Christmas in Peru

Eating in Iquitos, Peru on Christmas evening Andrew and I at the zoo on Christmas Day
















Here we are. Living at the zoo.















A Jaguer coming to eat us at the zoo

































At the Yellow Rose of Texas in Iquitos

On a boat heading out toward Grau, had to take a boat from Nauta.

A sloth in the jungle that a local climbed a tree to retrieve

Looking out over Grau.

After going alligator hunting...an ALLIGATOR!

A beautiful view of the jungle on the Amazon

The boat that carried us down the Amazon

In a famous bakery in a small town

Some gorgeous parrots

Some lovable monkeys

At the petting zoo

With some Bora children

The balcony of a hostel we stayed in

Motorkar traffic in Iquitos, Peru Eating out in Peru

Jerusalem School

Today I gave the first of our donations to the Administrator of the Jerusalem Adventist School.

He gave me such a warm greeting. We only sat down to chat for a few minutes, but in that short time I was inspired by how a little on our part can make a substantial impact on childrens lives. In John it talks about how we are the branches and God is the vine. As branches we bear fruit, either good fruit or bad fruit. As people look at us will they say, "hey I think that guy has some really yummy fruit - I wonder what kind of vine he's connected to?" I think you guys back home are producing some good fruit through your support of others - others that you have never met or talked to. Thanks guys!

check out the October post "10 ways you can change the world"

Jungle Expedition #1

This weekend the medical group that was here went on an excursion to the jungle. We took the "Big Boat" up the Amazon to get a taste of the jungle. This was the first time I got to go out on the Amazon. Our first stop was "Tommy Shack", a small village that use to be run by nuns that took care of orphaned girls. Then the army came in to the town, partly to protect it from kidnappers. Then this village turned into another normal village.



Here our boat is landing at "Tommy Shackle." We stopped here for 30 minutes to get some drinks and walk through a local bread factory. It was relaxing.

This boy was kind enough to let me take a photo of him and his Christmas chicken. That chicken was nice and big.

A shot from where we stayed Sabbath night. We took a walk in the jungle and viewed some interesting trees and birds. Everyone was eager for it to end though because of the savage mosquitos. That night we got in the smaller "Speed Boat" to look for aligators. We found a nice 5 foot one along the shore - apparently this was a rare find. The boat captain got a noose around the gators nose and tried to catch it. He didn't though. That thing whisked away the moment she realized something was going on. We did catch a little baby gator later.

On Sunday we visited the Bora tribe. These people were brought here from Columbia several generations ago to work for wealthy oil barrons or was it during the rubber boom? Anyway, they have their own dialect and live a short distance from Iquitos. Most of the tribe is SDA now. Today they make most of their livelyhood from showing visitors their native dress and dances and selling their different handy crafts.

After visiting the Bora tribe we stopped at an animal petting zoo. Okay, holding a snake isn't really fun, but a hissing snake that is coiling itself around your neck - well just look at the picture. I must say I backed away from this ugly dude.

That silly monkey sat on me like that through the whole exhibit. A friendly lad indeed. At the end I bent down to let a little girl take the monkey off of me. She did, by pulling that grasping monkey with all her might. FYI, we have a monkey that looks just like this at our home base, but it isn't nearly as nice.

The harbors along the coast of Iquitos, Peru.

Christmas Dinner - an Update

Things are looking great. The chickens are full of life and growing at their appropriate pace. These first few days are pivotal in making sure that the chicks are on schedule to becoming large chickens. Raul has been doing an excellent job at making sure that the chickens are getting the right amount of light, heat, food, water, vitamins, and medicines.

This ends my quick update.

Confined in Paradise

WARNING: Images contained in this Blog posting could be disturbing. The publishers encourage user discretion.

Sunday we went out to the farm to check things out. Boy was it nice! Lots of fresh pineapple, ripe lemons, and a few other fruits that were foreign to my palate. It was like a piece of paradise minus the white beach.

Even this piece of heaven was contaminated though. Chiggers! At the time I wasn't aware of these little bugs that had started digging into my skin, but a few days later it was obvious, as the picture below attests.

That morning before heading out to the farm I was already not in the best shape. My head was a little achy and I was feeling pretty tired. Unfortunately this would not be the first time I'd feel this way. I took comfort in the fact that I had been taking my malaria pills faithfully. When Sunday night fell, I found myself aching, so I decided to hit the cot a couple hours early. I didn't have the energy to notice the itching sensation that was starting to form around my ankles.

