As I will be returning to Belgium a bit later than expected, one last article to inform everyone of my last month in Iquitos and my plans before going home. As my time here is starting to run out at a dazzling rate, it seems more and more difficult to have a bit of time to rest. There are a lot of things I still wanted to do in my last weeks here, but unfortunately I’m forced to make choices. But off course it’s nice to always have a lot to do during the weekends, contrary to the time when I just arrived here and was even a bit bored at times.
One of the more remarkable celebrations I went to last month was the birthday party of Karelen, the cousin of a friend I met through CouchSurfing. As often here in Iquitos the party already started at midday with drinking beer in the typical local way, which means we only use one glass and a bottle of beer. You usually fill half of your glass and give the bottle to the next person; after finishing your glass you also give your glass etc. Problem is that in this manner you never really notice how much you’re drinking, but maybe this is one of the secrets why birthday parties always are that much fun here. Also the music is of great importance off course and it never takes much time before the whole of the house is filled with people dancing.
On the 23rd of August the same family also invited me to visit their little piece of land on the route to Nauta, the only place that is connected to Iquitos by road. After a long drive by motorcycle we had a pick nick there and in the afternoon we played volleyball. Despite the fact I didn’t play in a decade I managed to win one nuevo sol, although I have to admit it probably was thanks to my strong team, compromising of Karelen, her sister and her parents. Afterwards we all went to the river nearby to have a nice dive.
One of the more noteworthy events of last week happened Wednesday evening when I went to give a lesson in the artisanal school of Belén for a group of young women studying dressmaking. I was invited by the mother of one of my colleagues as she is teaching the class and is obliged to give one lesson in English, but she doesn’t speak the language herself. So she asked me to give a lesson in which I had to explain terms that are important when making clothes. Never thought I would be a teacher in dressmaking one day, but probably I made my grandmother very proud as I’m finally following her footsteps.
This Saturday we also made a nice trip to the nearby lagoon of Quistococha as a present to the children I help at the house of my colleague Jill. Every Tuesday and Thursday in the evening (usually from 7 until after 12 o’clock) and every Saturday in the afternoon I assist them in their homework and teach them a bit of history, geography or English. This time I went in the morning to finish the work they had for school and with Jill, her baby Jilliams and Sorana (who looks after Jilliams and the household for Jill) and her children (her oldest daughter Samantha is one of my students), we took off to Quistococha. There they have a little park with the typical animals living in the Peruvian rainforest and a bathing place where we spent the rest of the afternoon. In the evening we all had a nice dinner at the house of Jill and we ended the day in another typical Peruvian way, namely watching some television. Remarkably was that we watched a documentary about the Holocaust and even Jill didn’t know about the extent of the horrors of the concentration camps. This also might help explain why I know two people by the name of Hitler in Iquitos.
This Tuesday was a bit less joyful as I had to say goodbye to the children of the children’s house Arco Iris. They gave me a nice goodbye however and all the children of my group had made beautiful cards that I can take with me to Belgium to remind me of all of them. Hopefully I can visit them again in the future to see how they’ll grow and continue studying well in the great environment Arco Iris has created for them.
The end of my stay in Iquitos is coming very close, but there’s no time to take it easy now as another big event is coming. Friday and Saturday our association will organize a two-day forum in Iquitos, together with our partners of Solsticio Perú. During the forum different problems concerning the Peruvian rainforest will be discussed with many invited guests, representing the regional government, petroleum institutions, indigenous organizations, NGO’s, etc. Sunday will be my final goodbye from this wonderful city as I will give a party in Jill’s house and on Monday afternoon I have my flight to Lima.
This isn’t the end of my stay in Peru however as I will still have one week to visit Trujillo and Lima. Upon arriving in the Peruvian capital I’ll try to catch the night bus to Trujillo where I’ll stay three days and will try to visit the historic centre of the Chimú civilization, Chan Chan. Afterwards I have four more days in Lima before I finally return to Europe the 15th of September. I won´t immediately return to Belgium however, as I’ll be landing first in Madrid and will have the honour of being guided through Castile and Léon by Inés for no less than nine days. Most of you can expect a spoken report of my travels after the 25th of September, when I’ll be flying back to Belgium from Valladolid.
Bye and maybe ‘till soon!
Jeroen
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Monday, 3 August 2009
Poco de Nada
It’s only a month and a half more before I’ll be returning to Belgium, so this might well be the last article I will write before seeing everyone back, as I’ll then be able to tell all my Peruvian adventures in person. Most important personal event of last month was the visit of my parents during my two weeks of holiday, which gave me the opportunity to travel a bit through Peru with my family. After a week in a jungle lodge near Iquitos, located on the Tamshiyacu River, another tributary of the Amazon, we went one week to the south of Peru to visit Cuzco, the Sacred Valley of the Incas and off course Machu Picchu. Especially the visit to the ruins of Machu Picchu was a wonderful experience. Not only to admire the great building skills of the inhabitants of the Inca Empire, but also because of the breathtaking environment where the ruins are located. Also Cuzco is very beautiful city, with a very relaxed atmosphere despite the many tourists. The architecture however is greatly Spanish, as the conquistadores destroyed everything that could remind of the great Inca culture. The Catholics also found it necessary to destroy all of the Inca temples and to replace them by Christian churches. Finally all art was destroyed as it was considered idolatry.
Also in Iquitos everything is going great. Besides my parents also a friend of mine who was travelling in Peru made a visit. I arranged for him to stay in the house of a colleague and he seemed to really enjoy his time here as he was planning to be here only a few days but in the end stayed almost two weeks. When my parents arrived he was still in the city, so he, together with a few colleagues, helped me to prepare a ceviche (a typical seafood dish with a lot of lemon juice and onion) for my family and colleagues. We also went all together for a dance at El Pardo where my parents managed to impress the crowd with their salsa skills.
The day after I returned from Cuzco I used my last free day to visit the village of Santa Victoria, a bit downstream the Amazon River, where the mother of Marina is working as a teacher. In the afternoon we went with a few friends to Santo Thomas, a beautiful situated village just outside Iquitos, where we went for a swim in the Nanay River.
It is one week now that I’m working again and most important event on the working front is without any doubt the end of the education of Tomás to become a nurse. This Saturday he had to defend his thesis in front of a jury and after this the formal decision was made to give Tomás his final degrees. Afterwards we went with all the members of vzw Putumayo and the people of the jury to a restaurant to celebrate the successful conclusion of three years of hard work by the first Peruvian Secoya to receive a degree in advanced studies. Finally he’ll be able to return to his village to use his skills for the benefit of his people and to see his wife and three children again who were eagerly awaiting his return.
Chau,
Jeroen
Also in Iquitos everything is going great. Besides my parents also a friend of mine who was travelling in Peru made a visit. I arranged for him to stay in the house of a colleague and he seemed to really enjoy his time here as he was planning to be here only a few days but in the end stayed almost two weeks. When my parents arrived he was still in the city, so he, together with a few colleagues, helped me to prepare a ceviche (a typical seafood dish with a lot of lemon juice and onion) for my family and colleagues. We also went all together for a dance at El Pardo where my parents managed to impress the crowd with their salsa skills.
The day after I returned from Cuzco I used my last free day to visit the village of Santa Victoria, a bit downstream the Amazon River, where the mother of Marina is working as a teacher. In the afternoon we went with a few friends to Santo Thomas, a beautiful situated village just outside Iquitos, where we went for a swim in the Nanay River.
It is one week now that I’m working again and most important event on the working front is without any doubt the end of the education of Tomás to become a nurse. This Saturday he had to defend his thesis in front of a jury and after this the formal decision was made to give Tomás his final degrees. Afterwards we went with all the members of vzw Putumayo and the people of the jury to a restaurant to celebrate the successful conclusion of three years of hard work by the first Peruvian Secoya to receive a degree in advanced studies. Finally he’ll be able to return to his village to use his skills for the benefit of his people and to see his wife and three children again who were eagerly awaiting his return.
