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