maandag 25 februari 2008

25 000 motocarros around your ears

Iquitos might be a heavenly place, were it not that it has been spoiled by the continuous noise and i mean noise of the motocarros, taking passengers from A to B to C till Z
Peru is not like Europe or America, very few people own cars here.And the means of transportation varies from legs to taxis, collectivos, combis, which are stowed vans untill they crack, and motocarros...In the jungle motocarros prevail, and it is quite romantic to sit in the back of an open air taxi, which has been made, collected from a moto (the front) and two backwheels, and a double seat.It is romantic to sit and be dragged around, your hair in the wind, and enjoying the cooling breeze. But romance takes a turn when you are filty with dust, exhaust and deafened by the continuous sound.
25 000 in city of half a million, doesn t seem that much, but when you re sitting in a cafe, trying to enjoy a conversation, your thoughts might shift..
Peruvians love noise, TV, radio, anything works even in the jungle ...
I wonder how they cope... But Iquitos seemed quiter than Pucallpa.

zondag 24 februari 2008

Iquitos

Stuck in the crazy Iquitos, with diarhhea, time to rest...I won t have time to go deeper in the Amazonian jungle anymore, since I am flying back homewards in two weeks,too bad cuz I really would have loved to be between the aborigens more...
Anyway
I went on a jungle trip and saw dolphins, river ones, they abound here, a lot of jumping and shreeking monkeys, toucans and a lot of birds, learned a lot of the tropical plants, there seems to be a cure for everything and had a jungle guide all for myself, a fantastic one with italian roots, whom talked a lot, but also knew a lot, ...and the mosquitos had me to themselves¡
Met a Sami today, who has been living in the jungle for two years, but misses the autumn, winters and springs...He looked gorgeous, but he dissapeared as quickly as he came.

woensdag 13 februari 2008

Such a long time ago....

Where have I been
In the jungle of Pucallpa,and enjoying Marly s Alemans company, now I am in Iquitos and will try to update my blog...The jungle is something I love...

On Marly, Mary she loves Bob Marley hence she likes to b called Marly.....
She s something, Fico s sister, Fico is the boyfriend of Annita, Roosjes sister, my schoolfriend...
And Fico is from Pucallpa, but lives in Belgium, so when I told him I was goona go to Peru, he gave me his sister s address and that s how I met up with Mary Marly and her family...in Cocoroco, a neighbourhood of Yarina, close to Pucallpa...I had a wonderful time, wandered about in the heat of the midday sun, and went to get bread in the local panaderia, they re called Biko s.So I ate a lot of Bikos, and tons of eggs and lovely platanos, which I can t get enough of and maduros, basically the same as unripe bananas,fried and ripe bananas , fried....
Hanging around with Mary is kind of fun, she doesn t like to leave the safety of her home, although I wonder if that is the real reason of her lingering about the entire day, platita might be in for it too...Oh but she s one and all laughs, has wonderful kids, Cory and Julio, well educated, kind and helpfull, a funny parakiet, and interesting neighbours...
We slept early and woke up early, like chickens.
And we did some excursions on the lake to look at Fico s paradisiacal house in the jungle, with a canoe, and to the Anaconda where lovely chicas put up a dancing act, and we as well, and discovered the nightlife of Pucallpa....and so many things more.It was a tremendous pleasure for me to be around a family...
I m surely going to miss her.
I also went to Santa CLara a Shipibo community near San Francisco, the touristy version of the former. There I found some peace out of the chaos of Pucallpa, and also met Julian whom invited me to his family in San Francisco. A cup of Masato, yuca drink, a fish and platano asado was put in front of me while I spoke to Miqueos, the young but down to earth shaman, curandero.
3 months I d need to get cured...and to get closer to the plants.... something for next year?
In Sta Clara we let the izulas, venomenous giant ants, go their way while we were led by a group of young children into the botanical garden, and we let the mosquitos suck our blood.
If the purified the blood while they were sucking, like they do with water, that would be a good deal, but I have a slight suspicion they don t.
Doing the dishes at Marys, for once, I commited a mass murder, thousands of ants had found their way to the bottom of a cup and I couldn t get them out in time, o what a tragedy, at least they didn t die alone.

zondag 3 februari 2008

Sloths dolphins plants and birds and water

This is Yarinacocha. Wonderful,but toooons of water.
I am staying at Nueva Luz de Fatima at Gilbert s and Sylvia, a good place full of love. I have a whole house to my disposition since I am the only gringa to have made it that far for now...
The only way of locomotion is a canoe, and forget your legs, you barely use them...So they start to itch. Having the knowledge that the water is polluted cuz it joins the Ucayali river now, and being scared of electric eels and piranhas, stingrays, and who knows what more, I decided to keep my feet dry and wear gumboots to cross over to the parking place of the canoes. Dolphins swim across the lake and sloths adorn the trees, what a funny animals those sloths.
Birds fly by, dogs and cows alike stand with their paws in the wate, it s the rainy season....
Winter here for them, still the heat is hot.
Discovering Bellavista in a peke peke, all the houses are in the water
A funny sight still the people seem content. They hang out in the water, have fun...
Oh oh it s gonna POOR again, I still have to make it to the village which is out in the lakeOH no and my towel, it s gonna be flying out and about ...
Yep it s raining, what an adventure...

To my friends in India

I would love to hang out there, and be one of the yogis...
How is Renee B? Surviving?
I m still in noisy jungle, but loving it for now
And counting the days to c my eternal beloved back, if he still is... If not, I ll probably catch the next airplane to find somerelief in yogic asanas,and delicious foods of India, and meet up with u guys¡¡¡¡
Insight is growing, if I want to be a curandero and learn from the plants, the only teachers will b the plants themselves. Although I have the feeling that even they don t provide the answer to my quest, I think Patanjali said it clearly to me in a dream Patanjali will heal me¡
And so will my inner doctor. But how I love the plants, and their irradescience and their fragrance and texture.They are definitely here to give us some relief. Be it in baths, coctions, or as ornament,be it as something to take care of or as somethingthat makesus look more pretty, smell with an irresistible fragrance, as a soothing tea, as a herb adding flavour as a tree to lean upon our restless souls,it is an inmense journey,PLANTS¡
I wish I make it this life time, to get to meet their souls. and communicae with them.
Because that s what I feel good with.