Hello, Moyobamba!

Bienvenidos a la selva! Welcome to the jungle! Apologies for taking a long time to write anything. I still haven't got internet properly set up on my laptop, and I'm borrrowing a cable from the house computer at the moment.

There is lots to tell! Let's start at last Monday, February 13. I got an evening flight from Lima to the town of Tarapoto. Tarapoto is a good sized town in the San Martin region of Peru; it is about 2 hours from Moyobamba. I was met by my hostess Yolanda, who took me to her parents' house in Tarapoto for the night. I got to meet her elderly parents and many of her siblings and their children, all living in the same area. Yolanda's parents are living in a nearly-finished new house...meaning, there aren't any doors yet and the living and kitchen area doesn't have a wall. As soon as I stepped out of the airport, I noticed things were so different from Lima: the air was a lot hotter for that time of night; it was quieter and there weren't taxi drivers jumping to get you into their taxi; in fact, there weren't any cars - everyone rides motorbikes! I have never seen so many motorbikes in my life! And the taxis are these mototaxis...a little old-fashioned carriage thing attached to the back of (no, not horses) a motorbike! Yolanda and I got into one of these mototaxis, and the driver put my huge suitcase (it was actually over the weight limit for the flight, but they let me through with it) on this little shelf on the back of the carriage. I felt very sorry for this driver and his vehicle, since we were going up lots of hills on the way to the parents' house. As if having myself and Yolanda in the back wasn't enough weight, he had my suitcase to carry too! I couldn't stop laughing all the way to the house...it was just so much fun to be in this whizzing mototaxi, and it was so surreal to be in the jungle!

Yolanda and I shared a bedroom at her parents' house, and our door was a thin lace curtain. The bathroom had a shower curtain as a door. Not the most private place. But at the time I thought, 'Ah well, it's probably because it's a new house.' (Hint: This may be a foreshadowing of future events.) All of the family was so welcoming and kind, and I had great conversations with them. Yolanda's mother had met Annie Soper, the pioneering English missionary to these parts, many decades ago and had lots of interesting stories to tell about the advance of the gospel in the San Martin region.

On Tuesday (only a week ago today) Yolanda and I got a minibus to Moyobamba. The bus was packed! And some poor soul had to heave my suitcase up onto the top of the bus where the luggage was stored. We were pretty squashed, but I enjoyed the scenery along the way - mountains, rivers, lots and lots of green, palm trees, other trees bearing weird and wonderful looking things. Upon arriving in Moyobamba, we got another mototaxi, my suitcase on the back, and arrived at the house of Arturo and Yolanda. 

My hosts are lovely people. They are taking good care of me, and it is a pleasure to be with them for the next four months. Arturo has been the headmaster at the Annie Soper Christian School, though this year he is back to teaching science to secondary students. He is able to answer my endless questions about how things work at the school and was great in introducing me to everyone my first morning in the school. Yolanda is a very jolly and friendly lady who cooks delicious Peruvian meals. She has been a teacher in the past, but she isn't working at the moment. She is involved with the Sunday School at the Presbyterian church, and has already got me into helping out with a children's campaign at the end of this week!

I have a large bedroom. Some of the little furniture that was in there has already been taken out. (There was originally a small television on a little wooden stand that has been removed recently. I was disappointed - not because of the TV but because of the wooden stand that I was using for some of my things...I don't have a chest of drawers or shelf, so I valued that little wooden stand! Never mind.) I have an interesting wooden structure with two beams to put my clothes on. But I only have two hangers. So, everything is lying over these beams. The wall where the door is does not go all the way up to the ceiling; so I can be heard on the phone and when I'm moving around, and I can hear everything that goes on in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and office (which is just about the rest of the house!). And most distressing of all, my door is....a shower curtain...very precariously balanced on a little plastic pole between the door frames! Hahahaha...one can only laugh.... I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining about all of this, because I'm actually getting on just fine. It has taken a few days to get accustomed, that's all. :-) I did manage to pull my whole door down one night, which was very worrying, but since then it has stayed put. (By the way, I am wondering if they took the shower curtain out of the bathroom to put in my room, because there isn't one in the bathroom, and I get water all over the floor after my shiveringly cold showers!)

The streets around the house are muddy/sandy tracks with lots of dips in them. It is rainy season at the moment, so we get some terrific rainstorms fairly frequently. The town is a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but I haven't yet seen much of it. The area around Moyobamba is beautiful! The town is on top of a hill, and below there are fields (rice and other things being grown there), other mountains in the distance, and the River Mayo, which is grand and brown at the moment after all the rain. There are green plants and trees everywhere, and there are also plenty of beasties to be seen! I. Do. Not. Like. Cockroaches. Or any other creepy crawly or flying insect, for that matter. But I am managing to keep calm (most of the time). There is a little salamander creature that likes to hang around the bathroom window. I laughed when I first saw his silhouette against the pane of glass - such a funny little thing! 

