Research trip - Part 2 - WARNING! It is a very long update!

Research trip part-2

We paid our boat-ride fees to the "Motorista" and got off. We walked a
trail up from the river and there were two or three little huts. I
could feel the sun burning my face! We asked a lady where the leader
was. We had learned that the leader in these communities is also known
as Señor Apu. She gave us instructions and she also said that it was
the town's anniversary. This town in the middle of nowhere had a
concrete-made sidewalk. We followed along this sidewalk and as it
turned right and around a house we heard the music coming from the
distance. As we were walking, I was surprised to see that many people
were walking, talking and the stores were selling things. It seemed
like each house had electricity running from generators. I could hear
them running. How was it possible that every single house had its own
generator? When the town of Santa Isabel didn't even have electricity
a few hours up the river? We also saw a big antenna with cellphone
panels. How was all that possible?
We kept on going following the lead of the sidewalk. The houses on the
left side disappeared and a clearance popped out. The houses on the
right kept going until a stage rose with big speakers playing music
very loudly. There on the left side, was the Marañon River. And there
were peque-peques coming in and out like a space air-port. There I saw
a big sign of what we had come to see. There were metal barrels of
petroleum stack one on top of the other.

We made it to where the stage was and there a soccer field emerged.
The players had just gone into a little break and were sitting on the
left side by the sidewalk. The fields were very muddy. We crossed the
field right through the middle and it felt like almost everyone looked
at us. I don't know why we didn't go around following the sidewalk
that surrounded the field.
Once we were at the other side of the field behind the goalpost, we
spotted the house we were looking for. We entered in this big room
where Señor Apu lived. At the very end of the room was a desk with a
young woman sitting there. We greeted and asked where the leader was.
She said he had left for a different community but should be back at
night time. We asked her if we could keep our belongings there and she
consented.
We walked out and began to explore praying and taking the whole
craziness in. The sidewalk did continue and we decided to go see
where it ended. The same sidewalk cuts through the entire town. At the
end of it was a smaller field and houses on the right. Children played
there in the dirt. On the left was the Cuninico River. We passed the
field and saw where the big cellphone antenna was. We passed by it and
made it to the very last house of the village. There we saw a man, Don
Segundo. He welcomed us and offered us his bench to sit.
We learned that this man has 10 kids which 8 of them live with him at
his house. His house is made of two rooms. Each room is supported and
lifted up about two meters high up by these poles in order to avoid
flooding during the rainy season. In the bottom he keeps his
peque-peque engines and other things when the summer hits. During the
rainy season the Cuninico River water raises up to about two or three
meters covering the poles and reaching almost to the houses wooden
floors where they live. He showed great respect and even though he
shared with us about his need for water and his living conditions, he
was very polite and respectful. He suggested we go talk to Señor Apu
since he was the highest leader of the community.
That night we waited and waited. There with us were about 20 people
who had been waiting on him all day long. Señor Apu showed up very
late. We were so super tired that we only asked him for a place to
sleep, he said we could sleep right there where we were standing on
the floor. There on the left side of the big room were three landline
phones located at a counter on the left side. People walked in and out
all the time. On the right side there were two stacks of green bananas
and big barrel of petroleum. I set up my rolling mat and "passed out"
facing the opposite side of the room. There the men made a line and
waited to talk to Señor Apu.
It seemed like there were parties in each single house. I could hear
different types of music from the right and left side. It was loud all
night. The lights in the room never went off until the morning the
light broke through.
We got up and got moving. There were passed-out people all over.
People still drinking, moving and sleeping. It had been a very crazy
night. Our budget by now was very thin. The Lord did provide in a very
unique way. As we were marching around I saw a house-store and a sign
that read "Se vende gaseosa". This translates to "Soda sold here." It
caught my attention since it didn't say beer or anything else. I told
Javier, let's go check that out. We walked in and almost in unison
asked " S-ñito tiene café?" She served us coffee with two small of
what looked like local rolls of bread. We were finished with our
coffee and about to leave when she called on us saying, "There is more
coffee!" Ha! We agreed for more. What surprised us that morning was
that it cost us 2 soles to have breakfast.