Chau,
Jeroen
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Ki-na! Ki-na!
It’s once more two weeks that I couldn’t write on my blog, as last weekends had been very busy and also during the week it’s ever harder to have an evening on myself. On the 14th of June I took a boat to the frontier with Brazil and Colombia, as I don’t have a visa for Peru and I had to get out of the country before the 15th – during the trip to the Putumayo River we visited some Colombian villages, but there it’s not possible to get your passport stamped. The cheapest way to do this quickly is to take a fast boat that can get you to the border in about 10 hours. At 6 o’clock in the morning the boat left the port in Iquitos to follow the Amazon River to the Peruvian village of Santa Rosa. There you can take a small boat to cross the river to one of the twin villages of Leticia (Colombia) and Tabatinga (Brazil). I spent my two nights in a small hostel in Tabatinga, but you can easily walk from one village to the other without any formalities. Once more it was significant how Santa Rosa, on the Peruvian side, was a small village without cars and hardly any commodities, while Tabatinga and Leticia are very developed, with good roads and lots of cars and motorcycles. Also at the Putumayo River it was very clear that most of the money is to be found on the Colombian side.
In Iquitos the most significant event of last two weeks was the general strike that was held on Thursday the 11th of June in support of the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. Strikes in Iquitos are generally started in proper way at midnight with a march through the streets. When it’s a worker’s strike usually the streets look like a war has passed the next day, as people start throwing around all they can find on the streets. This time however the people crossed the streets quietly holding candles to remember the victims of the violent clashes that had occurred in Bagua. Another march was organised during the day in the afternoon and attracted a huge crowd that filled the streets of Iquitos. Unions, universities, secondary schools and indigenous and other social organisations were all present and the march was concluded by speeches of indigenous leaders at Plaza 28 de Julio, the biggest square in the city.
At the office we’ve been mostly working on the legalization of the Board of Directors of OISPE and on the search of new markets to sell the artesanía of the Secoya communities. Also I started giving computer classes to the two new indigenous students that are staying in Iquitos, to prepare them for the moment they will have to make their first papers for university. Unfortunately it’s about three weeks now we’re waiting for the telephone company to come and install the internet connection at our new office, which isn’t making our work much easier.
Last weekend was dominated by festivities in the honour of Father’s Day and my birthday. On Friday afternoon, one of the days I went to help in the children’s house, classes were cancelled and a big barbeque was organized. After this the children were free to play and a tournament in both volleyball and football was organised. On Saturday morning I was invited to go with a small organization, founded by Marina and her friends to help young children in their studies, to visit a centre that’s working to protect the endangered manatees living in the Amazon basin. In the evening I had a first drink to celebrate my birthday and the next day we continued with another barbeque (a Peruvian weekend tradition), an original birthday cake (made from cookies, ice cream and wine) and even a few presents (which solved my ‘shortage of t-shirts’-problem).
Hasta la próxima,
Jeroen
In Iquitos the most significant event of last two weeks was the general strike that was held on Thursday the 11th of June in support of the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. Strikes in Iquitos are generally started in proper way at midnight with a march through the streets. When it’s a worker’s strike usually the streets look like a war has passed the next day, as people start throwing around all they can find on the streets. This time however the people crossed the streets quietly holding candles to remember the victims of the violent clashes that had occurred in Bagua. Another march was organised during the day in the afternoon and attracted a huge crowd that filled the streets of Iquitos. Unions, universities, secondary schools and indigenous and other social organisations were all present and the march was concluded by speeches of indigenous leaders at Plaza 28 de Julio, the biggest square in the city.
At the office we’ve been mostly working on the legalization of the Board of Directors of OISPE and on the search of new markets to sell the artesanía of the Secoya communities. Also I started giving computer classes to the two new indigenous students that are staying in Iquitos, to prepare them for the moment they will have to make their first papers for university. Unfortunately it’s about three weeks now we’re waiting for the telephone company to come and install the internet connection at our new office, which isn’t making our work much easier.
Last weekend was dominated by festivities in the honour of Father’s Day and my birthday. On Friday afternoon, one of the days I went to help in the children’s house, classes were cancelled and a big barbeque was organized. After this the children were free to play and a tournament in both volleyball and football was organised. On Saturday morning I was invited to go with a small organization, founded by Marina and her friends to help young children in their studies, to visit a centre that’s working to protect the endangered manatees living in the Amazon basin. In the evening I had a first drink to celebrate my birthday and the next day we continued with another barbeque (a Peruvian weekend tradition), an original birthday cake (made from cookies, ice cream and wine) and even a few presents (which solved my ‘shortage of t-shirts’-problem).
Hasta la próxima,
Jeroen
Monday, 8 June 2009
La selva se desangra
News of the week is without doubt the violent clashes that erupted last Friday in the city of Bagua between Peruvian police and indigenous protesters. Since April the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon have been protesting against the exploitation of their ancestral territories without their consultation, which is against both Peruvian and international laws. For the first time the protests turned violent as armed police lifted a road blockade near Bagua in the region of Amazonas. During this operation more than 20 indigenous were killed and also 11 policemen lost their lives. For now however it’s impossible to have an accurate view on the number of victims, as there are still a lot of wounded people in the hospitals and the Peruvian government tries to minimize the number of indigenous victims. The biased Peruvian television only talks about the ‘heroic’ policemen that died in the violent clashes.
The great majority in Iquitos however agrees with the struggle of the indigenous peoples in the region to defend their rights. On Friday evening there was a gathering of people carrying candles at Plaza de Armas to remember the victims that died in Bagua and to show their support to the indigenous peoples and leaders. The same evening the arrest was ordered of the leader of the organization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon (AIDESEP) Alberto Pizango. He declared the violence to be a consequence of the aggression of police forces trying to lift the blockade, while the protest had been peaceful for almost two months now. The Peruvian government however views the protest as being manipulated by indigenous leaders, political opposition parties and also elements from other countries that try to destabilize Peru and its economy.
On Saturday about ten more policemen that were captured by the protesters died as forces moved in to try to liberate them. Again we have no news about the indigenous that were killed in this operation. The city of Bagua is now under complete control of the police, but for journalists it’s very difficult to enter the region to make a balance of the violence of those two days. It’s also hard to say how the situation will evolve now as the protests keep continuing and an agreement between indigenous leaders and the government now seems absolutely impossible. The conflict will certainly be of great importance in the speech opposition leader Ollanta Humala will give coming Thursday on Plaza de 28 de Julio. If it is not delayed, because today it was announced that on that day a national strike will be organised in support of the indigenous peoples.
News on the lighter side now, we’ve moved to a new office last week for a second time, as organisation of lawyers Solsticio Perú found a place we could share and were there is also the availability of four sleeping rooms. As we only have to pay half of the rent and now an indigenous student and I are living there instead of renting separate rooms, we can save a lot of money this way. And the place is actually a lot more beautiful and comfortable than where we used to stay, although the place is filled with an awful lot of kitsch.
Last week I also started working in a children’s house on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get out of my office from time to time. It’s very pleasing work to help the children to do their work from school from 3 till 5 in the afternoon and afterwards there’s also an hour to play with the children. As it’s a Dutch organization that is running the place I also had the chance to meet some Dutch volunteers working there. One of them is also a student working here for a few months and as she didn’t knew a lot of people in Iquitos till now, I already took her out a few times with my Peruvian friends. Last Thursday e.g. we went to an evening of Creole dances to celebrate the birthday of the university of Marina, a good friend who’s always prepared to take me somewhere with her motorcycle. One of the most fun parts of an evening out for me stays by the way cruising around in the city on the back of her motorcycle picking up all her friends before arriving at a dancing place or bar. And having her drop me off at my place again afterwards too off course.
