Pucallpa Paradise

To set the scene 

I've now been in the jungle for a week and a half and I feel incredibly blessed by all the experiences I've had. If I was to write them all down then you would be reading for a very long time so to save you from that I'll just write briefly about a few..



The main area I help with throughout the week is with all the different kids clubs: homework club, youth group, after school club and a music class (I haven't been to the music class yet). It's been amazing to see the number of kids that come along and I love talking to them and helping with their different activities. Last week I also visited some of the children's families in the surrounding villages with another girl from the mission. This experience was kind of like walking into a completely different world from the world I know in Britain. Karrina and I walked from house to house, (even taking a boat at one point) talking to the mums and seeing how their children are doing. In a lot of the houses we visited, the children aren't properly looked after so usually it's Karrina's job to check in with the families and see what the situation is and so last Tuesday and Wednesday I had the opportunity to go with her.

Visitation- a standard house

Transport to and from villages

Karina on our visitation

Homework club

Me with the kids 

On Saturday I went to the zoo with Cristina and Abbie and to get there you have to go by boat, so this was again really exciting for me. Our captain took us on a little detour before so that we could see some  other places where people live and so that we could try and spot sloths on the trees. We managed to see five in total! (and this was before we were even in the zoo!) When we arrived at the zoo we were welcomed by a talking parrot (however it didn't actually talk for us sadly) and then we began our trip round all the different jungle animals. There were monkeys, birds, alligators and at the end I even held a snake!

On our detour by boat- a housing settlement that would be on land in the dry season!

Later on in the day I went to a ladies craft afternoon and made a butterfly pinata (which I still need to finish) and then came back to the house and we had a jungle fruit feast. Cristina had bought every kind of jungle fruit so that I could try them. I can't say I liked them all but it was a lot of fun all the same. Most of the fruits weren't sweet which I found slightly strange and a little disappointing since I love sweet things so much.

JUNGLE FEAST 

So all in all I have loved every minute of being here so far and I feel like I have done so much already in the week and a half I've had- kids clubs, the zoo, baking for different events, swimming in the piraña filled lake, watching sunsets, going to different churches, riding a motokar, riding a motorbike, fishing and visitations. I've just found out that I can stay on an extra week now and then spend the weekend in Lima with the family from Pucallpa because they're going there on holiday so I'm really excited about that! Thank you so much for all your prayers, I really appreciate them and it's amazing seeing how God is working out here and in my life.

Fishing for dinner! (Ceviche and fried fish)

Swinging like Tarzan

On Friday I arrived in Pucallpa, a town in the jungle. The town is quite big and pretty built up so you wouldn't really know you're in a rainforest if it weren't for the heat and heavy downpours of rain. I'm not staying in Pucallpa however, but in a small village about twenty minutes away called San Jose. There isn't a road really from Pucallpa but a red dirt track which is extremely bumpy. So if you haven't got a sore head when you leave then by the time you arrive you definitely will have!
I will be in San Jose for two weeks working with a mission programme called Kids Alive. They have a site in the village where four missionary families live and where they have class rooms, a kids home (not open yet), a playground and dorms. The site is built beside the Ucayali river which is a tributary of the Amazon. The family I'm staying with live in a house that's on the water's edge and from all the back windows they have beautiful views of the river. Each morning I've woken up and am amazed at what I can see.

My first day! - a downpour 

The view from the house

Dusk across the river

So every week about 150 kids come to the site and go to homework clubs, after school clubs or youth groups. Today was my first day with the children. I helped out at an after school club for 5-12 year olds where the children take it in turn to go down for their shower whilst the others colour and do crafts. I think there was 36 of them in total. They were so so sweet and I can't wait to spend more time with them on Wednesday and Thursday.

Two rivers boats passing by 

Sunset

I've got a busy week ahead helping out with all these different groups so I would really appreciate it if you could pray that I stay healthy while I'm here and that God will use me for his glory during this time. Also pray for the children and the different families that live and work here.

