedro, a tiny village (42 adults) upriver of Nauta, to visit one of Bryan´s good friends Richard. He and Bryan had lived and worked together in the jungle almost four years ago, so it was wonderful that we had the opportunity to see him, meet his new fifteen-year-old wife (and they got married two years ago...!!!), visit with his family, and check out his new panaderia (bread shop)! While staying in San Pedro, we got to learn how Richard makes bread (and even help out a bit), travel in his peke-peke (think small motor canoe) to sell his buns, sweetbreads, and crackers to clients along the river near his village, visit more of Bryan´s friends in a nearby town, and hang out with Richard´s brothers (i.e. play soccer - this is Peru!). I found out that Spanish in the jungle is MUCH more difficult to understand than it is in Iquitos or even Nauta. While I´d prided myself in comprehending at least 75% of what was said in Iquitos and almost all of Bryan´s side of conversations, I had trouble understanding the people of San Pedro at all. I´d ask them to repeat what they said, please, and repeat again, and slower, and please use different or smaller words...nothin. I survived on pointing to things, saying ¨Lo siento, no comprendo¨ (¨I´m sorry, I don´t understand¨), and gesticulating in crude sign language. Oh, cultural immersion.

Bryan and I are now back in Iquitos staying with Pastor Jorge and his family for a few days before we head out on that Viaje de Navidad I mentioned in my last posting. As it turns out, not only will we travel to over 20 villages to deliver toys and Christmas cheer to little ones, but we´ll also get to paint a church that has been through some serious difficulties over the past few years. Hopefully we can bring a little bit of hope to all!
Finally, as per my usual, here are a few more itemized learnings for your enjoyment.

You know you´re in Peru when...(cont´d)
(15) 9pm is late and you get up when the first obnoxious rooster crows - 5am.
(16) Should you be blessed with a shower, it´ll likely be what the locals call a ¨widowmaker,¨ appropriately named for its electrical box less than a foot away from the showerhead. Gracious.
(17) You consider a bathroom top-notch if it has any one of the following: toilet paper, toilet seat, no entry fee, handicap accessibility, warm water, any water, soap, any way to dry your hands, doors to its stalls, a way to flush the toilet.
(18) Pigs, rather than dogs, are on leashes.

And you know you´re in Iquitos when...
(19) You stow away on a barge for five hours before you learn that it´s not heading out that day. Try again tomorrow.
(20) There are more motocarros on the road than taxis in NYC. Really.
(21) A family of four on a motorcycle isn´t an uncommon occurence.
(22) You get bedbugs from hostels.
(23) You get fleas from gatos.
(24) The number of ants per square meter easily outnumber the number of people in the entire city.
(25) Uncovered manholes in the middle of the road are expected and as common as speedbumps (and much more detrimental to your car!).
(26) Jugo (juice) is as critical to survival as water. (Actually, considering the state of water in Peru, I´d venture to say it´s more so.)
(27) Mayonize on rice, french fries, eggs, toast, and fish isn´t at all uncommon.
(28) You truly appreciate the luxury of a non-dirt-floor.
(29) The ceviche sounds good only in theory...
(30) You begin to think in broken Spanish.

Lastly, you know you´re in the Amazon jungle when...
(31) There are three public, co-ed bathrooms for about two hundred people on a three-day barge trip. Glorious.
(32) You drink oatmeal (¨Quack-er¨ as it´s pronounced here) for breakfast.
(33) You keep a monkey as a pet, but dogs are pests.
(34) Bathtime is social hour.
(35) The two jars of peanut butter you brought for emergency-purposes-only is starting to look a bit scant.
(36) You get so many mosquito bites from the jungle that you look like you have a bad case of chicken pox.
(37) Your Thanksgiving is your first day in the jungle - so you celebrate with rice, pasta, eggs, and fresh homemade bread, and more rice!
(38) You are attacked by giant moths when you preach.
(39) You mow the lawn with a machete.
Thank you again for your prayers and support, and please enjoy this wonderful Christmas season!

Con mi amor,
Stephanie