Chau,
Jeroen
The great majority in Iquitos however agrees with the struggle of the indigenous peoples in the region to defend their rights. On Friday evening there was a gathering of people carrying candles at Plaza de Armas to remember the victims that died in Bagua and to show their support to the indigenous peoples and leaders. The same evening the arrest was ordered of the leader of the organization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon (AIDESEP) Alberto Pizango. He declared the violence to be a consequence of the aggression of police forces trying to lift the blockade, while the protest had been peaceful for almost two months now. The Peruvian government however views the protest as being manipulated by indigenous leaders, political opposition parties and also elements from other countries that try to destabilize Peru and its economy.
On Saturday about ten more policemen that were captured by the protesters died as forces moved in to try to liberate them. Again we have no news about the indigenous that were killed in this operation. The city of Bagua is now under complete control of the police, but for journalists it’s very difficult to enter the region to make a balance of the violence of those two days. It’s also hard to say how the situation will evolve now as the protests keep continuing and an agreement between indigenous leaders and the government now seems absolutely impossible. The conflict will certainly be of great importance in the speech opposition leader Ollanta Humala will give coming Thursday on Plaza de 28 de Julio. If it is not delayed, because today it was announced that on that day a national strike will be organised in support of the indigenous peoples.
News on the lighter side now, we’ve moved to a new office last week for a second time, as organisation of lawyers Solsticio Perú found a place we could share and were there is also the availability of four sleeping rooms. As we only have to pay half of the rent and now an indigenous student and I are living there instead of renting separate rooms, we can save a lot of money this way. And the place is actually a lot more beautiful and comfortable than where we used to stay, although the place is filled with an awful lot of kitsch.
Last week I also started working in a children’s house on Tuesdays and Thursdays to get out of my office from time to time. It’s very pleasing work to help the children to do their work from school from 3 till 5 in the afternoon and afterwards there’s also an hour to play with the children. As it’s a Dutch organization that is running the place I also had the chance to meet some Dutch volunteers working there. One of them is also a student working here for a few months and as she didn’t knew a lot of people in Iquitos till now, I already took her out a few times with my Peruvian friends. Last Thursday e.g. we went to an evening of Creole dances to celebrate the birthday of the university of Marina, a good friend who’s always prepared to take me somewhere with her motorcycle. One of the most fun parts of an evening out for me stays by the way cruising around in the city on the back of her motorcycle picking up all her friends before arriving at a dancing place or bar. And having her drop me off at my place again afterwards too off course.
Chau,
Jeroen
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Safe as Milk or: My Journey to the Putumayo Region
On the 5th of May I left Iquitos for a trip of three weeks to the Putumayo River, which forms the border between Peru and Colombia. It’s in this border region that the indigenous peoples live that Vzw Putumayo is supporting, so it was an opportunity to see the results and problems of some of the projects from close by. The trip didn’t start very well as I became sick the day before we were leaving. With the necessary quantities of antibiotics however I managed to get well soon and against all odds I didn’t get sick during the whole rest of the journey. This journey would take 22 days for me and my colleague, agricultural engineer Sixto and the first 10 days we would be accompanied by Ellen, president of the Belgian branch of the organization, who would be working to do the final part of her fieldwork for her PhD.
Our first goal was El Estrecho, a city that can be reached relatively easy by plane from Iquitos. The first day there we used to buy some necessary supplies for the trip like drinking water, bread and conserve food. After one night of rest in a local hostel, we took off for our first boat trip. A pequé-pequé, a small motorboat, brought us to the Huitoto community of Puerto Limón, a journey that took us the whole day, of which unfortunately it was raining almost half of the time. In this village I could finally see the rice peeling machine that was installed with the support of Vzw Putumayo for the communal enterprise MOK+A+. During the morning of the 7th of May a meeting was planned with the Board of Directors of this enterprise. More information about what we discussed on the meetings and our work will soon be found on the official Putumayo blog.
The following day was again spent on the water as we had to get to the Alto Putumayo region were the Secoya communities and a great number of Kichwa communities are located. To get there we would normally take a Colombian line boat, as these are the fastest way to travel on the Putumayo River, but for an obscure reason it decided it didn’t want to stop in the Colombian village of Belén where we were waiting. As the line boat makes its trip to the Upper Putumayo only once a week, it was no option to wait for the next one, so the only solution was travelling half a day by pequé-pequé to the Colombian city of El Encanto. There we managed to find some Colombians who were prepared to bring us to our destination for a good price. Good for them that is. In the end two somewhat clumsy Colombian youths brought us to our next goal, the Kichwa community of Nueva Esperanza.
There we stayed in the house of FIKAPIR president Demecio Tangoa, who has a nice house looking over the Putumayo River. On the other side of that river was the little Colombian village of La Colonia, in fact not much more than the shop and bar of Doña Mary and her, quite attractive, daughter-in-law Claudia. Here we went to buy more supplies and the necessary gasoline for the people of the different neighbouring communities that would come for the meeting with the Board of Directors of FIKAPIR and the first workshop, which was organised in Nueva Esperanza. As mentioned in the previous post we were going to reproduce a workshop about petroleum exploitation and indigenous rights, given in Iquitos by a lawyer of Solsticio Perú, in some of the villages in the Upper Putumayo. In Nueva Esperanza this would be given in two languages, Castilian and Kichwa. For the translations to Kichwa we received the help of bilingual teacher Jaime Condé.
Both the meeting with the Board of Directors of the Kichwa federation and the workshop went well and the 10th of May we were once more travelling. This time it was only a short distance to the Secoya village of Bellavista, which is located at the Yubineto River. In Bellavista also we had a meeting with a Board of Directors, this time of the Peruvian Secoya organization OISPE, and a workshop, organized in Castilian and Secoya. For the translations we received the help of three different teachers, each helping on a different part of the workshop. The stay in Bellavista was great as it was located really beautiful and the people were very friendly. A feeling I also had in the other Secoya village where we would stay later on the trip.
First however we were visiting another Kichwa village, namely Nueva Angusilla. Here we organized the workshop only in Castilian as all of the attendees were capable of understanding and speaking this language. The stay in this village will mostly be remembered for the abundant presence of mosquitoes, certainly in the health post where we were sleeping, so when I left my arms and legs where covered with dozens of red spots. And it was also the place where I washed my clothes for the first time in a river.
The most distant village we have visited on the trip was the Secoya community of Mashunta.
The evening of our arrival there was immediately a big party to celebrate the birthday of a two-year old, which appeared to be an excuse for the whole village to get drunk on masato, a beverage made of yucca that is fermented by the local women by chewing it. After they served my colleague and me a dinner we were invited to another house where we had the opportunity to dance on Ecuadorian indigenous music. When this house ran out of solar energy we had to move again to the next one. However this next house had only sufficient energy for the music if they turned out the light. Subsequently they started to break leaves from the roof to make a big fire in the house, which made a nice atmosphere, but probably wouldn’t make the owners very happy when they were sober again. As everyone had to sleep long the next day to recuperate from the party, the workshop started for once in the afternoon and was again given in two languages. The 19th of May we left for Nueva Esperanza from where we would take the line boat back to Puerto Limón. There we had to attend the General Assembly of MOK+A+, where a new Board of Directors was elected.
It was the 24th of May when we finally arrived back in El Estrecho, where we celebrated the end of the big journey by playing pool and visiting one of the local discotheques. The next day we made some final visits in the city and then the next part of our work started with the preparation of the necessary reports. It was in the morning of the 26th of May that a plane took us back to Iquitos, which gave me the curious feeling of coming home again.
So, as my experiences in Iquitos might get a bit dull if I keep writing every week, probably I’ll write a bit less often from now on, but I’ll keep doing my best to keep you all informed.