2 Towns 1 Day

Town No.1 Cascas

On Sunday morning I went with Steve and some friends to Cascas, a small town in the lower mountains. I was supposed to be doing the children's programme in a Church there in SPANISH but when we arrived there were no children so I didn't have to teach. (Luckily for them). The journey up to the town was so beautiful.. it went from bare nothing to green green grass in a matter of turns and twists up the road. Mountains and rice paddy fields surrounded us as we drove higher and higher. There are no words to describe the beauty of the landscape and sadly my photos don't even come close to the real thing. After 2 hours we arrived in Cascas. Steve led the Church service, and when he started we had a congregation of 4. I think around another 3 people joined us at various points throughout the service. It felt more like a family coming together to worship our Lord- the way Church should be I think. We wasted no time on the way home, as Lizzi and I had to get back to Trujillo so we could going camping with the group of young adults from the Church.

Before heading into the mountains

At the bottom of the mountains

On our journey upwards

Rice paddy fields

In Cascas

The view from Cascas

Town No.2 Shiran

After arriving back in Trujillo Lizzi and I caught a combi to another town 45 minutes away, a bit lower down from Cascas (in the opposite direction however) called Shiran. The young adults group from the Church were going camping on their weekend away and somehow I managed to get an invite. We were camping in the back garden (a big field) of a family's farm house. Chickens, dogs, turkeys and ducks were also camping with us. This was quite a strange experience. In the afternoon we went for a walk up a hill behind the field so that we could watch the sun set behind the mountains. It was spectacular but again you can't really see the beauty from my photos. On the way up we passed mangos, limes, lucuma, bananas and pineapple all growing on trees or in a field!

CAMPING

Watching the sunset

Mangos

Pineapple

For dinner we walked down the track into the village and ate at a restaurant where I could actually see the family in the kitchen cooking our meal. I think the piece of chicken I had was one of the nicest tasting chickens I've been served! Louis gave a talk after dinner back at the campsite and we spent some time in worship and prayer. One of things I noticed about this group of young people is that they have such a heart for God. Everything we did He would always come first. The rest of the evening was spent around the campfire that we'd made: singing songs, playing games and having a talent show (I did Scottish dancing with a Peruvian- be proud). The next day was so beautiful once again so we spent it playing games in the sun, lying in the shade and swimming in a pool down in the village. Somehow I was persuaded to jump in with all my clothes on. (They were the only clothes I had).

The campfire

His talent- walking through fire

Everyone

All in all it was an amazing weekend and I loved spending time with a group of new people. God has been so good to me and I can't thank him enough for all the blessings I'm experiencing.

Carnival

On Saturday morning I went with a group of the young people from the Church to the orphanage and we did 'Carnival' with them. This consisted of making a obstacle course for them to go round in their teams whilst some of us at different intervals threw water balloons and jugs of water at them. The course went like this: sack races, climbing through a string covered goal, crawling under a net, running over tyres, getting lost in a maze, clambering through a tunnel and best of all- sliding over bubble bath plastic. It was so much fun and I think all the kids had a great time! In the end it turned into a massive water fight and I somehow managed to get a bucket of water poured all down my back! 

The children listening to game instructions

WATER BALLOONS

Correr correr 

Sliding through the bubbles 

Jorge running the plank 

And it all ended with water everywhere! 

After all the fun and games we sang songs with the children and one of the girls gave a small talk. Of course, we couldn't go a morning without having some yummy food, so we ended with caramel ice cream and some sweets. 

In the afternoon Ronnie taught me how to make Ceviche so when I get home everyone can have the opportunity to experience Peruvian food. Ronnie is a very good cook and this ceviche that we made tasted really good! 

Our amazing Ceviche

Picaduras

This week started quite slowly but soon picked up as the days went by. On Wednesday night the Twinem girls came over for chicken quesidillas and chocolate fondue so we could watch another episode of Sherlock. I seriously am going to come home fat. On Thurday I went with Ronnie and Pablo and two others to the orphanage for what I thought was going to be a morning of just hanging with kids. I wore shorts like I usually do but realised part of the way through the morning that this was a very very bad move. We were sweeping leaves in the sand, along with sand flies, mosquitos and spiders. I came away with 45 bites only on my legs. Thankfully after that I did manage to spend some time with kids and naturally they all found the situation with my legs very funny. Some of the girls taught me a hand clap thing so I will have to try and remember it for when I come home and I can bring it to Scotland.

Friday was another busy day- teaching english in the orphanage, followed by lunch with the Twinems and then onto the gringas bible study/leaving party for Karianne at Anne-Laure's house. I loved teaching the children this week because I think they are finally beginning to trust me a little bit more. It makes me sad though because that will probably be one of the last times I teach because this Thursday I am going to Pucallpa (a town in the jungle) for two weeks and by the time I get back their school might have started. I guess I will see what happens.

