Moyobamba in Pictures

an awesome mountain view (Lydia, Heidi, and I)

We slept in something similar to this

I think these things are so cool! It's like a picnic table for rainy days!

the roots grow like this because in the rainy season this whole forest is flooded up to about 8-10 feet.

First sleeping experience underneath a mosquito net

Lenin, our faithful guide. :)

The waterfall we were jumping from Ahhhhh......

The view from the combi

the hot baths

My last blog I had so much trouble putting up pictures that I decided to do it this way. I seriously tried to post like 5 times. So, sorry about that!

And the Adventure Continues..........

Last weekend, I went to a jungle city called Moyobamba. Moyobamba is high jungle which means it is only the beginning of the jungle on the edge of the mountains. Most of the interns went as well as Alleen. Lenin was our faithful, energetic guide! The bus ride was a 16 hour night ride. When I look back, I think how crazy we were to be in the car for 32 hours for only three days of Moyobamba. However, it was well worth it.

I don't think most of us had slept when we arrived Friday morning at 7:00 AM. It felt like Thursday had never ended! Lenin wisely chose to start out the day at the hot baths. It was probably the best way to wake up after what we had just been through! The baths were down in the ground in these stone baths. It is warmer in Moyobamba than in Trujillo so I got hot quickly. We laid in the sun after to dry and enjoyed the fresh air and greenery. In Trujillo there is a lot of smog and very little green as it is the desert.

We drove through the countryside to a waterfall outside of Moyobamba. The waterfall is about 25 feet high and perfect for jumping into the water below. I generally don’t like to be involved in these types of adventures but after lots of counseling and therapy I jumped with Tyler and Seth on either side of me holding my hands. I’m glad I did it but it was more stressful than fun. I still cannot believe I jumped. The guys version is much funnier J.This part of the jungle reminded me a lot of Mississippi. It was humid with lots of green. There wasn’t a lot of swampy material but I was told that was because the wet season hadn’t arrived. When it does arrive, the forest is flooded about 8-10 feet. So the trees grow roots like this:

I think we all got the shock of our lives when we found out we were going to spend the night in the middle of the jungle in bungalows! We rode in a boat down the Mayo river (sorry, not the Amazon) and walked about 20 minutes through the jungle to a reserve named Tingana. There was no electricity and no showers! I found out why my cell phone has a flashlight! All of the huts were made of bamboo-like material with some kind of dried leaves for a thatch roof. We ate Tingana pizza with rice which tasted a bit like a fried omelet. I was exhausted and so retired early to bed. We slept under mosquito nets which was a first! It was definitely a good thing because I already provided the dinner for several mosquitoes.

Lenin woke us up about 6:00 AM to walk through the jungle. It was really quite ethereal. We saw monkeys and a jungle condor. Our guide hacked through the trail with his machete! All the guides went barefoot even though one of them was missing a toe! After we at breakfast, we left Tingana. Since we all wanted to go spelunking we bought flashlights and climbed through a cave. It was a first experience for me to go into a random cave and it was quite fun. I wish we could have done more! The rest of the day we went to various tourist locations in the Moyobamba area finishing the day watching the sun begin to set from a lookout spot in the mountains.

Sunday we went to church at the biggest Presbyterian Church in Peru. Although it is Presbyterian in theology, the manner of worship was more charismatic. Since it was the pastor’s anniversary at the church, the elders and deacons came and prayed for him. It was so encouraging to see so many godly leaders. It was cool to see what the baby churches in Trujillo could look like in a few years!

Thank you for your continued prayers for my language acquisition. About a week ago, I crossed another milestone. I have begun to think only in Spanish without thinking in English. Before, I could think some in Spanish but I translated a lot in my head. Now, words and conjugations are coming automatically! Of course, this is inconvenient at times because if I don’t know a word in Spanish and I try to switch to English, oftentimes I don’t remember the English word! My English vocabulary has definitely dwindled but I was told that it was part of the language learning process to forget a little of your native language.