Bye,
Jero
Our first goal was El Estrecho, a city that can be reached relatively easy by plane from Iquitos. The first day there we used to buy some necessary supplies for the trip like drinking water, bread and conserve food. After one night of rest in a local hostel, we took off for our first boat trip. A pequé-pequé, a small motorboat, brought us to the Huitoto community of Puerto Limón, a journey that took us the whole day, of which unfortunately it was raining almost half of the time. In this village I could finally see the rice peeling machine that was installed with the support of Vzw Putumayo for the communal enterprise MOK+A+. During the morning of the 7th of May a meeting was planned with the Board of Directors of this enterprise. More information about what we discussed on the meetings and our work will soon be found on the official Putumayo blog.
The following day was again spent on the water as we had to get to the Alto Putumayo region were the Secoya communities and a great number of Kichwa communities are located. To get there we would normally take a Colombian line boat, as these are the fastest way to travel on the Putumayo River, but for an obscure reason it decided it didn’t want to stop in the Colombian village of Belén where we were waiting. As the line boat makes its trip to the Upper Putumayo only once a week, it was no option to wait for the next one, so the only solution was travelling half a day by pequé-pequé to the Colombian city of El Encanto. There we managed to find some Colombians who were prepared to bring us to our destination for a good price. Good for them that is. In the end two somewhat clumsy Colombian youths brought us to our next goal, the Kichwa community of Nueva Esperanza.
There we stayed in the house of FIKAPIR president Demecio Tangoa, who has a nice house looking over the Putumayo River. On the other side of that river was the little Colombian village of La Colonia, in fact not much more than the shop and bar of Doña Mary and her, quite attractive, daughter-in-law Claudia. Here we went to buy more supplies and the necessary gasoline for the people of the different neighbouring communities that would come for the meeting with the Board of Directors of FIKAPIR and the first workshop, which was organised in Nueva Esperanza. As mentioned in the previous post we were going to reproduce a workshop about petroleum exploitation and indigenous rights, given in Iquitos by a lawyer of Solsticio Perú, in some of the villages in the Upper Putumayo. In Nueva Esperanza this would be given in two languages, Castilian and Kichwa. For the translations to Kichwa we received the help of bilingual teacher Jaime Condé.
Both the meeting with the Board of Directors of the Kichwa federation and the workshop went well and the 10th of May we were once more travelling. This time it was only a short distance to the Secoya village of Bellavista, which is located at the Yubineto River. In Bellavista also we had a meeting with a Board of Directors, this time of the Peruvian Secoya organization OISPE, and a workshop, organized in Castilian and Secoya. For the translations we received the help of three different teachers, each helping on a different part of the workshop. The stay in Bellavista was great as it was located really beautiful and the people were very friendly. A feeling I also had in the other Secoya village where we would stay later on the trip.
First however we were visiting another Kichwa village, namely Nueva Angusilla. Here we organized the workshop only in Castilian as all of the attendees were capable of understanding and speaking this language. The stay in this village will mostly be remembered for the abundant presence of mosquitoes, certainly in the health post where we were sleeping, so when I left my arms and legs where covered with dozens of red spots. And it was also the place where I washed my clothes for the first time in a river.
The most distant village we have visited on the trip was the Secoya community of Mashunta.
The evening of our arrival there was immediately a big party to celebrate the birthday of a two-year old, which appeared to be an excuse for the whole village to get drunk on masato, a beverage made of yucca that is fermented by the local women by chewing it. After they served my colleague and me a dinner we were invited to another house where we had the opportunity to dance on Ecuadorian indigenous music. When this house ran out of solar energy we had to move again to the next one. However this next house had only sufficient energy for the music if they turned out the light. Subsequently they started to break leaves from the roof to make a big fire in the house, which made a nice atmosphere, but probably wouldn’t make the owners very happy when they were sober again. As everyone had to sleep long the next day to recuperate from the party, the workshop started for once in the afternoon and was again given in two languages. The 19th of May we left for Nueva Esperanza from where we would take the line boat back to Puerto Limón. There we had to attend the General Assembly of MOK+A+, where a new Board of Directors was elected.
It was the 24th of May when we finally arrived back in El Estrecho, where we celebrated the end of the big journey by playing pool and visiting one of the local discotheques. The next day we made some final visits in the city and then the next part of our work started with the preparation of the necessary reports. It was in the morning of the 26th of May that a plane took us back to Iquitos, which gave me the curious feeling of coming home again.
So, as my experiences in Iquitos might get a bit dull if I keep writing every week, probably I’ll write a bit less often from now on, but I’ll keep doing my best to keep you all informed.
Bye,
Jero
Monday, 4 May 2009
¿Adónde?
Only a short article before I’ll leave to the Putumayo River tomorrow, as I’m very busy now and a bit sick. After my trip I’ll explain everything about what we have done there, so I can concentrate now on a short overview of the activities last week. We had a lot of meetings, as both Ellen, the president of Putumayo Belgium, and the lawyers of Solsticio Perú came to Iquitos. Last weekend our partner organization organized a workshop about the Indigenous rights and petroleum exploitation. For this we had invited two leaders of the indigenous organization, one Kichwa and one Secoya, to travel to Iquitos to attend the workshop. So during our travel to the communities we can reproduce the workshop with their help. Also, it’s very probable that we’ll be changing office again very soon. The people of Solsticio are staying at an apartment with three rooms and place for an office, so if we share this place it will be a lot cheaper than paying for both a room and an office. And as the price is the most important reason to chance, it’s also nice that the new place is a lot more comfortable and a bit further from the noisy centre.
Starting from June I’ll also be able to help another organization in Iquitos. A project called Hogar Arco Iris, which is started by Dutch people, has a house for children in the city. It’s mostly children from single parents that can’t look after their children. So they stay there from Monday till Saturday. During the morning Dutch volunteers go to school together with the children to support the often poorly educated teachers. In the afternoon they help with homework and afterwards play some games. It’s during Tuesday and Thursday afternoon that I’ll be going to lend a hand, so I will have more variation in my activities here without neglecting all the work I have for my organization as well.
And now back to preparing my trip. You’ll hear all about it in three weeks!
Jero
Starting from June I’ll also be able to help another organization in Iquitos. A project called Hogar Arco Iris, which is started by Dutch people, has a house for children in the city. It’s mostly children from single parents that can’t look after their children. So they stay there from Monday till Saturday. During the morning Dutch volunteers go to school together with the children to support the often poorly educated teachers. In the afternoon they help with homework and afterwards play some games. It’s during Tuesday and Thursday afternoon that I’ll be going to lend a hand, so I will have more variation in my activities here without neglecting all the work I have for my organization as well.
And now back to preparing my trip. You’ll hear all about it in three weeks!
Jero
Monday, 27 April 2009
Papa Sierra 25
A bit later than usually with my blog article, as yesterday I was on a visit in the district of Belén, something I had been looking forward to for some time. This district is for the most part built on the Itaya River and a lot of the houses there are literally floating. I had the opportunity to visit the family of one of my colleagues living in a house that is built on the ground, but in this time of the year the water around it is very deep and the first floor isn’t used as it is full of water. After making a small tour with a boat we arrived at the house to prepare and eat a delicious dinner. We started with tasting all kinds of Amazon fruits and after this we ate a plate with chicken and rice and a dish with fish and banana. The dinner was followed by a refreshing dive in the river and the visit was concluded by a strong Peruvian cocktail. In the early evening we returned to Iquitos, before it became too difficult to find boats that can bring you back to shore.
The evening before we had another party at the boat of the French volunteers, as one of the leaders of the project celebrated his birthday. Besides French and Peruvian people there was also one Russian guy, so I thought it was a good moment to start practising my Russian as well, but after exactly two seconds I had to let go of this plan. As his Spanish is even worse than mine we did however have some interesting conversations in English. He explained fleeing Russia some years ago to escape military service (and the system of dedovshchina that comes with it) and travelling a great part of the world before arriving in Peru. As he had studied history in Russia and was specialized in 20th century culture in his country, it was also fine to have some discussions about Russian history. Although the French probably found it a bit dull.
