Research trip 1

Salutations dear brethren,

Javier and I set off for our research trip. Due to the fact that
flights in the isolated Peruvian jungle are very unreliable, we had to
leave our ID cards with the lady who runs the flights to make sure we
would get two spots in the plane about a week ahead of time.
It's pretty funny, the airplane company's name is North America. The
day's departure came and we headed to the airport. This is one of the
smallest airports I have personally been to. Why would you have to pay
over 10 soles airport tax when it consists of only one room and there
is no wifi in there? I mean, I don't think there is even running
power.

The small plane landed and as we were walking to board, a sudden
strong wind broke up and everyone hurried to load the cargo and leave
ASAP. Even the pilot and co-pilot were helping with the luggage. As
Javier and I sat down, I looked out the window and saw my borrowed
rolling pad being carried away by the wind. I thought about it for 2
seconds and I was off the plane, chasing after it! I caught up, picked
it up and ran back to the plane against the wind. I had to cover my
eyes and duck my head a little. We were off land a few minutes later
and the engine was winning like a motorbike!

The small aircraft landed safely in Pucallpa. A motorbike drove us
through the crazy traffic you encounter in this big city. Once checked
in at one of Javier's relatives' place, he and I were so hungry that
right after dropping our stuff on the floor we headed to the closest
food place and feasted on bananas, fish and yuca. We were able to
visit family and friends in Pucallpa. A family who lives in the open
fields away from the city area hosted us for dinner one night and we
all had a good visit.( Enjoying the American sarcasm humor and mostly
the unexpected food.) A bit surprised how one can have access to
Internet and Netflix in places like that. They allowed me to borrow a
book called "Spirits of the rainforest" which I have been digging into
so fiercely and has influenced my mindset greatly.

During the days spent in this "red land" I had some very sleepless
nights due to ants and bugs crawling over my body. I didn't have a
"mosquitero" to keep other bugs from me. At some point I thought, "We
are in the city and there are this many bugs here!"
One night, as Javier and I could not fall asleep, we talked about life
all night. It seems like Javier is gonna beat meby getting married
first.

We boarded the plane in Pucallpa and headed off to Tarapoto. The plane
was packed! About half of us got off in Tarapoto but the rest stayed
and moved on to Iquitos. It was a weird feeling to be in a place with
no connections and not knowing where to go. We flagged down a motocar
and had it take us to the "plaza". On our way there, I tried to intake
as many mental pictures of streets, houses, stores and even hostels in
my head. We got off close to the main plaza and began to explore.
Walked around until we found a cheap hostel, walked in and up the
stairs through a very narrow passage, looked to the right as we were
greeted by a lady. She went on asking questions and taking info down
from us.

Lady at the counter: " What's your occupation?"

Javier: "Well-drilling technician". She moved on writing.

Lady at the counter: " And you sir, what do you do?"

Salomon: "Uhmm, I am the well-drilling technician's helper."

Lady at the counter: Gave me a weird look and said "Ok." We were checked in.

We went out looking for food and after a while we found a chicken
place. Guess what? For you who are acquainted with rotisserie chicken
or Pollo a la brasa. The waiter asked if I wanted fried bananas. I
said yes. The waiter brought a plate. In it there was a piece of
chicken with no french fries but with fried plantains. Oh man so good!
I prefer fried plantain 100 times much more than french fries now!

We got up the next morning and like vampires seeking blood, we sought
after coffee. Found it, put it in our veins and off we were looking
for ways to get to Yurimagua. We found the combi-way. The Lord did
protect us on our way to Yurimaguas since we did almost crash on a
very crazy curve as we were going uphill . We were sitting on the seat
that is behind the driver's seat and so we were looking backwards
whereas everyone else was looking forwards and when it happened all we
saw was the passengers' desperation and screaming as they saw the big
truck backing up towards us. We did laugh afterwards since we didn't
know what was taking place since we couldn't see it!

Yurimaguas is a very small and warm town. We went to the local market
looking for food and sat at the counter of this food stand. There we
ate and were nicely surprised with the drink they had to serve, a
weirdly made coffee. It was black but it was so sweet. It seemed like
they had put 2 kilos of sugar on each mug!