Today I found myself waking up a couple hours late...again. I went to bed a couple hours early last night. I've found myself submersed in a different kind of paradise.

10 Ways You can Change the World

Here are ten children who I'd like you to meet. Most of them have only a mother supporting them. Fiorella for example lives with her mother, who is pregnant, but her father abandoned the family leaving them to struggle. Then there is the child whos parents only have a house because of the church's help. As you can tell it isn't easy. These children normally would not even have a shot at private education, but through past support they got the opportunity to attend Asociacion Educativa Adventista "Jerusalem". This new school year they are looking for some new sponsors. If this sounds like something your sabbath school, your church, or even just yourself would like to get involved in then shoot me an e-mail at andycorson@yahoo.com .

Now I'd like to introduce you :)

Ten lovely Peruvian children in Iquitos, Peru.

Fiorella is 8 years old. She is in the 3rd grade this year. I asked all of these kids a few questions. Here are the questions and their responses.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: I want to be a Doctor

Q: What is your favorite class at school?

A: I like Science

Q: Do you have a favorite food?

A: I love "cebiche"

Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.

A: My Mother

Samuel is 8 years old. He is in the 2nd grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A Fireman
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: I like noodles
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Teacher Rosita

Milagros is 7 years old. She is in the 1st grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: A Teacher

Q: What is your favorite class at school?

A: Math

Q: Do you have a favorite food?

A: Yes, Roast Chicken

Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.

A: Joseph the slave

Piero is 9 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: An Engineer
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Rice and Chicken
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: King David

Raul is 9 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I want to be a Pilot
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Yes, Roast Chicken
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Mother

Rodrigo is 9 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A Pilot
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Religion
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Chinese Rice
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: Dios (God)

Kenned is 7 years old. He is in the 2nd grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: Bank Manager
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Cooked Dry Fish
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: Jesus

Juan Carlos is 8 years old. He is in the 4th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I'd like to be a Policeman
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Chicken and Rice
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Mom

Lex is 5 years old. He is in the 1st grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: A Teacher
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Noodles
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: My Father

Mariseli is 11 years old. She is in the 6th grade this year.

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: I want to be an Accountant
Q: What is your favorite class at school?
A: Math
Q: Do you have a favorite food?
A: Chicken and Rice
Q: Who is your Hero? From the Bible or just in life.
A: King David

10 Wonderful kids!

Cluck Cluck here and a Cluck Cluck there...

Here come 100 new baby chicks fresh from Lima. You can see our inspector checking the new investment out. He was excited by the prospects and gave us the okay to move them into the coupe.

This time we have 700 chickens. They were excited from there long trip and our engineer quickly brewed them a nice drink to calm their nerves. The chicks enjoyed the warmth found under the heat lamps and could be found clamoring for position.

Aaron really took to his Christmas dinner. They were kinda cute.

Your local grocer!

I would like to introduce you to Emir. Remember we gave her a loan a couple weeks ago? Did you wonder what she did with that money? I did, so I stopped by with my good friend Julio to check things out and chat with her. In the picture below you'll see Emir behind a whole table that is an addition to her business along with all of the items on it.


Before Emir had only the smaller table and a few items, mostly fresh produce, to sell. Now she is able to sell toilet paper, Clorox, oil, sugar, milk, and charcoal.

I also visited Laura. She is a very chirpy women who is always smiling. Would her business have the same kind of expansion as Emir's? Indeed the answer is yes. Her stock grew from what would only fit on a small table to shelves full of home necessities.

At first when I looked at her bodega I saw some children's backpacks for sale - and I was suspicious of her choice of inventory, however after I asked her a few questions I learned that she had sold several backpacks already and she believed the others would be sold in a week.

The wooden table in front use to have all of Laura's inventory. Now, as you can see, she has her shelves full of many different items - making her bodega a one stop shop for neighbors who need to clean clothes or make supper.

Emir and Laura have been enthusiastic about the basic tools I've given them. They both are keeping track of all their expenses and income. Because they have many different items to sell now they requested that I help them keep track of their inventory - so I created a very simple form for them to use, but boy were they glad to have it. Laura told me how she would now be able to always know what she had and how much. This would make it easier for both of them to know when to buy more supplies and track any inconsistencies between what they sold and what they had in stock.