... Warm shower?

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Looking forward this afternoon to the first warm shower I´ll have had since June 6 (first hot shower, not shower in general)... there´s a big group at the hotel this weekend and one room is bound to have one. 😊

Let´s see... backtracking to last weekend: had quite a good time at Amazon Shelter, which was about a 25 minute drive from Puerto Maldonado (it was pretty strange to be riding in a car again); it´s brand-new, the lodges were excellent, and I slept really well, plus the food was a nice change (hot dogs, hot fresh buns, lemonade, chips). Only downside was that the animal enclosures (the site is also an animal release center) were a bit smaller than ours... seemed that their money went more into the tourist and staff accomodations than the animal, but hopefully that will improve with time. The reserve has a newly developed salt clay lick, so we got up really early to go look at the parrots that gather; there weren´t many of them, but it was nice to sit in the boat with hot coffee and cookies as the sun came up, anyway. Different animals at this spot... they specialize in howler monkeys, and have a resident adult that wanders around like a dog, as well. Most of the animals arrive as babies here, and they´ve got a baby giant anteater (which apparantly could decapitate you with a swipe if you make it angry), cougar, turtles, night monkeys, more coati... cool spot.

Back to the reserve, which is feeling more and more comfortable, as I suspected it might as time went on. I was busier this week, with the arrival of Lucy and Juliana, because they´re avid cooks. 😊 Working with what we have, with Juliana as leader, we/they have made chocolate-Brazil nut cookies, brownies, scones, and banana muffins (on a side note, the bananas here come straight off the tree- you buy them still attached to the branch- and are far better than any I´ve had at home), and Isabel, a staff member, and Laura & I made an enormous orange cake (the oranges are yellow, the lemons are green, the limes are yellow... and there are countless types of each... I cannot figure it out), under Isabel´s direction, in a gigantic pan, using hands for a mixing machine. Isabel has been teaching me a bit of Spanish, as well, and it´s sticking a bit better this past week than it has before. She still learns English far faster than I can possibly learn Spanish, though. It´s amazing.

Other stuff last week involved torrential rains in the afternoons on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the temperature plummeted to probably 50 degrees. The river is now enormous and flowing fast... the sandbar island is now gone (lots of the guys were playing soccer on it the day before... no more of that). I sat in the hammock on our bungalow porch wrapped in my 25 degree sleeping bag and was comfortable. It was great. We had afternoon activities cancelled (thankfully, because I was not looking forward to climbing the 42 meters to the canopy platform with a wet walkway), so we watched a dubbed version of Wolverine, with some of the animation as yet unfinished. 😊

Theme party on Monday night for my roommate, Lisa, which was really fun: the theme was tribal, so we went out to the rainforest (selva) armed with wellies and machetes, and came out with bamboo to chop into beads, leaves, stems, all sorts of stuff, to make into skirts, necklaces, and headdresses. While I am horrible at following while dancing- lots of salsa and meringue-, it´s coming easier, although I´m convinced you have to be Peruvian to really dance. Everyone can dance well here, it seems. Not at all like home. 😊 But I still try, even though lots of laughing ensues.

Lots of animal sightings while out in the forest this week, too... I spotted 5 howler monkeys in the trees while we were at the canopy platform yesterday (although they didn´t howl), and 25 squirrel monkeys at another birdwatching platform, as well.

2 new activities this week for me: New Farm maintenance and Tapir Pool. The first involved catching goats by the horns and putting antiseptic on any wounds they have. Pretty fun, actually! The second involves cleaning tapir manure out of a huge pool of water. Blechhh.... Isabel was our staff member, but a huge group of college students from Puerto Maldonado showed up unexpectedly and she had to guide them, so it was just me, Lena, and Alix.... buckets, wellies, and stench, and then both tapirs decided to come investigate and help us out. They´re basically blind, so waving your arms at them doesn´t do any good to get them to leave, and they´re also huge, so you just have to deal with a huge animal trying to dump your buckets over as you clean their pool. Pretty funny, actually. 😊

And finally, the only news that has reached us, really, at the reserve via radio, is that Michael Jackson has died. 😊 Nothing about the rest of the world, just that. I am really interested, however, in a development to the north of Peru between the government and indigenous people. Nothing down here, no worries, but look it up if you haven´t heard anything. The indigenous people of Peru are second-class citizens and not terribly pleased, understandably, and it seems that things may change.

I will leave you with that... it´s a beautiful day here, not too hot, and I´m looking forward to some phone time, maybe a dip in the pool, pizza for supper, and going to a club (??) for Alejandro´s birthday celebration tonight. No worries. 😊 Hope all is well back home, I´m thinking of you all and miss you!

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Photos

Amos, me, and Marco
Jungle theme party!