Another special experience I had on Friday evening. At the invitation of my Italian neighbour I went for the first time to a discotheque in Punchana, another district outside the centre of Iquitos. The contrast with the more upscale Noa in the centre was enormous. When coming in you have the impression to be in a dirty and slightly perverted Latino/R’n’B music clip. But one must say it had some special atmosphere and as the entrance is free you have a very diverse public coming there. First thing we did was buying a drink, together with some Peruvian friends of my neighbour, and instead of each receiving a glass it is the habit in such dancing places to buy one big bottle of beer with which you receive one small glass. The idea is that you fill the glass, drink it fast and give bottle and glass to the next person. One rather strange thing was that they were also projecting the movie Hotel Rwanda in the place. Not really the kind of movie I enjoy when being at a party.
During the week at the office I had been mostly busy with organizing the journey to the Putumayo River, where we’ll be travelling to from the 5th of May. As this is quite some work we even had to skip a march in the city that was organized to support the indigenous communities in the province, which was a bit unfortunate. Another important event was a meeting with ORPIO, the regional indigenous organization, on Friday. Also on that day during lunchtime I was invited to eat at the house of Leyla, one of my colleagues, where I was learned to eat fish the Peruvian way. This means you don’t only have to eat it with your hands, but that you also eat almost everything, including the head of the fish. It was quite crunchy, but there wasn’t a lot of taste to it and I must admit that this time I couldn’t bring myself to eating all of it. I was already glad my stomach didn’t react in a bad way, so maybe I’ll make a better attempt next time.
Goodbye for now,
Jero
The evening before we had another party at the boat of the French volunteers, as one of the leaders of the project celebrated his birthday. Besides French and Peruvian people there was also one Russian guy, so I thought it was a good moment to start practising my Russian as well, but after exactly two seconds I had to let go of this plan. As his Spanish is even worse than mine we did however have some interesting conversations in English. He explained fleeing Russia some years ago to escape military service (and the system of dedovshchina that comes with it) and travelling a great part of the world before arriving in Peru. As he had studied history in Russia and was specialized in 20th century culture in his country, it was also fine to have some discussions about Russian history. Although the French probably found it a bit dull.
Another special experience I had on Friday evening. At the invitation of my Italian neighbour I went for the first time to a discotheque in Punchana, another district outside the centre of Iquitos. The contrast with the more upscale Noa in the centre was enormous. When coming in you have the impression to be in a dirty and slightly perverted Latino/R’n’B music clip. But one must say it had some special atmosphere and as the entrance is free you have a very diverse public coming there. First thing we did was buying a drink, together with some Peruvian friends of my neighbour, and instead of each receiving a glass it is the habit in such dancing places to buy one big bottle of beer with which you receive one small glass. The idea is that you fill the glass, drink it fast and give bottle and glass to the next person. One rather strange thing was that they were also projecting the movie Hotel Rwanda in the place. Not really the kind of movie I enjoy when being at a party.
During the week at the office I had been mostly busy with organizing the journey to the Putumayo River, where we’ll be travelling to from the 5th of May. As this is quite some work we even had to skip a march in the city that was organized to support the indigenous communities in the province, which was a bit unfortunate. Another important event was a meeting with ORPIO, the regional indigenous organization, on Friday. Also on that day during lunchtime I was invited to eat at the house of Leyla, one of my colleagues, where I was learned to eat fish the Peruvian way. This means you don’t only have to eat it with your hands, but that you also eat almost everything, including the head of the fish. It was quite crunchy, but there wasn’t a lot of taste to it and I must admit that this time I couldn’t bring myself to eating all of it. I was already glad my stomach didn’t react in a bad way, so maybe I’ll make a better attempt next time.
Goodbye for now,
Jero
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Diarios de Motocicleta
Still working hard here every day at the office, but I’m enjoying it as it seems to me something worth doing. The downside is that most of the time I’m busy on my computer. But good news, in May I’ll finally be able to travel to the Putumayo River and visit our projects there. Going to the border area with Colombia will be quite an adventure as we’ll have to fly to the small city of El Estrecho with a floatplane and from there a little boat will bring us upstream to visit the various mestizo, Huitoto, Kichwa and Secoya communities. An important mission there is to join the General Assembly of MOK+A+, a rice project that was started near El Estrecho to bring an alternative for the illegal and damaging cultivation of coca. A new Board of Directors will be elected and we’ll be looking at some plans that can improve the independence of the communal enterprise. This to ensure the sustainability of the project and to make sure that in the future they’ll be able to function without support from vzw Putumayo.
This week we had some long meetings to discuss our work plans and to improve the efficiency of the organization. One plan for the near future is the sending of four young indigenous leaders to a school for leaders in Cusco in May. Here they will be educated in discussion tactics, press contacts etc. to strengthen the leadership of the indigenous organizations in the light of future challenges, especially concerning the threat of the petroleum exploitation in the area (cf. article last week). Both the Kichwa federation (FIKAPIR) and the Secoya organization (OISPE) of the Alto Putumayo will send two people and to promote the equality between men in women in the communities it will be two times a boy and girl. After receiving a training organized by CONACAMI, an organization mainly active with the indigenous peoples of the Andes region, they will also join a conference in the city of Puno.
Concerning my own experiences here I’m very happy to have been able to visit some more people in and around Iquitos at their homes, noticing once more the huge differences in living conditions here. Especially the recently arrived indigenous people who came to look for their fortune in the city have to live in a precarious situation. One girl who came from the Alto Putumayo because she urgently needed medical attention was able to get an operation thanks to a loan from vzw Putumayo. We’ve visited her at her uncle’s modest living place to see whether she has recovered well and apparently she is healthy again, but not really happy here, so hopefully she can get an opportunity soon to return to her home.
Later this week I also visited the home of a family that housed a Belgian girl last year that was here as an AFS student (many thanks to Michaël and his sister for bringing me in contact with them). They seemed very enthusiast to receive another Belgian at their house and especially the mother, who gives lessons at an indigenous community near Iquitos, can talk for hours while we’re sitting in the rocking chairs in front of the house. Luckily they live outside the busy city centre so it’s a fine opportunity to escape the noise. And also to make nice long rides with the mototaxi or on the back of a motorcycle (most family members have their own motorcycle and they’re always prepared to pick you up or bring you back, but I try to assure them it’s no problem for me going with the mototaxi). Immediately after my first visit on Friday they also invited me to come to dinner the next day, which off course I couldn’t refuse. Now I only have to learn to eat chicken with my hands so they wouldn’t be joking anymore about the crazy gringo trying to eat everything with knife and fork...
Chao!
Jero
This week we had some long meetings to discuss our work plans and to improve the efficiency of the organization. One plan for the near future is the sending of four young indigenous leaders to a school for leaders in Cusco in May. Here they will be educated in discussion tactics, press contacts etc. to strengthen the leadership of the indigenous organizations in the light of future challenges, especially concerning the threat of the petroleum exploitation in the area (cf. article last week). Both the Kichwa federation (FIKAPIR) and the Secoya organization (OISPE) of the Alto Putumayo will send two people and to promote the equality between men in women in the communities it will be two times a boy and girl. After receiving a training organized by CONACAMI, an organization mainly active with the indigenous peoples of the Andes region, they will also join a conference in the city of Puno.
Concerning my own experiences here I’m very happy to have been able to visit some more people in and around Iquitos at their homes, noticing once more the huge differences in living conditions here. Especially the recently arrived indigenous people who came to look for their fortune in the city have to live in a precarious situation. One girl who came from the Alto Putumayo because she urgently needed medical attention was able to get an operation thanks to a loan from vzw Putumayo. We’ve visited her at her uncle’s modest living place to see whether she has recovered well and apparently she is healthy again, but not really happy here, so hopefully she can get an opportunity soon to return to her home.
