 |
| Maralea relaxes in a hammock - best place in the jungle |
I did not sleep well last night. It is hard to sleep when one side of your room is open to the wiles of the Amazon wildlife. I was especially freaked out about walking in the darkness of our room after seeing a bunch of tarantulas. (Yes, I admit it. Those were huge, and creepy.) We had bats visiting us nightly in our room, and other people reported things like frogs appearing in their toilets, and one had a tarantula visitor. I usually get up once during the night - as a matter of principle. But I so wanted to stay within the protection of my mosquito net (well, protection from spiders, bugs and bats . . . not from angry monkeys or pumas on the prowl). When you get out of bed at night in our room, you do not have many options so far as lighting is concerned. It is pitch dark. As I got up in the darkness, with Maralea and David asleep, I had a bat fly just above my head and leaped back within my net. (I am not like
Bella. I do not want to become a vampire.) Mustering all my courage, I made a second attempt to leave the confines of my mosquito net, using my phone as a flashlight (because for reasons I cannot explain we left our other flashlights sitting somewhere in the room other than our night stand). I accomplished my task, hoping for the best, and made the trek back within my mosquito net. It was a memorable experience, for sure.
 |
| Pretty sure there are some exotic birds up there somewhere |
We refused to take cold showers in the morning. No way - not even in the jungle. We had breakfast with the world travelers in our group, and were taken to the airport to make our 10:30 a.m. flight to Lima. We got a picture with the members of our group in the jungle - great people. We decided we are not cut out to travel like that - taking months off at a time to go to the furthest reaches of the earth. This was probably our biggest trip ever - after more than 27 years of marriage, in terms of time and destinations. We were longing to be home after a short while. It kind of reminded me of George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” who always wanted to travel the world and felt deprived and cheated by life because he was saddled down with family and community responsibilities. It took a remarkable experience for George to figure out that he had the best life of all - one surrounded by family and friends. A lot of people travel the world, but at this point I do not envy them - at least not as I used to. I am ready for home. But, we really enjoyed our friends from Australia and England. It was really fun getting to know them for the brief time we were together.
 |
| Leaving the jungle . . . the way we came: via da river |
 |
| Bye bye pirana - I hardly knew ye |
 |
| Here with our Amazon guide, Fernando |
 |
| Our jungle group - from left: Sandra (England), Amanda (England), Karen (Australia), Chris (Australia), and you know the rest |
Upon our arrival in Lima, we decided to get a room at the Lima airport hotel during the 10 hours we had as a layover. It is located about 100 yards from the terminal. That was soooo worth it. We had full access to the spa, computers, had a room to use to prepare for the final journey home, re-pack our bags, and a great place to eat. We were all pretty giddy about getting home. After we got all cleaned up and dressed, David received a phone call from Christian, the son of Hermana Luz Marina in Chachapoyas, who called to speak with David before he left the country. David answered the phone with excitement and just went running off in Spanish (as he did with everyone on the trip). He and Christian talked about how they would keep in touch via email and Facebook. David has a great desire to stay in touch with his friends from Peru and those missionaries with whom he served. It is an amazing world we live in, where keeping in touch with anyone in the world is incredibly easy via the internet.
 |
| Random pic of Maralea at the Chiclayo airport (because I have none from Lima) |
We had dinner at the Lima airport hotel, rested for another hour or so in our room, then headed off to the airport where we got checked in, then went through customs. En route we managed to leave behind one of our suitcases three times. Maralea got it started by forgetting one of her bags at the beginning of the Delta check in line. When we checked in our luggage, we realized we were one short. I went to the back of the line and saw it sitting there, abandoned and scared. I took possession of it and cautioned Maralea to be more careful. JINX! I was responsible for the next two lost luggage incidents. The first was after purchasing some snacks at Duncan Donuts. (By the way, Brian Regan was right, there really is a ‘spring smidge” donut out there with sprinkles just set off to the side. All this time I thought he made that up as part of his comedy routine.) We got what we needed and proceeded to security. I stopped
and asked: “Wasn’t I pulling something earlier?” Then, I ran back to the doughnut store and there it was, yet another bag apparently abandoned, scared and frightened. How could I do such a thing? Okay, so that balanced out the karma. Maralea and I were even in a matter of minutes. After we went through security, I approached Maralea and she said: “Where’s the orange bag?” I looked back at the security line and there it was, sitting by itself, abandoned and sad. I called David over to explain to security that the orange bag is ours. A guest put the bag on the conveyor belt to go through the x-ray. I retrieved it, approached Maralea and she said: “Okay, that’s three times we have left a bag. Let’s keep it together here.” We went through customs and got to the gate with about an hour to spare. We had internet there, but I did not fire up my computer. Instead, I just posted a few pictures on Facebook from my phone. David was intent on using up the rest of his Peru phone minutes, so he called Hermana Ynes to say goodbye. They had a lively conversation until a few moments before we boarded, when his minutes ran out and the phone call ended abruptly. But, as we boarded the plane, David was doing exactly what he has loved most while serving in Peru: nurture personal relationships. That was a recurrent theme for this trip, something that clearly made David happy - reaching out to others. That has been a lot of fun to watch, up close and personal.
 |
| David's pensionistta, Hermana Yness (right) called to wish David well as we boarded the plane in Lima |
No comments:
Post a Comment