squeek

I don´t know how to make this more brief, without just bullet-pointing…I could talk for hours, and well, I´ve got living and sweating to do here in Iquitos! Oh my god, it´s hot… One of Rachel S and my favorite things to say is from Guns and Roses´ Welcome to the Jungle….¨You´re gonna die!¨ Yeah…read on.
I´ve felt pretty dirty in my life, but this could perhaps be the dirtiest I´ve felt. It´s interesting how at first it stresses you out having paint, and dirt, and kid germs, (different from US kid germs I might add…these kids have parasites and have been itching their buttholes), and bug spray, and sunblock, and so much sweat, monkey saliva (yeah I got bitten by a monkey, but it was in a preserve and apparently they have been vaccinated), and stray dog, and dirt, and most likely sewage…all over…but then you sort of settle into it, get used to it, and it´s ok. You see kids in torn and dirty clothes, walking around barefoot, playing soccer with a ball that just bounced into the puddle of god knows what, and you have to think, it´ll probably be just fine. And truely I haven´t gotten sick until today. And today, I don´t think it´s sick so much as an allergic reaction. I ate fish yesterday, which I suspect to be the culprit, and now have a bright red rash covering my arms and legs. Benadryl has helped though…so yes, I´m dirty and smelly and red.
Today I had the opportunity to walk around by myself and enjoy the little intricacies of the town. I was left on accident when the group went clowning and I had run upstairs to grab the Benadryl, so I instead decided to venture out and take in Iquitos with a different perspective—you certainly see more when you´re sola. The town is mad with people. There´s humanity seeping out of every corner and block and within every interaction. Babies holding babies, people sharing cigarettes and snacks, people selling everything you can imagine, people everywhere….it´s like the farmer´s market on crack, but with a million motorcycles and moto-taxis (kind of like rickshaws but less enclosed), much more noise, and it goes on for miles.

Belen: A district of Iquitos: this is where we are doing the community work. It´s one of the most impoverished towns I have ever seen (mind you I´ve also been to India, but I have to say it´s worse off than towns I´ve seen in Kenya, South Africa, and Venezuela). The houses literally have nothing in them. They are just stilted platforms with a few hammocks for sleeping. That´s about it. The streets are more like muddy/raw sewage-y paths, which become canals during the rainy seasons, and are positively littered with junk. You are constantly looking down to avoid stepping in fish bones, poop, broken plastic objects, fruit rinds, etc. There are 70,000 inhabitants, 40% of whom are children (wow wow wow!). They have problems with domestic violence, street violence, prostitution—adult and children, and HIV (the rate is 45%!). And as a result of AIDS there are many orphaned street kids, who in turn take up prostitution, get HIV and become pregnant and the cycle continues exponentially…

Clowning: Each day we visit different hospitals, shelters, prisons, or other sorts of places lacking in cheer. Adorned with red noses, fake hair, crazy hats, sparkles, stickers, tutus, tights, silly shoes, rubber chickens, stuffed animals, and a slew of other nutty paraphanelia, we take over these places. Unfortunately I have only gotten to go once, to a hospital. It made me appreciate the often freezing hospitals in the US—hot hospitals seem even more disgusting than they are (Even though our super sterile and cold hospitals probably harbor superbugs that could eat the germs in these hospitals alive.)
Clowning is not only a means of making people smile and bringing them momentary cheer, but a social change force. We are building friendships and working to nurture the community by painting houses, teaching workshops to empower the people and improve their lives in sustainable ways, eg teaching girls about how to stick up for themselves when their dad or uncle wants to touch them, and teaching non-violence to boys. Clowns are different from other volunteer workers—they inspire change within individuals to help themselves and their community, while having fun. The clowns also have developed a group of young boys and girls who are community leaders, who act as positive role models and points of strength in the community the other 50 weeks of the year when we are not here (often I feel groups come to impoverished areas and pat themselves on the back for doing some, albeit good, work for a week or two and then leave, and the community more or less remians the same…I do not feel this is true in this case). The clowns are under strict rules to not give anything but friendship, hugs, and love to the people. It´s hard because people are always asking us for our left-overs from dinner or begging for money on the streets, but it is our commitment (at least for this trip), to forgo handouts (which only help in the short-run), and instead offer hugs or play a game with them. Our role as clowns is as a friend. It´s really interesting, and we´ve had a lot of feedback from the community leaders about our positive impact.
The house painting brings cheer to the neighborhoods, and involves people in their community. Kids are estatic about it, which is great because not only are they having fun, but they are getting an early sense of working and helping their families and neighbors. The workshops too are fabulous. I know one of the classes was teaching women to turn all the thousands of discarded plactic bags and bottles into useful household objects or things. I am teaching a dance class for 8-14 year olds, which I suppose is more for fun than anything, but we are putting on a show at the end of the week, which I think will be really great for them to have the opportunity to show off to their families.

