La Selva - The Jungle

I finally got to go on my first trip outside of Lima last week! Jenny and Kyle have both been out of the city to go to Cusco/Maccu Picchu, but this was my first time to see a different part of the country. From Monday to Friday of last week, the 3 of us together with Wes, Gaby (Peruvian friend), Mark Burgess (another missionary friend in Lima), his interns Allison and Peck, Allison's mom Robin, and a friend of Mark's wife, Catherine headed out to Pucallpa, about a 2 hour flight from Lima. Mark has been to Pucallpa and worked with the village we went to several times before this trip. Our goals for the trip were to help them start building a newer, sturdier building for the church there and, because Allison's mom is a doctor, have a small scale medical mission as well. 

The hotel where we stayed was in the more urban part of Pucallpa and was very nice. It had a pool and AC and everything! haha  The village we worked in was about a 30 minute mototaxi ride from our hotel. We drove out there every morning around 9 after having a devotional and breakfast, worked until lunch when the ladies in the village would cook us food (it was always great!!), then started work again until around 5, showers, dinner, swim.... That was the basic schedule for every day.

Peck, Kyle and Wes squeezed into their mototaxi 

Gaby with our monkey friend! We loved him :)

The sky there was beautiful! Very different from the pollution in Lima.

On Thursday we took the morning to do a little sightseeing and shopping. We went to a market (mainly for fish) and walked around, looking very out of place as a huge group of gringos. It was really fun and interesting though to see all the fish and fresh vegetables and fruit for sale. Some of us bought machetes, hammocks, and Wes bought a few crocodile skulls haha. After the first market we went down to the river, where there are more markets and more fish and a great view from the clock tower there. The river is called the Ucayali and it is one of the largest tributaries to the Amason. Then we drove over to the Laguna part of the river for a boat ride! We saw a couple of perezosos (sloths) in their natural habitat and the boys decided to climb up in the tree to take pictures of them. Also, there were houses that were half way underwater because it is the wet season right now, and a few of us went for a swim off the side of the boat! (video)

Day at the market. Here we have some crocodile, medium sized fish, and really large fish...

Panoramic of the Ucayali River

Gaby, Jenny and I on our boat ride :)

Other fun adventures from the trip:

There was a parade for one of the presidential candidates, Ollanta, while we were there and we saw him drive by in his truck. Very cool except we don't want him to be the president.

That cute monkey that Gaby is holding pooped on me :( He was so cute though. I want a pet monkey.

The last day that we worked, Friday, it rained all afternoon, so we just played in the rain and mud with the kids from the village!! I hadn't seen real rain since we got to Lima. It was awesome.

I accidentally ordered chicken feet for dinner one night... I do have some boundaries when it comes to food haha

Gaby learned how to swim! She didn't know how before the trip but we practiced in the pool and then she swam in the river :)

Kyle, Gaby and I got temporary tattoos! But by "temporary" they meant "the next time your skin touches water, this will come off." Not exactly the 15 days I was promised haha

Random update from Lima: We have officially started renting an apartment for interns and Jenny and I are working on getting it furnished and set up for the 4 new intern girls that will be coming to Lima in August! 

AND Kyle gets back this Thursday!!! WHOOPP!!!!! So excited about that :)

Love and miss you all!!

Taylor