The road ends in Yurimaguas. From here the only way to keep moving
north is traveling by river or renting a small-plane. Which we later
found out was way too expensive. So we went to the port and spotted
these huge lanchas ( they looked like big boat-ferries) These travel
on big rivers transporting people, animals and things. We found out it
would pass by the community we had seen in on the map. We bought our
tickets and boarded it. The way they work is that they travel from one
city to the other. Once they get to a city, they unload its cargo and
load new cargo accordingly. This process could take one, two or three
days. They transport all sorts of imaginable things.We saw the sign
that said their target take-off time was 4 pm that same day. This big
boat has three stories. The first one is for the cargo and the
engine-room. On the second story there is a big room with lots of
space for hammocks to be hung, plus a room with VIP cabins (we learned
this actually meant 2 by 2 meter cabins with two bunkbeds and a TV
right in between.)
The third story is usually for passengers too, but I saw saw-dust on
the floor and what looked like a corral. Later, I learned that they
would be transporting chicken with us. So we hung our hammocks and
chilled. As night approached we were told by the captain that the
lancha wasn't going to leave on that day but the next at noon.
Everyone was so upset, but I thought that this wasn't a surprise at
all. Being robbed like that is normal when traveling in this manner :)

As the next day passed by, we talked to some people and here by the
first time, I used my newer title. When this man asked where we were
going and what we were doing. Mr. Well-drilling technician's assistant
now had a new role. I became the official "presenter."

Yes, sir. We are an NGO based in Lima with a branch office based in a
little town up river by the Urubamba River. We are going to Cuninico
to verify the petroleum spill and assess the community's needs. So on
and on. I then made my move that I would use every single time we
introduced ourselves with.
" And now, here let me introduce you the "Drilling technician, Don
Javier." Then I called Javier and had them both become acquainted.
He then would tell them more about the work he did and onto the
technical aspects of well drilling. Javier is a complete professional!
We met this man who turned out to be a community's leader. His
village's name is Santa Isabel which is a town located at the mouth of
the Nucuray river. He did invite us to come to his village to see the
needs there.

The morning light broke in and I walked to the back of the lancha
where there was usually fewer people and I would spend some time alone
with the creator. It was very neat since I could make instant
connection to the creator from the awesomeness created in front of my
eyes. A brown river, trees on both sides, a blue sky and clouds in all
shapes.
The man and his wife, a lady who had given birth to their third son
about 10 days ago, were ready to get off. The lancha went slowly until
it so very gently bumped with the shore and we all unloaded. There, a
peque-peque powered canoe awaited us and this man's wife got in it.
There wasn't much room left so the man saw a smaller, boy- powered
canoe getting closer and called him to aid us. There we hopped on
trying not to fall into the water and sat as the boy who operated the
canoe tied a rope onto the engine powered bigger canoe. We crossed the
Nucuray river to Santa Isabel.
There in Santa Isabel, the man treated us very kindly. He fed us with
the best he had ( fish and yuca) and showed us around talking about
his village's needs. A very small town indeed. About 14 houses in
total. Life standards in this village is so very different. They use
the Nucuray river for bathing and doing laundry. They go down there
with buckets to get water to cook. Most of them do not boil the water
but drink it straight. He told us how the nurse from the small clinic
based at the town across the river gives them chlorine to purify the
water. Some people have or are trying to get used to it. The rest
choose not to use it since they don't like the flavor of it.

This village does not have electricity. The community used to have a
generator but it broke. There is a store and the owner has a smaller
electricity generator. There is also a solar powered phone. He also
has speakers to make announcements. So the leader told him to call on
the town's people to have a meeting. We walked to the school where the
leader gathered everyone to meet and talk. He so very kindly
introduced us and there I was, being the well-drilling technician's
presenter one more time.

" Now, with the technical aspects of the projects, we have... Don
Javier." Oh Javier loved it and cracked up so very hard afterwards
when we would re-tell to each other the stories!

So the entire community met at the school. This school was made of two
rooms but we all fit in one room. They did have questions for the
technician and he so patiently answered accordingly, thus showing that
he well deserved his title. After the meeting, we walked out looking
for well-drilling potential places. The school is located at the south
west side of a soccer field. And there a man suggested a place to dig
a well. The entire community was in full agreement. The community
leader said something that stuck out to me, " We are a small village.
It's easier when reaching full agreements." And he was right. Our next
village was not gonna be the same.

Right after lunch, the leader spotted a boat just arriving to 6 de
Julio right across the river. As we walked to where he was, he turned
and said: "This boat might be going to Cuninico!"
Javier and I turned around and power walked to gather our stuff and
walked down to the river. The man, took his peque-peque engine on his
shoulders down to the river, set it up on his canoe in like 30 seconds
and off we were crossing the river to the other town. Once there, he
enquired of the boat's destination and the boat's chofer said he
could give us a ride there for a fair price. This leader interchanged
information with Javier and off he was peque-pequeying back to his
community.