After that, we wandered around until we bumped into Señor Apu and
asked for a few minutes to talk to him. He took us to the back of his
house and there was the kitchen. A table, a bench and a drunk man
sleeping on the it. I'm not sure if Señor Apu was in all his right
senses.
We introduced ourselves and went straight to the point. He seemed to
be content with the fact that we were there interested in offering
help to his village. We got his blessing and walked out.

This was encouraging to us and we went back to Don Segundo's place.
There we talked more about how they were provided two boxes of water
per week from the petroleum's company. How they had been prohibited
from drinking the water from the Cuninico River. Though, they still
did use for bathing, doing laundry and even cooking. He took us around
to his Camucamu fields. He brought a small green plastic container in
his hand. We walked a trail behind his house until Camucamu trees
began to appear. Fruits were still very green but the farther we
walked the more ripe ones we found.

We picked up enough to fill the container and started to walk back,
there Javier tripped over bumps of dirt and as I was strolling the
path my right leg fell in a hole in slow motion. We had a good laugh!
Back at the house Don Segundo sent his younger daughters to prepare
Camucamu drink for us. I felt very humbled. When the drink was ready
they called on us from the kitchen. We walked up the wooden steps and
into the kitchen. The majority of his children left, but he and his
two other daughters stayed to talk more about how they lived. We were
again surprised that the drink they gave us was cold!!! Where did they
get this cold water? Did they have ice making machines in the other
room? Did they go to buy some? How could they afford 10 people living
in two rooms? Where did he get resources to feed that many people?
Where did he get resources to own three peque-peque engines?
We found out that Cuninico, crazy town, was a community like Santa
Isabel. Until several things took place. There was a petroleum leak.
It infested Cuninico River's water. Fish died. People could not drink
from it anymore. The company lost millions of dollars. Don Segundo
could not fish from the river. Suddenly, the company began to hire
locals to clean the mess.
It also brought a bunch from their own not-locals to work. Don Segundo
could not rent his peque-peques to fishermen, but he now rented them
to transport people. Since there is a big need of transportation and
generators, he sells gas as well. Almost every single kid was given a
new bike. People arrived at this town with shows, gifts and things to
give away. Like Don Segundo, villagers used to sell their Camu-Camu
and Aguaje fruits down river to make an income. Now most people have
turned their houses into little stores. A newer phone company has
built its cellphone tower, literally a few feet away from the last
house of this place. They are offering and selling their cellphones
with 30 soles unlimited packages for a few months trial. Yes, it seems
like lots of prosperity has arrived to this town. I question myself,
did they ever think about creating sustainable solutions? What will
happen when the job is done and everyone leaves?
Funny note, there was an electrical wire going from his house to the
cellphone antenna house. We asked and they were not ashamed and even
laughed that no one knew that that's how they were getting electricity
in his house. After talking more about whom we were and what we
represented. He was willing to allow us to give us more details about
the water and sanity conditions of his village. We left that house and
Don Segundo who had become our man of peace.
We met two men that had been observing us. Again, one of them asked
who we were and my now memorized introduction took place. All this
led-up to introducing Javier to him and we were given offered a free
ride to Maipuco, the capital of this entire district. We grabbed our
backpacks and off we were again. The man who volunteered to give us a
boat lift took us straight to the New Mayor. And the same story again,
"We are an NGO based there and we do this and that". To our surprise,
the new mayor told us that he and his team had actually been thinking
about building wells for his community. Javier explained what type of
wells the NGO was actually offering. The mayor said that at the right
time he could provide with transportation for materials and the sort.
Not only that, but that the projects should be done at all of his
communities. Which added up would be more than 30. We were very
cordially dismissed after interchanging info.
We then decided to get to know this new place. It was indeed a very
big community. It had a big school, soccer field, police station,
small hospital, and even several churches with different
denominations. Night came and our free hostel with wood-board beds
was a luxury to have, compared to the floor in Cuninico.
The morning passed by very slowly as we waited for the lancha. It was
very warm and I decided to jump in the Marañon River to cool off. It's
funny to learn these new things. Just the evening before, we had
bathed and brushed our teeth at this river just like everyone else.
Once the lancha got there we were done with our final village. Now
were bound to Iquitos. The lancha ride was super chill. Lanchas go at
about 20 km per hour or maybe slower. Once we made it to Iquitos
Javier knew so very many people. A friend of his, hosted us at his
place providing with food and shelter. I was indeed broke by this
time. So the Lord did provide through the brethren located there. I
got a phone call from a brother based in Lima. It was so very nice
getting to talk to him and catch up just a little. The Lord must have
caused a great burden on him since he provided with resources to keep
on moving. Here in Iquitos, Javier was able to go see his family. He
has several sisters that he was able to go visit after a long time.
Our research trip was over. We boarded a plane and flew back to
Pucallpa. I had learned that brother Brian and others were coming down
to visit communities at a River further south and I so wanted to go
see him. Here is where Javier and I went different directions. I flew
to Atalaya. This place has a super nice park and swimming pools. How
refreshing is to be in a pool at a super hot day! The Lord blessed me
much this day. It was a 2 soles fee entrance and I stayed there the
entire afternoon. My boat was gonna leave at 2am. I was there alone
and I am thankful I had a cellphone I could talk to a friend so that I
didn't feel too lonely that night.
I went to the boat and crashed on a flat board. It was about 145am
when I woke up and looked at my watch that people began to load things
and get in the boat. We are crazy Peruvians!!

