Picaflor, Lima and Beyond (Jonathan)
The people who run Picaflor are off the grid bigtime, using gas from town (boated 6 hours) to cook and refridgerate and solar power to light and use the blender. Pico, Laurel´s husband, makes two gallons of fruit juice a day which we suck up with gusto. He is mighty king of the blender--today was lemonade and yesterday was matacuya, a wrinkly looking fruit that looks like a potatoe gone bad. Tastes like tart, thick oranges. The houses are open to the elements except for screens which really keep out only the larger mosquitos, we wake up with new bites each morning. That said, we are in a kind of paradise, a place with no mechanical sounds, just sweet air and an occassional boat motor on the river
17 August 2005
So far pumping water is the sweatiest chore, usually takes about an hour. That much pumping lifts about 400 liters of water 60 feet to the holding tank, enough for four of us and little Piquito and our flushings, brushings, drinkings and showerings. The water is not clear out of the tap, a situation Shannon and I are prepared for. After we pump the water up the hill, we get it out of the tap and pump it again through our ceramic filter where it comes out sparkling clear and delicious. Our hosts drink as is. We cleared a lot of bamboo thickets and small bole trees today, getting ready to build a house for orphaned orchids.
26 August 2005
Relaxing in the creature comforts of Lima, Peru. Shannon has been sick for a couple of days so we are luxuriatng in TV and clean sheets, hot and cold running water and the blessing of Meat! In Peru almost a month and we have seen Andean glaciers, taken a train across the high plains of Chincheros, gone upriver into the hot, humid rainforests of Manu, checked out the astounding city of Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, and finally, next, busing up the coast to Trujillo and the north beaches of the Equator.
High mountains, jungle forest, desert plains, ocean coast--what an amazing place. South America holds the wonders of the world it its borders. I´m jealous, North America is so different, so much dryer, less alive in a way. If I had to choose between North and South america I would probably choose south. North America is my home though, and I miss it...
17 August 2005
So far pumping water is the sweatiest chore, usually takes about an hour. That much pumping lifts about 400 liters of water 60 feet to the holding tank, enough for four of us and little Piquito and our flushings, brushings, drinkings and showerings. The water is not clear out of the tap, a situation Shannon and I are prepared for. After we pump the water up the hill, we get it out of the tap and pump it again through our ceramic filter where it comes out sparkling clear and delicious. Our hosts drink as is. We cleared a lot of bamboo thickets and small bole trees today, getting ready to build a house for orphaned orchids.
26 August 2005
Relaxing in the creature comforts of Lima, Peru. Shannon has been sick for a couple of days so we are luxuriatng in TV and clean sheets, hot and cold running water and the blessing of Meat! In Peru almost a month and we have seen Andean glaciers, taken a train across the high plains of Chincheros, gone upriver into the hot, humid rainforests of Manu, checked out the astounding city of Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, and finally, next, busing up the coast to Trujillo and the north beaches of the Equator.
High mountains, jungle forest, desert plains, ocean coast--what an amazing place. South America holds the wonders of the world it its borders. I´m jealous, North America is so different, so much dryer, less alive in a way. If I had to choose between North and South america I would probably choose south. North America is my home though, and I miss it...
posted by squid | 4:48 PM
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