Other notes…before my brain melts and I collapse in a sweaty red and dirty puddle:
Pat: I hugged a few little ones, with you in mind
Salsero/as: I went salsa dancing here, and it´s much different….mostly they dance apart from each other, so not all the turns and dips and patterns, etc. I definitely missed dancing with you all. That´s all I´ve got for now…I´m waiting to go dancing in the big city of Lima!
Buddy: Happy Birthday!!!

I´m thinking of you all!

Love, Rachel

And PS…if this made you think I don´t feel safe, or that I am really ill, or sad, or anything, that´s not true. I am doing quite well. Thanks for your lovin!

Iquitos

I arrived in Iquitos today and was overwhelmed with emotion—I´d forgotten how much I adore this type of setting. I was in love with the jungle as well as its main city at the opening, Manaus, in Brazil. The two are very similar. And the streets of Iquitos evoke such strong memories of Bali that I felt like I was going to either cry or explode or giggle my head off. The smell of exhaust and smoke and food in the streets and trash in the alleys, stray dogs, rickshaws and motorcycles everywhere (piled with families), and so much commotion. It may not sound nice, but it has an odd homey feeling to it…with all the warm people, it´s hard not to feel an intimate connection to it all…it helps that I was wearing a crazy hat, flowers around my neck, large earrings, and was with a pack of other clowns (literally). Everyone was hugging and greeting us on the streets and wanting to take pictures. This is the groups 4th clowning trip to the town, and they have done fabulous work in the community—painting homes, building community structure, teaching skill workshops, bringing cheer, and fostering education and leadership in the youth. Oh my, me encanta.
So indeed, I met up with Rachel S today. We finally united at the airport and it was a glorious reunion full of kisses and stories of our solo adventures. She rode a bus 7 hours east to Huancayo, which is in the mountains, to visit her old weaving teacher and the clinic she volunteered at. I stayed in the dirty, gray, capital city of Lima. Lima is daunting with its bajillions of people, carros—the vans that drive around and pick people up and drop them off everywhere, it´s like an incredibly fast-moving, swerving, taxi-bus packed as full with people as possible. It´s not uncommon to have a stranger basically sitting on your lap, or to hold something for your neighbor who has an armload of groceries, or perhaps their child.
So far, I have had a very interesting time…the first night I crushed my plan of slowly re-introducing meat and bread into my diet (I´m vegetarian and allergic to yeast), as well as avoiding fresh fruits and veggies until my stomach was acclimated. Well immediately upon arrival to my new friend’s home, we feasted on salad (lettuce being the hardest thing to wash), and sangrecita sandwiches, which of course were on bread and from what I gathered, are made from chicken´s blood (sangre) and potentially parts of chicken. Yum Yum. The same for breakfast in the morning. But fantastically enough…my stomach is fine, however I have quite the rash from reintroducing the yeast after being yeast free for an extended period of time. They eat bread with everything…. And on the note of food, I have discovered the wonders of Chifa, which is Chinese-Peruvian food. The Chinese were brought here as indentured servants to work on the sugar plantations, and now there is large population of Chinos, as they are called. Chifa is very similar to our Chinese food but in my experience has been more greasy and of course with out the American fortune cookie…I have to say we have a better rendition for the latter reason. Other things I have tried include: Inca Kola, the soda of Peru…it tastes like bubblegum, but is an electric yellow color. Pepino, a tasty apple-sized fruit you can buy in the street carts. Granadilla, a slimy, seedy fabulous fruit, you eat in one gulp…peel it open and let it slide down your throat. Pisco sour, Pisco (the Peruvian liquor, or as Pepe, my friend´s husband called it Peruvian tequila), lime, sugar, and raw egg white (I figure…why not? My stomach seems well cultured at this point, and it´s apparently a saying in Peru that one should drink Pisco to disinfect your system). Papas Huancayina, potatoes smothered with a creamy delicious sauce (potatoes are the national food).
As you can see, my new family treated me well. Vilma has 8 brothers and sisters, all with kids, and they all took me in (I slept at her sister´s home one night, and the other 2 nights, her god-daughter gave up her bed so I could sleep in it at Vilma´s house), they spoke to me in Spanish, even though I was never really able to fully reply, gave me countless kisses and good wishes, and took me (all of them) to the airport. I am so blessed.