I was half sleeping at the completely dark and packed with stars
night. You guys ever been on a combi in Lima, Peru? A combi is a
smaller bus, for those who don't know. You guys been on Arequipa
Avenue? Well this road has like 35 blocks and combis used to stop at
every single corner to pick up or drop passengers. This boat was like
a combi. All through the night and day it stopped to let a passenger
out or pick up more. I think it did more than normal because the
passengers complained at the boat driver. At one of the little
communities, the boat stopped and picked up some older women and one
or two men. Later on as I talked to them, I learned that they were
missionaries on their way back to Lima. The woman, who sat on my left
side, fed me some bananas and was super nice. When I got off the boat,
she called me out! She had in her hands my green taper and money I had
dropped. How much it didn't matter, she was being honest!
Then once I made it to Satipo. I learned that this wasn't the best
time to go and see Brother Brian, so we cancelled that trip off. That
night I visited a church there in Satipo and to my surprise found a
brother whom I had met a long time ago. I was super tired and dozed
off towards the end of the pastor's sermon. Like my friend said, "I'm
glad I didn't fall out of a window." The next morning I was gonna
leave at 3am, so I crashed until the alarm went off at 2am. I walked
out of the hostel that late and made it to the truck stop. I felt
tired and anxious walking alone this early in the morning. The truck
ride was about 8 hours and my butt was so very sore! One of the things
that I well recall is passing through communities on my back to
Atalaya. I saw people from Ethnic groups there in the middle of
nowhere. They had painted faces, wearing traditional clothes. I
wondered if anyone was trying to reach them with the gospel. I was
tired indeed. I was so thankful I found out my boat was leaving the
next day at 8am. I was gonna sleep some more.
I was traveling by boat alone and I was going to my final destination.
Rain totally hit us on the way. I was glad I had brought my green rain
poncho which I let a woman and her child use to cover and keep a bit
warm. I landed, nine hours later, and I walked to Javier's place.
There I was welcomed by him and the family with some friends that have
come to visit. It felt good to be there, but I knew that I wasn't
going to stay there long. The two friends the family was being visited
by had come to set up the electrical wiring on the team members'
house. I helped a little during their stay. I don't know much about
electrical connections so I was simply trying to listen and stay tuned
to anything they might need.
Days flew by and wiring that house was finished. I was also pretty
sure that it was the end of my stay there. I am so very thankful for
the family running Thriving Tribes. They have blessed me so much and
they have an open door there for me. More than anything their very
words that have remained with me are: "We want for you what God
wants!"
There I met two missionaries. Being able to meet up and learn from
their work and ministry plus their lesson and experiences was very
rich and encouraging. A little plane flew in town to pick up these
missionaries. There was just an open seat for me! That saved me two
days of travel and also helped my pocket! They charged me the
missionary rate! God bless SAMair. The plane's pilot was a very cool
lady. I had never seen a woman pilot. We loaded and off we were across
the green jungle.

Thank you for those who have taken their time to read a little. I'm
thankful for those who have dropped notes of encouragement and have
shared from their own lives. It is a huge blessing to hear from you
and your families and what God is doing. I also thank God for those
who have been praying as the Lord forges my way and allows me to see
His guidance day after day. Please continue to do so.

Brother in Christ,

Salomon

"I am the door, if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and
shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9