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Published: April 24th 2009
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I know I haven’t blogged since Christmas (Sorry!!). A lot has happened since I’ve been back...I won’t bore you with all the details, but in nutshell I’ve been completing the last stage of my project, writing my master’s ‘thesis’, traveling a little, and trying to enjoy the time I have left. It’s really strange to me that my time here is coming to an end…although I’m extremely excited to go back home, Peru has sort of become a part of me, and it will be hard to leave knowing I may not be coming back (although I do hope to stay involved with the work here). It’s also exciting knowing that I’m graduating a month from now…my master’s essay has been approved and I’m officially done! Now I can stop paying Hopkins the big bucks, and hopefully start making my own bucks!
One place I’ve really wanted to know in Peru is the jungle (who wouldn’t want an adventure in the jungle!). At the end of February, two of my close friends living in Lima, Angela and her husband Mijail, and Angela’s parents, Bill and Eileen (visiting from the States), were kind enough to let me tag along with them
to Tarapoto and Moyobamba for a jungle vacation. In Moyobamba we took a tour to an ecological reserve which took us about 2.5 hours to get to…first we traveled for an hour by car then an hour and a half by boat (I mean a tiny little motor boat!). Before the reserve was officially declared as protected land by the government, outsiders started coming into this area harvesting the sugar cane and other crops that abundantly grow in this area - as a result the land and its diverse array of animals began to deteriorate. The people the living in the local communities petitioned that the land be titled as an ecological reserve, protecting it from the exploitation of outsiders. Now the local people are responsible to maintaining the land and its animals - they are also responsible for guiding any tourists who want to see the land and learn more about its natural resources. When our boat arrived to the entrance of the reserve we were greeted by local women who prepared us a breakfast made from all resources that are grown within the reserve (including the coffee!). Everything they used for cooking, cleaning, and maintaining the land is
My favorite jungle flower!
I think it looks like a really yummy dessert! ‘all-natural’, and non-polluting creating no waste. They even devised a system where the waste from the bathrooms could be generated into fertilizer for their crops. It was quite impressive. After breakfast they gave us a two hour boat tour (I should say, canoe tour) down the river that cut through the reserve where we saw a few jungle book animals like monkeys and a sloth, as well as many exotic birds. This area of the jungle has a diverse set of crops including sugar, rice, coffee (my personal droga!), and cocoa (yummy!!), amongst many others.
In Tarapoto, we stayed in bungalows on the side of hill with an amazing view. Just a side note, our bungalows were just down the road (dirt road, that is) from a drug rehabilitation center that has patients from all over world. The center uses a natural jungle hallucinogen called ayahuasca as well as other medicinal herbs and plants to help people get over their drug addictions. Interestingly, many tourists who come to Peru go to a session to try ayahuasca as a cultural experience. Apparently its not addictive which is why people can use it once or a few times and not become
an addict. (I’ve not tried it, for those who are wondering…but I think its interesting). I hear that it also makes you throw up at the beginning…maybe that’s why its not addicitive.
This part of the jungle is known for its orchids…we visited several orchid farms while we were there (although I tried not to overdo it with the flower pictures…but there were so many beautiful and interesting flowers, I couldn’t resist posting some). It was really neat to see the orchids in their natural habitat (instead of in the grocery store tied to a stick with a $20 pricetag) - orchids need other plants to grow on, like trees…so in nature you don’t usually see an orchid growing by itself…you usually see it in the crevice of a tree or some other plant. Also, while in Tarapoto, we took a day trip to El Lago Azul (the Blue Lake). This involved taking a 30 minute drive to a river, which we crossed on a ferry, and then a 1 hour ride on a dirt road…when we suddenly arrive the oasis of El Lago Azul…its seems to come out of nowhere. We took a boat tour around the lake
and went swimming! In the 1980s and early 1990s, the drug lords built their vacation homes around this lake…if I was a drug lord I would probably build my vacation home here too…its so beautiful and isolated!
The jungle is really hard to describe in words…although these are some of the things that we did there its hard to really express what it was like there. Hopefully some of the pictures can paint a clearer picture for you.
Semana Santa (Easter week) in Peru is a huge holiday week. Since we had some time off, I decided to travel Chiclayo, a city fairly close Tumbes (well, 8 hours away from Tumbes by bus). There isn’t too much to do in Chiclayo (but definitely more than Tumbes). My favorite moments in Chiclayo is when 1) I went to a fabulous museum about the Sipan and Moche civilizations (which existed before the Inca era) and 2) when I went to the movies!! I also traveled to a nearby fishing town and walked the beach. The beach was definitely not as beautiful as the beaches up in Tumbes, but it was cool to see the local fishermen and their caballitos del
River
We walked down about 200 steps to see this river (not kidding!) - and then we walked back up! toro (the banana-shaped boats), and walk on the pier (which felt like it would crumble to pieces at any moment).
One final (and random) thing…another student from Johns Hopkins (and close friend), Monica, has also been working on her doctoral project here in Tumbes. She is working with the Cysticercosis project that I’ve talked about in previous posts. In her project she had to buy 300 pigs from around Tumbes, dissect them, and look for cysts (the larvae from the cysticercosis parasite). If you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking…for a month there were approximately 45ish people working around the clock dissecting through raw pig meat…the laboratory where I work basically became a slaughterhouse. They found a few pigs that were infested with cysts (gross!)…unfortunately I don’t have any pics of the cysts, but I do of the pigs (so enjoy!).
My Dad, Eve, Zack, and his wife, Michelle, all arrive for a visit from the States tonight. I’m really excited that they will be able to see some of the most fascinating parts of Peru with me this week. Tomorrow we travel to Cusco and then Machu Picchu. After the fam returns to the States, I
have two more weeks here to wrap things up, then will be home! Until next time…Cuídate, mis amigos!
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Angela
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Tequila snakes, say what?
Snake in the bottle of tequila....oh no no no no no !!!!! Count me out on whatever celebration THAT is for!