This is turning out to be a massive post, so I will try to summarise. Two of MC's friends from Scotland, Carissa and Annabel, were over in Peru for a couple of weeks. They came to Moyobamba the same day as I did, just for a little visit. Carissa had been here for a few months, about 5 years ago, and had been a volunteer in Annie Soper Christian School. It was lovely to see them during my first few days here. I visited them at their hotel, where I saw hummingbirds and parrots and a (caged) monkey. Yolanda took us three 'gringas' to a beautiful spot outside the town where the birth of a body of water can be seen and where the water is just a gorgeous blue colour, surrounded by luscious jungle greenery and flowers. 

I went into the school for the first time last Thursday. The teachers are in from 8 to 1 every day the next couple of weeks before school starts. I am getting to know many of them, and I am looking forward to working with them until June. The school is really lovely-looking and has lots of ground. It is much smaller (student-wise) than San Andres, so it will be easier to get know more people personally. At the moment, it looks like I will be doing most of the teaching for Kindergarten English, the little 5 year olds! Yay! I'm really looking forward to it. We can do lots of activities and crafts and games and songs - much more exciting than grammar! But I will also be assisting in many of the primary classes, working with a young teacher called Pilar, who is very nice.

My health has been mostly ok since arriving, though I didn't make it out to church on Sunday because I had a very sore tummy. That's not unusual, and it will probably happen many more times as I adjust to new foods and water and climate.

I think I will stop there for just now. There is lots more to tell, and no doubt there will be many jungle adventures to share with you over the next few months. Please keep me in your prayers. Enjoy the photos below.

Yolanda's parents, who kindly hosted me in their house in Tarapoto

My bedroom

There it is: the shower curtain door!

Panorama shot of the area surrounding Moyobamba

Aaaaaaaaa....going to get eaten by the great stone crocodile!

Jungle paradise :-)

Two squawky fellows at the Moyobamba hotel

Translation-Traduccion

Yesterday there was a little more excitement for me at school because two students who couldn't speak Spanish came to take entrance exams. They had moved from Canada (though that wasn't their country of birth), so they could speak English. I was drafted in to do some translation work for them, and I really enjoyed it! I was reading the texts and questions in Spanish in my mind and simultaneously translating vocally into English for the students. Then I had to translate their written answers into Spanish for the teachers to mark. It was challenging and both humbling and encouraging. And it was certainly preferable to sitting at the matriculation desk, waiting for parents to fill in forms! If I didn't know before, I know now that sitting at a desk and doing administrative work is not for me. I am glad I can be of assistance in the school, though. Tomorrow is my last day, and I will be packing my belongings up over the weekend.

Last Sunday I tried a new fruit, and I couldn't resist posting a couple of photos because it's just so...different from any fruit I've eaten before. It's called granadilla and its innards are not at all appealing to the eye. The words 'brain' and 'fish eggs' and 'slime' come to mind when looking at it. But I finally worked up the courage to try it, and it's very tasty! Slimy but satisfying, as one great Disney character once remarked. :-)

The very innocent-looking granadilla's exterior...

...and the rather off-putting but tasty innards!

Paddling Pool Antics

I was given the day off today, and it has been nice to relax around the house. The Arevalo family was given a new pool as a gift this morning, so I tried it out with the girls this afternoon. Fun in the sun!

I took the first photo just as Emily was cheekily spitting out water in my direction, and it's amazing to see all the drops of water captured by the camera. And Joanne took the second photo when I was playing 'football' with Emily and Franchie. :-)

A delightful Sunday

Today has been one of those simply scrumptious Sundays - lovely service at church, delicious lunch at the Baileys' house, great fellowship and fun with friends, and sunshine!

It has been such a blessing to have Joanne with me in Lima. Yesterday we went to Miraflores (a really nice part of the city) and walked through some shops and a park and went to see the sea. Unfortunately, there was a lot of mist, so the sea could not be seen very well. What made us laugh was the poor tourguide-phototaking-person who was standing at the viewpoint at the coast and trying to get people to pay to have their beautiful photo taken with the beautiful scenery behind them! Ummm....what scenery? He couldn't fool us! Anyway, we ate pollo a la brasa, and we bought a lovely Anne of Green Gables-style sunhat each (no, it's not a sombrero). We really fancied these hats, though we hadn't seen many people wearing them. At the risk of sticking out even more (as if bright white legs, curly light brown hair and blue eyes weren't enough), we purchased our hats. After that, we started noticing more people wearing them...all older ladies...haHA....but we're determined that we will be the means of starting the latest fashion among young Peruvian ladies!

