I am sitting on the porch of my little home writing this while watching the rain pour all over the Amazon jungle. What is my life? HA! This thought has been running through my head a lot over the past week. It’s a life of adventure, love, unexpectedness, miscommunications, language barriers, instant coffee and new things.
Everything is green! The trees are tall and the spiders are huge. The air is full of giant birds; we still are not sure what kind they are. The village is small, yet full of people. There are so many different kinds of plants and trees that I have never seen before. Two rivers run around and through our town; both flowing into the Amazon River. When it isn’t raining, the sun shines bright and the humidity will wreck any dreams of having a great hair day.
In the mornings, I run through our little town of Nauta with a smile on my face and joy in my heart to be exactly where I am. The line at the bank is out the door, the market is fresh with fish, the motos are cruising around carrying people to all the places they need to go. They are a kind and curious people. And let me tell you, they sure are enjoying all the “gringas” roaming around. They are light hearted; rarely does an afternoon pass without much laughter.
Every few days we go to the market to buy our food. This is quite the experience! Each little stand sells something that we want, and we scurry around picking up a little from each one. We are getting creative about different meals we can make and how to use the new ingredients that we aren’t familiar with. Much to my dismay, the stereotype of South America being a mass supply of freshly ground coffee and homemade tortillas has been proven to be untrue. Neither are to be found anywhere near this Amazon jungle.
The children peep into our windows and beg us to come out and play. Although their soccer skills make us look like complete imbeciles, we humble ourselves and give it a try. Teaching English is quite the entertainment. Listening to them attempt to put sentences together and me trying to work on my Spanish makes quite the combination. The women kiss my cheeks and instantly want to know about my love life. They aren’t afraid to get personal and are more than happy to supply me with a man. They grin and chuckle to themselves and rant off in Spanish. I am not sure what they just committed me to. I can’t help but smile because they are so cute.
I love everything about it; the remote feeling of being completely disconnected with my world back home and the excitement of being fully immersed in this culture. It’s the perfect place to be to grow, learn and explore all the possibilities of this jungle we now call home and all the opportunities to share His love in the most unique ways.
This is Peru. This is my life and I freaking love it.
