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