Later this week I also visited the home of a family that housed a Belgian girl last year that was here as an AFS student (many thanks to Michaël and his sister for bringing me in contact with them). They seemed very enthusiast to receive another Belgian at their house and especially the mother, who gives lessons at an indigenous community near Iquitos, can talk for hours while we’re sitting in the rocking chairs in front of the house. Luckily they live outside the busy city centre so it’s a fine opportunity to escape the noise. And also to make nice long rides with the mototaxi or on the back of a motorcycle (most family members have their own motorcycle and they’re always prepared to pick you up or bring you back, but I try to assure them it’s no problem for me going with the mototaxi). Immediately after my first visit on Friday they also invited me to come to dinner the next day, which off course I couldn’t refuse. Now I only have to learn to eat chicken with my hands so they wouldn’t be joking anymore about the crazy gringo trying to eat everything with knife and fork...
Chao!
Jero
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Remembering Brian
As the very catholic Peruvians were celebrating the Holy Week, especially starting from Thursday, I didn’t see much of my colleagues at the office. But the positive side of the celebrations was that both the Peruvian family I’m living with and the owner of the office invited me to dinner. This way I was able to eat some typical fish dishes the people prepare at home and I managed to safe some lunch money on Thursday and Friday. Also on Friday evening there was a big procession in the streets, with little statues and relics being carried around and people carrying candles. The only thing that’s a bit unfortunate is that there aren’t any chocolate eggs on Easter-day.
Most important news of the week however was the verdict in the trial against Alberto Fujimori. The former Peruvian president was sentenced this Tuesday to a jail term of 25 years, as he was found guilty for the abduction of a journalist and a businessman and the killings by a death squad in the early nineties. At the height of the civil war, with Sendero Luminoso threatening to take over power in Peru, Fujimori took drastic measures to fight the insurgent movement, curbing democracy in the country dramatically. Many Peruvians accuse him of fighting a dirty war against the rebels in which death squads were allowed to operate freely. One of those death squads was responsible for the killing of 15 people during a raid on a barbeque in Lima and for the the assassination of 9 university students who were lifted from there dormitory beds. On the other hand there are also a lot of Peruvians who still support him as he was able to save the country from economic collapse and managed to arrest the most important leaders of Sendero Luminoso, which is now confined to some remote areas in the Andes region. Fujimori’s daughter Keiko is scoring very high in opinion polls lately, especially in Lima, and she already announced that if she gets elected in the next presidential elections in 2011 she will pardon her father immediately, but the Iquiteños I spoke with don’t think she will gather enough support on national level.
At work we finally moved to our new office, which is located in the same house but is remarkably bigger than the old one. This will be necessary as in the near future a lawyer will come to work here to assist us in the case of the petroleum exploitation in the Alto Putumayo. It’s three years now since the Peruvian state sold an area compromising the Secoya and Kichwa communities to the Brazilian oil company Petrobras. As the indigenous people weren’t consulted before the agreement was made it was in fact illegal, so since then our organization had organized some workshops at the Putumayo and Napo rivers to inform the communities about the advantages and disadvantages of petroleum exploitation in the region. In the end the both the Secoya and Kichwa people living there decided they don’t want to risk the future of their families by allowing this kind of pollution in their living environment. This is why the Asociación Putumayo Perú has made an agreement with Solsticio Perú, an organization that provides legal support to indigenous peoples, to help the communities in the judicial procedures that are to follow.
Hasta luego,
Jeroen
Most important news of the week however was the verdict in the trial against Alberto Fujimori. The former Peruvian president was sentenced this Tuesday to a jail term of 25 years, as he was found guilty for the abduction of a journalist and a businessman and the killings by a death squad in the early nineties. At the height of the civil war, with Sendero Luminoso threatening to take over power in Peru, Fujimori took drastic measures to fight the insurgent movement, curbing democracy in the country dramatically. Many Peruvians accuse him of fighting a dirty war against the rebels in which death squads were allowed to operate freely. One of those death squads was responsible for the killing of 15 people during a raid on a barbeque in Lima and for the the assassination of 9 university students who were lifted from there dormitory beds. On the other hand there are also a lot of Peruvians who still support him as he was able to save the country from economic collapse and managed to arrest the most important leaders of Sendero Luminoso, which is now confined to some remote areas in the Andes region. Fujimori’s daughter Keiko is scoring very high in opinion polls lately, especially in Lima, and she already announced that if she gets elected in the next presidential elections in 2011 she will pardon her father immediately, but the Iquiteños I spoke with don’t think she will gather enough support on national level.
At work we finally moved to our new office, which is located in the same house but is remarkably bigger than the old one. This will be necessary as in the near future a lawyer will come to work here to assist us in the case of the petroleum exploitation in the Alto Putumayo. It’s three years now since the Peruvian state sold an area compromising the Secoya and Kichwa communities to the Brazilian oil company Petrobras. As the indigenous people weren’t consulted before the agreement was made it was in fact illegal, so since then our organization had organized some workshops at the Putumayo and Napo rivers to inform the communities about the advantages and disadvantages of petroleum exploitation in the region. In the end the both the Secoya and Kichwa people living there decided they don’t want to risk the future of their families by allowing this kind of pollution in their living environment. This is why the Asociación Putumayo Perú has made an agreement with Solsticio Perú, an organization that provides legal support to indigenous peoples, to help the communities in the judicial procedures that are to follow.
Hasta luego,
Jeroen
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Chanel 9 Neus
This week we had to say goodbye to Felien, the Belgian colleague I’m replacing here in Iquitos, so even more work and responsibility for me from now on. And there is much work to do. In this period the Belgian sponsors of our projects are expecting reports from our activities to decide whether they’ll keep supporting us and also we have to find some new funds for some of the new initiatives we are working on now. For example this week two young indigenous students from the Putumayo region, Meliza and Iván, have arrived in Iquitos to start a pre-university course that can give them the opportunity to start an education to become teachers. Just like for me it must be a very special experience for them to come live in this noisy city for some time, coming from little villages at the Colombian border.
As some people probably don’t bother to take a look at the website of our organization, maybe some more explanation about this new project is welcome. During meetings in November last year of two indigenous organizations we are working with, FIKAPIR (federation of the Kichwa communities at the Putumayo river) and OISPE (organization of the Secoya people) both decided they wanted someone of their communities to become a bilingual teacher. The need for this comes from the fact that most of the teachers coming there are mestizos from the city that only speak Spanish, can have as a consequence that people will start to neglect their native languages. Also, there is a cultural barrier and a lot of these teachers aren’t really motivated to go to these remote areas to teach, which has a negative effect on the quality of the education.
One of the consequences of the rather bad quality of the education in the Putumayo region is that Meliza and Iván now will have to start with the pre-university course to be able to start their studies at university. This course will start next week and will take 8 months, with exams every month to decide whether they’re making the necessary progress. Off course, being away from their communities we’re trying our best to give them a good home in Iquitos. We have found a nice student room for both and the owner of the room of Meliza will make food for a small extra cost. Also we’re taking care of the necessary documents and provide them with the necessary school stuff like notebooks and pencils. Now we can only hope that they will stay motivated being in this bizarre city and far away from their villages and families.
As one of my favourite relaxing activities in Iquitos is going to eat it’s time for some more information about the typical food in the city. This week for the first time I tasted alligator in a specialties restaurant. It was served in a garlic sauce – here it means that the sauce mainly exists out of big pieces of garlic – and tasted quite good. The meat is a bit fishlike and also has a taste somewhere between beef and fish. Another dish they served in the restaurant was turtle, but as I had read somewhere that these animals are actually protected here I had decided I won’t eat these during my stay here. Also typical in Peru is the important influence from Chinese cuisine and at the same time the Chinese restaurants, called chifas here, have adapted strongly to the Peruvian ingredients. A visit to one of these chifas is therefore an obligation, also because it is a bit weird to find this much Chinese restaurants in a rather isolated city the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Together with your dinner here they usually serve some cold drinks prepared with local ingredients. Very typical for example is the chicha morada, which is prepared with purple corn, and camu camu, a local fruit from which they make a refreshing sweet drink. And another very typical thing in this region is juane, rice with a local spice and some chicken that is wrapped in banana leaves. You can buy it anywhere on the street and it’s very delicious.