Back to my magical world of Iquitos….
Love, Rachel

en lima

As if you weren´t afraid to travel with me enough as it was (for those who don´t know, I tend to envoke natural disasters on a bizarre scale...rouge waves, avalanches, etc), I found myself aboard 5 different flights over 36 hours in order to get to Lima...stopping not once, but twice, in Ecuador... I missed Rachel S, and ended up making a friend (worry not, a 50 year old woman) in Miami, who offered to take me in and house me in Lima until Rachel returned from Huancayo, so we can go to Iquitos together. So long story short, I´m in Peru finally, and in good hands, con mi nueva amiga, Wilma. And I lost my bags, so I´m currently wearing her niece´s clothing...

I wrote more, but it got deleted somehow....i can see this will be a challenge to keep up. Hopefully I will be able to write more later. Now though it´s my turn to shower (my first since I left on the 27th)...I share a bathroom with the 10 people who live here, so Ive got to get in when I can!

besos besos besos

breath...and here I go!

Picture caption: Suburban (backyard) crawl with bigass backpack (1/2 books by weight)

I'm off to Peru!
Only about 8 weeks ago, I was talking with a friend about this trip to Peru with Patch Adams I wished I could do, but how I didn't have the resources to do it, so my next logical move was to live with my sister in Colorado. Not a bad idea, but he pointed out how besides not having any money to do it, I was in a fabulous position to make this trip...no lease, no full-time job, no school program, no significant other, and the rest of my life when I return to have a j-o-b...why not spend 3+ months traveling...(why not more? that's what I'm asking myself right now) So with that, I took a breath, and dove in...applied for the program, bought my ticket, raised some money, brushed up my 1 year of college Spanish, and rushed to pack in the other minor details such as passing my RN boards (check), moving out of my apartment (check), visiting friends all over the Midwest, salsa dancing as much as possible, and trying to maintain a normalish life (check, check, umm check-ish...see picture to see level of normalcy maintained).
I'm very excited to have an opportunity to write again while traveling, as 4 semesters of nursing school pretty much sucked the creativity and life out of me (let's face it, nursing school ate my soul).
The purpose of this blog will be to reflect on my travels and let you have a little window into my experience. I hope to include pictures, recipes, rants and raves, colorful descriptions of things you may or may not want to know about, maybe some language/cultural tidbits, etc etc. Feel no obligation to read it all...in fact, I hereby give you permission to skim and skip and get what you want/need from this. I am just happy to be a resource for your adventure needs.

My very tentative schedule is as follows:
July 28: arrive in Lima, bus down to Huancayo with Rachel S.
July 31: back to Lima, fly to Iquitos (biggest city in the world accessible only by boat or plane (no roads lead to it))
August 1-12: Clown around with Patch Adams and crew. We will be "clowning" at nursing homes, orphanages, prisons, and other places, as well as painting houses, building a community center, and putting on workshops (I'll be teaching a dance class!) *Rachel S goes home along with the other clowns and I am on my own!
August 13-17: Into the Amazon with a trekking group (2 hours in via motor boat from Iquitos). I will be meeting with a midwife, shaman, and herbalist, as well as doing such delightful things as swimming in the river, trekking in the forest, fishing for piranhas, and loving my existence.
August 18: Back to Lima, then onto Cajamarca, in the northern highlands, where I will stay for 6wks or so to volunteer as a nurse in a clinic and stay with a family.
....then backpack around Peru, hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, go to Colca Canyon, and much more...but I'll leave that for later.
Return October 23rd to Omaha if I don't extend my ticket and backpack around South America with Cameron until December... :)

Thank you so much for your support! Wow! I can't tell you how much it means to me to have such a spectacular group of friends, a strong community, and a loving family.

besos y abrazos,
Love, Rachel

Let's go!