Wood Boat

First let me say sorry if I have not returned all my email yet. I will do so I promise. I also am sorry I have not sent Cione an email with more info on where I am!

As mentioned below, the rest of my trip to the jungle.....

After my guide drank my Masate I was very greatful but as mentioned, now they were a bit on the drunk side. I felt the strange stomach ache I feel right before I, um.....turn on the turbo boost (you know what I mean, the colon blast) but we had to make it back to town. The boat engine for some reason decided to stop working again and here we were all over again. There was a river bus that came by at ten but no one had seen it. Then, the village mechanic tells us, why don´t I give you a tow into town? He had a load of wood to take to Iquitos and if we wanted to we could hitch a ride. We jumped at the oppertunity and the two boats, one full of wood and a chicken (they sell the chicken when in town to buy gas for the way back. Sort of like a living ATM card), another boat full of four hungry tired men, and a 5hp engine set off for town. We made it 3/4 of the way and then they either asked up to walk the rest of the way or Oscar felt bad for slowing them down so much that he offered that. None the less, we were close to a village that had Coca Cola and cake to eat so we ate of fill of that. I don`t know why I did not have a sugar coma after that, I really should not have eaten that but I don´t think I will ever speak ill of Coca Cola again.

Strange thing happened to me last night. In my email to the Co Op back in the states I mentioned that most of the people I spoke to in the jungle were in what seemed to be good health. By that I mean they are mobile, have fish at least every other day, and the milk program set up by an NGO is working well. This is a hell of a lot better than other folks around the world have it. True, the poverty is horrible, no doubt about that but as long as you can work your crops, have animals, and help from the outside you can survive. My shock came when the Co-Op contact seemed dissapointed that I did not find people in poor health. They kept trying to apply the standards we live by in the States to the people in the Jungle. I think this was my first true lesson in working with groups such as this. When your whole goal is to save the world, it sucks when the world can help itself.

Oddly, the Co-Op has run short on funds. The work Oscar is doing is great. There is a need for medical help in the Jungle and if we think health care is a human right then Oscar is the champion of that cause. His work in tireless, many times paying for supplies out of his own pocket and never complaining about it. Oscar is poor, by any standard he is poor. When he took me to his house, like a moron, I asked where is it?? I was standing in front of it thinking it was a storage shed.

The People in the Jungle trust him and I think look to him for direction. Hell, I saw thin man take a village in revolt and talk them into having democratic elections right there and then. I saw him give people hope when they had none.

I am returning to the States this weekend, my funds too will run out now that the Co-Op has run out of funds. I will post as many of the photos as I can, we can then talk about them, laugh about me, and if we can help Oscar in his mission.