On Thursday evening Felien gave a goodbye party as she was leaving the city to travel a bit in Peru before returning to Belgium. With her French and Peruvian friends we had a drink and some cake in a local bar after which we went to Noa, which is considered the trendier discotheque in Iquitos. Luckily the atmosphere and the music can’t be compared to any discotheque in Europe and we had a great time. On Saturday night I even returned there with a Peruvian girl and two of her friends, as she is able to acquire free tickets for us. Also nice on Saturday was that they had closed a part of my street to organise sports championships, football for the boys and volleyball for the girls. For a moment I thought about looking for a team I might join, but then I realised I don’t have any sporting clothes here. By next time I’ll make sure to buy some and maybe there is a team that will be so friendly to accept a gringo...
Chao!
Jeroen
As some people probably don’t bother to take a look at the website of our organization, maybe some more explanation about this new project is welcome. During meetings in November last year of two indigenous organizations we are working with, FIKAPIR (federation of the Kichwa communities at the Putumayo river) and OISPE (organization of the Secoya people) both decided they wanted someone of their communities to become a bilingual teacher. The need for this comes from the fact that most of the teachers coming there are mestizos from the city that only speak Spanish, can have as a consequence that people will start to neglect their native languages. Also, there is a cultural barrier and a lot of these teachers aren’t really motivated to go to these remote areas to teach, which has a negative effect on the quality of the education.
One of the consequences of the rather bad quality of the education in the Putumayo region is that Meliza and Iván now will have to start with the pre-university course to be able to start their studies at university. This course will start next week and will take 8 months, with exams every month to decide whether they’re making the necessary progress. Off course, being away from their communities we’re trying our best to give them a good home in Iquitos. We have found a nice student room for both and the owner of the room of Meliza will make food for a small extra cost. Also we’re taking care of the necessary documents and provide them with the necessary school stuff like notebooks and pencils. Now we can only hope that they will stay motivated being in this bizarre city and far away from their villages and families.
As one of my favourite relaxing activities in Iquitos is going to eat it’s time for some more information about the typical food in the city. This week for the first time I tasted alligator in a specialties restaurant. It was served in a garlic sauce – here it means that the sauce mainly exists out of big pieces of garlic – and tasted quite good. The meat is a bit fishlike and also has a taste somewhere between beef and fish. Another dish they served in the restaurant was turtle, but as I had read somewhere that these animals are actually protected here I had decided I won’t eat these during my stay here. Also typical in Peru is the important influence from Chinese cuisine and at the same time the Chinese restaurants, called chifas here, have adapted strongly to the Peruvian ingredients. A visit to one of these chifas is therefore an obligation, also because it is a bit weird to find this much Chinese restaurants in a rather isolated city the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Together with your dinner here they usually serve some cold drinks prepared with local ingredients. Very typical for example is the chicha morada, which is prepared with purple corn, and camu camu, a local fruit from which they make a refreshing sweet drink. And another very typical thing in this region is juane, rice with a local spice and some chicken that is wrapped in banana leaves. You can buy it anywhere on the street and it’s very delicious.
On Thursday evening Felien gave a goodbye party as she was leaving the city to travel a bit in Peru before returning to Belgium. With her French and Peruvian friends we had a drink and some cake in a local bar after which we went to Noa, which is considered the trendier discotheque in Iquitos. Luckily the atmosphere and the music can’t be compared to any discotheque in Europe and we had a great time. On Saturday night I even returned there with a Peruvian girl and two of her friends, as she is able to acquire free tickets for us. Also nice on Saturday was that they had closed a part of my street to organise sports championships, football for the boys and volleyball for the girls. For a moment I thought about looking for a team I might join, but then I realised I don’t have any sporting clothes here. By next time I’ll make sure to buy some and maybe there is a team that will be so friendly to accept a gringo...
Chao!
Jeroen
Sunday, 29 March 2009
The Chicken that Flew over the Soup
After one week of being sick and being unable to eat much, this week I managed to compensate for it. As I had been hungry all the time, I took the opportunity to check out the different eating places in Iquitos, so I can tell you a bit more about the food here. And I must say that I can’t make any complaints. Actually you’re not even allowed, with the prices of the food here. You can get a simple dish for less than a euro and for a whole menu with something to drink you pay about € 1,50 in the more simple restaurants. The food also comes in big quantities and can be a mix of everything: meat together with both potatoes and rice and all kinds of vegetables. And they always give you some sauces with it as well. Most common food here however is simple chicken with rice, potatoes or baked banana, but there are also wide varieties of grilled meats. For appetizer the chicken soup is quite typical, but you can’t expect to find much chicken in it. Or it’s a foot and some bones.
I’m also becoming more and more at home in this fascinating city and I’m beginning to pick up my daily routines here. During the week I’m working in the office most of the time, but with the company of my nice colleagues time is going extremely fast. Best news from the working front this week came with a visit we made to the vice president of the regional health authorities. As the health care education of Tomas (see message of last week) is coming to an end this year, we have to make sure that he can go to work in his own community (one of the goals of the project is that the Secoya can get medical assistance from someone who speaks their native language). But because it’s the authorities who decide what will be his working place, we have to make sure that they agree with this. As the person we met was very enthusiast about our project it seems like this won’t be a problem. When Tomas will receive his last degree, we can go back to have a final meeting about it.
This weekend it was time to make a first encounter with the nightlife in Iquitos. Because Felien will be leaving in one week, we decided to have a drink on Friday with our colleagues from the Asociación Putumayo. In a local bar I tasted the typical Peruvian (or Chilean according to the Chileans) cocktail Pisco Sour. Because of the evident presence of lemon it might be compared to the Mojito and it also has the same refreshing virtues. Afterwards we went to dance the cumbia, which was also quite an interesting experience. It was in a big half open place called El Pardo where a live band was playing the music, but the strangest thing were the girl dancers on the stage. They were dressed in shiny underwear and high boots and their way of dancing could best be compared to the most awful American R’n’B music clips. Also, on Friday you had a lot of place to dance, because for some reason on that day (which is the only day entrance is free) most Peruvians decide not to go.
So to taste the atmosphere of a full house, the next evening we ended up in the same place. And starting with drinking Pisco already seems to be the common habit here. This time we were invited on the boat of French volunteers working in Iquitos. There were also some Peruvians and one of them wanted to practice his English, so it was a complicated evening of changing between Dutch, Spanish, French and English. After eating some pizza we went to El Pardo (with four in a mototaxi and three on a motorcycle) which was packed with people this time and we danced till the early hours. To conclude I can say it was a great weekend and also I’m glad to have met some more people here and that I was able to go out with my colleagues to get to know them in a different way.
Hasta la próxima,
Jeroen
I’m also becoming more and more at home in this fascinating city and I’m beginning to pick up my daily routines here. During the week I’m working in the office most of the time, but with the company of my nice colleagues time is going extremely fast. Best news from the working front this week came with a visit we made to the vice president of the regional health authorities. As the health care education of Tomas (see message of last week) is coming to an end this year, we have to make sure that he can go to work in his own community (one of the goals of the project is that the Secoya can get medical assistance from someone who speaks their native language). But because it’s the authorities who decide what will be his working place, we have to make sure that they agree with this. As the person we met was very enthusiast about our project it seems like this won’t be a problem. When Tomas will receive his last degree, we can go back to have a final meeting about it.