Today we had a good service and the Lord's Supper at church, though it was just roasting in the half-inside/half-outside building. The Baileys had Joanne, myself, MC, Erick, MC's mum Mairi, and the newest addition to the family, little Ruth Miriam, to their house for lunch. What a spread! Does anyone else think that mashed tatties are one of the best things in the world?!

Little Ruth is two weeks old now and is GORGEOUS! She was the centre of attention most of the afternoon. She has dark hair, but her skin is not too dark. MC is doing really well, and it's just so lovely to see them as a family of three now! Enjoy the photos. :-)

our Anne of Green Gables hats :-)

If photos had accompanying music, this one's would be 'The Flower Duet'.

Mother and daughter :-)

Looking so so cute in the hammock!

Myself, Mairi, Joanne, Clive, Ruth, MC and little Ruth, Erick

The Rios Martin family

I got a cuddle too!

Ticket Booked for Moyobamba!

The exciting news is that I now have a booked flight to Tarapoto for the 13th of February. From there, it's only a couple of hours to Moyobamba. My original plan was to go on the bus (a mere 26 hour journey), but due to the rainy season in the mountains/jungle, I was advised to fly instead. I have a one-way ticket, as I might return to Lima in June on the bus.

Other exciting news is that this morning Joanne Nicolson arrived from Scotland! She is a new volunteer at San Andres and will be in Lima till July. She is staying here with the Arevalos for the first week, and it's so nice to have a companion! Even though she'd been travelling overnight, she felt fine for seeing a little bit of the Magdalena district this afternoon. We wandered through a few streets lined with pokey shops piled high with a few things you might want to buy and quite a lot of stuff that might also be called 'junk'. haha :-) And we bought a very prickly pineapple to eat tonight with our chorizo sausages and ciabatta rolls - what a feast!

Today I found a park

The warmth and sunshine and clear blue skies are so...lovely...inspiring...motivating...enjoyable...and make me think of going to a park. I asked Dennis if there was one nearby, and he gave me directions to a little parque within walking distance of this house. It was surrounded by lots of Peruvian-style houses with their colours and flat roofs and gorgeous flowers. I sat on a bench and read Tim Keller's The Reason for God for a while, and it felt so peaceful and blessed in contrast with the normally chaotic and noisy Lima that I know. I look forward to returning to 'my spot' soon.

The past few days I've been working 8-4 at Colegio San Andres at the matriculation desk. There aren't many people coming in during January; there was a rush in December at the end of the school year, and there'll be another rush in February when school is about to open again. All I'm doing is handing forms to the parents and making sure they've filled them in correctly. Not particularly exciting, so I have Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities to keep me entertained. :-)

I hope to return to la Iglesia Presbiteriana de Surco tomorrow for church, but I'm a little apprehensive about getting there, since I'm now living in a different district and have a different bus route to that part of the city. Here's hoping I'll not get lost tomorrow!

Parque Jacaranda

From winter to summer in 8 hours

Buenas tardes con todos!
I arrived late last night in Lima after an 8 hour flight from Newark. The flight was fine; I watched films and CSI programmes until I was a little too creeped out and suspicious of all other passengers....haha. The airport was really busy at that time of night, so it took forever to get through immigration and suitcase-pickup and customs. The good thing is, though, that I was given 180 days on my passport to be in Peru, so that should last me until June. I won't have to leave the country and then come back in again in order to be 'legal'! :-) The dear Baileys were there to pick me up and take me to the house of the Arevalo family, who will be my hosts for the next few weeks.

Dennis and Charmian Arevalo have 3 friendly children, whom I am getting to know, and their house is big and lovely. :-) It's the house that Rachel and Jodie stayed in last year (that reminds me: Happy New Year, everyone!). I have Rachel's old room (pictured below) - if you're reading this, Rachel, I want you to know that I think of you every time I enter it!

And the weather is HOT! It is summer time here, and the sun is shining and providing lots of heat. It was quite a shock after the minus temperatures of Pennsylvania, but I'm already enjoying it. I plan to go in to Colegio San Andres tomorrow morning to see what admin work they have for me to do in the next few weeks.

Before leaving the States, I was nervous and a bit sad to be going away again. However, now that I am here and in a familiar place I feel a lot more settled. It helps that it's sunny. :-) In the car on the way to the airport yesterday, Mum gave me Spurgeon's Morning and Evening reading for January 16th to read. It was so appropriate - 'I will be with thee' - and a comfort. Please pray for me as I begin this next stretch of Peruvian adventures.

My room at the Arevalos' house

P.S. I found a dead beetle on my floor this morning! Eeeeeeeeek! Must be a preparation for Moyobamba...