Welcome to Bellavista - the first village on our trip. We took a little Cessna plane out of Yurimaguas and once we were in the air I began to realize how remote we were going to be. The picture shows just how in the middle of nowhere we really were! It's pretty cool, though - being surrounded by the Amazon, miles away from cell phones, cars, tv's, work, and electricity. Kinda nice.
Here's our house. They built it 3 years ago after the first team came and they knew more would be coming. It was pretty comfy! The floor was a little uneven, so we had to arrange our sleeping bags at proper angles so we wouldn't feel like we were sliding. The elevated floor was nice, except for the roosters that lived underneath and crowed non-stop! A couple of times we were tempted to have chicken for dinner... The picture shows how foggy it was in the mornings. Cool. Quiet. Peaceful.
We had lots of room in the hut for hammocks - very relaxing! And even though we had 4 walls, we really didn't have any privacy. I now know what the animals in the zoo feel like! The kids were constantly in the house watching our every move. I guess when you haven't seen many foreigners they become quite a spectacle!
This was out typical crowd in the doorway. Very curious, but very shy. Once we learned a few words in Chaihuita they were even more shy! It seems they found it humorous that white people were speaking their language! But after a while they got accustomed to us and would actually answer when we asked them "Ma ninkenta?" (What is your name?) The answer the question was often funny as well - Nixon, Robinson, Edison - all emphasized with a Peruvian accent. My favorite was Ocea - he's the little one with the red and white shirt and the blue shorts in the front/middle. We became buddies by the end of the week.
Ah, the water source. A natural spring right out of the side of a hill. It looks really muddy, but the water was surprisingly clean. We had a 5 gallon water purification system and there wasn't much sediment in the bucket. It was pretty cold water, which felt nice to splash around in after a hot day in the jungle.
All I have to say is that I have a new appreciation for my washing machine! I never knew how tired your hands can get wringing out a load of laundry. But it was kind of a bonding experience - and we found that we wore our stinky clothes a little longer when we had to wash them ourselves!
My favorite part of Bellavista was the kids. Normally they don't play much - they're either in school or working on the chakras (farms). However, there was a national teacher's strike so we were able to play a lot! We had to think of games that we could teach through a language barrier, and duck duck goose was their favorite. The only animal names we knew were nini (dog) and mayu (turtle), so we played a lot of Nini-Mayu! They always picked us, so we got very tired and sweaty. The best part was sitting in church and having the kids whisper "nini-mayu" to us! Nice to know we made some sort of lasting impression! We also brought bubbles, frisbees, squishy balls, coloring books and face paint. They loved it!
One morning a man stopped by the house with this adorable baby jaguar. I think he was trying to sell it to us, but it was cute none-the-less. It was surprisingly soft! Not like a kitten, more like baby chick feathers. But it's claws were huge! I'd hate to meet its mother (unfortunately, I think she ended up as a rug somewhere). The little growly sounds it made was pretty cute, too.
A few of the girls wore the traditional Chiahueta dress on Sunday. The girl above is Awinda - a very sweet girl who spoke more Spanish than most of the women, so she and I got to talk and hang out. I enjoyed being able to witness to them - not about Christianity since most of them are believers, but about what women can do. I think it was good for them to see Bekah and Michelle and I in a professional view. Women in the Indian culture are very much property, and to show them that women can be educated and successful was hopefully a good example for them. The girl below is modeling the traditional necklace that she made. She sold it to Bekah, and the work was so intricate! Very beautiful.
At first these kids were rather camera-shy. It was neat having the digital camera so they could see their pictures as soon as we took them. They are such beautiful little kids, and very open to being loved. It was not hard to shower them with attention, and they gave it right back!
One afternoon a bunch of the villagers set up a market for us. Their pottery was very unique and beautiful. They use a berry called caspileche - kinda milky - as a glaze, and all their work is functional. We bought a bunch of pieces, and Bob found them quite interesting and wonderful.
And of course, Jim was a never-ending source of entertainment! We were so blessed to have him along. He is a McGyver type - can fix or make anything, and is always willing to lend a hand. I don't think we could have run the clinic without him. Here he is with the blow-guns that they made for us. Just an example of the fun we had with him.
See what I mean? We never knew what he was going to do next, and his antics kept us on our toes!
Up next: San Antonio.
Last week I hosted a wedding shower for my friends Joy and Dave. I'm going to their wedding in a week and a half, but we thought it would be nice to celebrate with people who couldn't make it to Wisconsin for the wedding. The funny thing is that of the 8 people who showed up, only 1 of them isn't going to be at the wedding. Oh, well!
Dave and Joy
There was lots of food, drinks and laughing - and even a little dancing! Plus it gave me a good excuse to really clean the house! We had a great time, and I can't wait to go to the wedding!