This weekend it was time to make a first encounter with the nightlife in Iquitos. Because Felien will be leaving in one week, we decided to have a drink on Friday with our colleagues from the Asociación Putumayo. In a local bar I tasted the typical Peruvian (or Chilean according to the Chileans) cocktail Pisco Sour. Because of the evident presence of lemon it might be compared to the Mojito and it also has the same refreshing virtues. Afterwards we went to dance the cumbia, which was also quite an interesting experience. It was in a big half open place called El Pardo where a live band was playing the music, but the strangest thing were the girl dancers on the stage. They were dressed in shiny underwear and high boots and their way of dancing could best be compared to the most awful American R’n’B music clips. Also, on Friday you had a lot of place to dance, because for some reason on that day (which is the only day entrance is free) most Peruvians decide not to go.
So to taste the atmosphere of a full house, the next evening we ended up in the same place. And starting with drinking Pisco already seems to be the common habit here. This time we were invited on the boat of French volunteers working in Iquitos. There were also some Peruvians and one of them wanted to practice his English, so it was a complicated evening of changing between Dutch, Spanish, French and English. After eating some pizza we went to El Pardo (with four in a mototaxi and three on a motorcycle) which was packed with people this time and we danced till the early hours. To conclude I can say it was a great weekend and also I’m glad to have met some more people here and that I was able to go out with my colleagues to get to know them in a different way.
Hasta la próxima,
Jeroen
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Hello!
It’s one week now that I’m in Peru, so time to write down my first experiences before they start to become clouded. The trip to this country went without any problems worth mentioning, I had a long (almost 12 hours from Madrid) but good flight. As soon as I arrived I was welcomed by the delightful South American warmth and a taxista who would bring me to my sleeping place in Lima. I only stayed two nights in that city, to arrange some things like going to the Belgian embassy, where I was received by two friendly people from the Belgian development cooperation. Also, I arranged my flight to Iquitos for the next day – taking a domestic flight in Peru is quite easy, especially outside the touristic season. Lima looked to me like a busy and lively city, so it’s a bit sad I couldn’t see more of it, but probably there’ll be more opportunities. That day I also started having a sore throat, which turned out to be pharyngitis and would bother me for the rest of the week –partly because of the not so very good antibiotics the Iquitos farmacía decided to give me.
The flight to Iquitos also went smoothly and gave a nice view over the fantastic Peruvian selva. To everyone’s comfort: there’s still quite a lot of it left. Let’s only hope politicians will be dedicated to keeping it that way. The arrival at Iquitos was like entering another world. It started with the quiet little airport, where they just let the old planes quietly rust away. I was glad to be received by my Belgian colleague Felien, who immediately arranged us a mototaxi to the centre for a fair price. These mototaxis make up for most of the transport in the city. Besides these you have the people who have their own motorcycle, some buses and very few cars. This is because Iquitos, which is a city of more or less 400.000 inhabitants, isn’t connected to any road system, which makes it only possible to get to the city by plane or by boat. It is said to be the biggest city in the world that can’t be reached by car.
Upon arrival I was appointed a room with all necessary comfort. I have a bed, a rocking chair and a closet. Something that pretends to be a door leads me to my little bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink. My neighbours include my Belgian colleague Felien, an Italian guy (who sings Spanish the Italian way) and a friendly Peruvian family. In the room next to me there’s also a drunken Peruvian guy, who already managed to keep me awake for most of the first night, but has been relatively silent since then. Relatively.
The next morning I immediately had a first chance to meet the leaders of the indigenous organisations with which we work together. Their communities are quite some distance from Iquitos, near the Colombian border at the Putumayo River, but as part of an action against the coming of a Brazilian oil firm to that area they had travelled to both Lima and Iquitos to give a press conference about their situation. Also, I met with my three Peruvian colleagues from the organisation and with Tomas, a Secoya who is studying health care in Iquitos thanks to the funds we collect in Belgium. My other work for the organisation this week is a bit too boring to talk about, as it was mainly reading a lot of texts to be up to date with everything that is happening lately and filling in documents that will be sent to Belgium.
This gives a little more time to talk about Iquitos, the city I’ll be staying in for most of the time the coming six months. Because it is such a big but remote city it has a very special charm and character to it. The most important thing you have to get used to is the noise in the city. I thought Lima was already noisy, but Iquitos manages to take this to a whole new level. Most important reason for this are all the mototaxis and motorcycles in the city, but in the evening you also have the impression there’s music coming from everywhere. Then there’s also the heat off course, but I’ve never had that much problems with hot climates and as long as you have an electric fan nearby it’s possible to work here. And finally the tropical rainstorms give some refreshment from time to time (although on those moments I’m also glad the office of the organisation is just across the street from where I live) and make me think about Belgium again. All in all I can say I really like the atmosphere here and the people are very friendly (maybe a bit too friendly sometimes, it’s a bit annoying when strangers are calling you ‘friend’ or ‘amigo’ just to try to get something from you). Despite my being a bit sick a great first week, hopefully there are a lot more to come!
A lot of greetings to everyone in Belgium and beyond,
Jeroen
The flight to Iquitos also went smoothly and gave a nice view over the fantastic Peruvian selva. To everyone’s comfort: there’s still quite a lot of it left. Let’s only hope politicians will be dedicated to keeping it that way. The arrival at Iquitos was like entering another world. It started with the quiet little airport, where they just let the old planes quietly rust away. I was glad to be received by my Belgian colleague Felien, who immediately arranged us a mototaxi to the centre for a fair price. These mototaxis make up for most of the transport in the city. Besides these you have the people who have their own motorcycle, some buses and very few cars. This is because Iquitos, which is a city of more or less 400.000 inhabitants, isn’t connected to any road system, which makes it only possible to get to the city by plane or by boat. It is said to be the biggest city in the world that can’t be reached by car.
Upon arrival I was appointed a room with all necessary comfort. I have a bed, a rocking chair and a closet. Something that pretends to be a door leads me to my little bathroom with a toilet, shower and sink. My neighbours include my Belgian colleague Felien, an Italian guy (who sings Spanish the Italian way) and a friendly Peruvian family. In the room next to me there’s also a drunken Peruvian guy, who already managed to keep me awake for most of the first night, but has been relatively silent since then. Relatively.
The next morning I immediately had a first chance to meet the leaders of the indigenous organisations with which we work together. Their communities are quite some distance from Iquitos, near the Colombian border at the Putumayo River, but as part of an action against the coming of a Brazilian oil firm to that area they had travelled to both Lima and Iquitos to give a press conference about their situation. Also, I met with my three Peruvian colleagues from the organisation and with Tomas, a Secoya who is studying health care in Iquitos thanks to the funds we collect in Belgium. My other work for the organisation this week is a bit too boring to talk about, as it was mainly reading a lot of texts to be up to date with everything that is happening lately and filling in documents that will be sent to Belgium.
This gives a little more time to talk about Iquitos, the city I’ll be staying in for most of the time the coming six months. Because it is such a big but remote city it has a very special charm and character to it. The most important thing you have to get used to is the noise in the city. I thought Lima was already noisy, but Iquitos manages to take this to a whole new level. Most important reason for this are all the mototaxis and motorcycles in the city, but in the evening you also have the impression there’s music coming from everywhere. Then there’s also the heat off course, but I’ve never had that much problems with hot climates and as long as you have an electric fan nearby it’s possible to work here. And finally the tropical rainstorms give some refreshment from time to time (although on those moments I’m also glad the office of the organisation is just across the street from where I live) and make me think about Belgium again. All in all I can say I really like the atmosphere here and the people are very friendly (maybe a bit too friendly sometimes, it’s a bit annoying when strangers are calling you ‘friend’ or ‘amigo’ just to try to get something from you). Despite my being a bit sick a great first week, hopefully there are a lot more to come!
A lot of greetings to everyone in Belgium and beyond,
Jeroen
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