My youngest group: 4-7 year old 

Of course, they need incentive.. SWEETS

Once again I felt so challenged after the bible study and loved watching and hearing about how much love all these ladies have for the Lord. After the study we had a caramel and cheese fondue (which was amazing) and watched Les Miserables. This was a perfect way to end the week.

Fondue 

The Superbowl Weekend

If you cast your minds back to last weekend, that is where I'm going to start. On the Friday Ibem finally finished so we had a fancy lunch to celebrate followed by a trip to Huanchaco beach with the students who hadn't left for home yet. This was great fun.. we played beach volleyball, girls v boys (girls won by a mile!), watched the sun set and ate picarones (peruvian doughnuts). It was a beautiful way to start the weekend. The Twinems also came over for a Sherlock night which made it even better. On the Saturday I went to the cinema with Anne-Laure and Kelly (a girl who had volunteered in the orphanage for a year in 2011 and was visiting again for a week) to watch Una Aventura Extraordinaria (Life of Pi). Unfortunately it was in spanish but I decided that that didn't really matter seeing as the main part of the story is told by actions and the scenery. If you haven't seen it I would definitely recommend going and seeing it in 3D.

That night I went to a meeting at the Church that Anne-Laure had organised for some of the youth who were interested in going to the orphanage. Basically once a week a group of us are going to go and put on different activities for the kids. The idea is that what ever activity we choose, we can relate it in some way to the bible and how God wants us to live our lives. So for this Saturday we were planning a 'Carnival' for all the children. What made me happy was that at the end of the meeting I actually understood what was going on and wasn't sitting there clueless! 

Sunday was also a great day and I thanked God so much for all the things he is doing for me here. In the morning I was finding the language really difficult and was generally just feeling a bit down but that feeling soon disappeared as the day went on. Mum told me at the end of the day that Deeside was praying for me in the evening service (around lunch time here) so thank you so much to everyone there because I really felt your prayers and really appreciated it! - God is so good and never fails to amaze me in the way he works- In the evening I went to a Superbowl party with Kelly at a girl's flat that she knows. This was exciting for me because I had never really watched the Superbowl before and it made it better since I was actually watching it in the right time zone.

Superbowl Cupcakes 

Fiesta de Cumpleaños

I have now been here exactly a month which is kind of crazy. My spanish is slowly improving and each day I manage to increase my vocabulary by a word or two with the help of all the students. On Monday I went to Huanchaca beach with some of the young people from the church which was loads of fun. We went at around oneish and we were still eating at 4.30pm! It took us sooo long to decide where we were going to eat and then the waiters took about two hours to get all the food out. On the plus side I managed to try Ceviche- a peruvain dish: raw fish marinaded in a spicy lemon acid sauce- and it was actually really nice. The only thing I didn't like was the idea of eating raw fish. Maybe by the time I leave I will love it. After lunch we sat on the beach for a bit and then walked round some of the markets where I also managed to try Anticucho: cow heart and Picarones: Peruvian style doughnuts. I felt like I was really embracing the culture that day.

On Monday night we watched the first in the Sherlock Holmes series with the Twinems girls, so I now have that to look forward to every week too.

Huanchaco beach

Ceviche 

Tuesday was another busy day. Eliana (one of the girls from church) came over in the morning to make a cake for some of the kids who's birthdays it was at the orphanage. This was quite a hard task as we had to bake for about 40 people so deciding what kind of tin and how many tins was the slight problem. We decided to go for a big circle on the bottom and two smaller circles on top. This was not the best idea.

At 2 a bunch of us were meeting at the Church so that we could go over to the orphanage to have a big birthday party for all the children. This proved to be very difficult with the mountain of chocolate cake we had and the strong heat of the sun. The longer it wasn't in the fridge, the more it melted. The other problem was we were travelling by combi. Thankfully we made one of the guys be in charge of the cake so it wasn't our responsibility. We made it to the orphanage in one piece and then the celebrations began. We decorated the dining room with balloons and set up two tables for all the food so that when the kids arrived and sat down, the party could start. We had so much fun with all the children and it was so nice to see all the smiles and laughing. 

Food table!

Hugo playing the magician

Playing in the park

Jorge