A New Journey

Thank you all for embarking on this jungle journey with us, however short it ended up being. As many of you know, we returned to the U.S. on Monday, March 18, and are currently visiting family and friends in Portland. Our plan from here is to fly to Virginia in about two weeks, where we are looking for an apartment and work (Serena is resuming her editing business; Paul wants to stay in the nonprofit sector). Long term, we would like to settle on a farm there, beginning a new journey growing vegetables and raising chickens and bees.

We missed posting a general update in the chaos of the past few weeks, so we would like to end this final blog post with photos from our last couple months in Peru and our adventure in Colombia:

Rescued river dolphin at the zoo in Quistacocha.

This is a park we visited during an afternoon trip down the Amazon River.

A giant Lupuna tree we walked to on the same day.

Fast forward to our trip to Leticia: hammocks on the barge on the Amazon River. 

Sunrise over one of the towns on the Amazon.

Visiting an ecological park in Leticia, Colombia

A chacra, or traditional garden plot. This one has pineapple, plantain, yuca, and at least two other types of plants.

Serena firing a bow in the ecological park.

Paul testing his blow dart skills.

The family Serena stayed with when Paul went back to Iquitos: Pastor Alvaro, his wife Marta, and their son Pablo.

Arriving in Bogota, a much larger city!

The streets of Bogota with mountains in the background.

We hiked up to Monserrate, a cathedral on top of a mountain above the city.

The Unexpected

Sometimes, life takes an unexpected turn. Last week, Paul and I rode a barge down the Amazon River (a happier tale for another post) to Leticia, Colombia, so that we could re-enter Peru and request new six-month tourist visas. We arrived early Wednesday morning and planned to return Sunday after a few days of vacation.

But when we went to the immigrations office on Saturday, the officials told us we had used up our six months for the year and therefore couldn't return to Peru. When we questioned this, they conceded that Paul could actually return for 10 days, because they could see that he first entered Peru in September 2010, and thus his year was counted starting from the beginning of September. But my name has changed since that Goshen College trip we both took, and so their records show that Serena Manickam first entered Peru in late August 2018. I have no more days left.

Frustrated but not discouraged, we spent three days making phone calls, visiting various offices, and doing research. On Tuesday, however, we finally received what we considered to be an ultimatum. Pastor David spent all morning in the immigrations office in Iquitos, but like us, he hit a dead end. We couldn't get new tourist visas, and there was nothing we could apply for without being present in the country. We were stuck with the worst-case scenario on our list of brainstormed possibilities: With his 10 days, Paul would return to Iquitos while I waited in Leticia, and then we'd head back to the U.S.

Paul borded the ferry that night and is currently in Iquitos packing our things and saying goodbyes for both of us, six months too early. Meanwhile, I am staying with friends of David and Cecy who have generously welcomed me into their home. Paul plans to stay in Iquitos through Sunday so he can attend church there one last time, then he will reboard the ferry and rejoin me here in Leticia.

From here, we plan to fly to Bogota, Colombia, to visit the parent church of the Iquitos congregations for a short time. And although there is a possibility of us finishing our term in Bogota or even Ecuador, we will likely fly back to the U.S. after a week or two.

This was all very unexpected, and I think we are both numb - and exhausted - from the shock of it. Please pray for us as we continue to process what has happened, as we muddle through these days in two different countries, and as we discern exactly what our next steps should be.

Holidays (and lots of food)

Time has been flying by for us, and three holidays (by U.S. reckoning) have passed since our last blog post. Since Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Peru, and Serena slept through it anyway thanks to medications for a throat infection, we did not do anything special for it. Christmas and New Year’s, on the other hand, involved lots of food and fellowship.

In early December, Elena, who served here last year with MMN’s Journey International program, returned after a four-month visit home for a second volunteer term. She is living here in a room down the hall from ours, and we enjoy both working and hanging out together. Almost immediately after Elena arrived, the three of us were tasked with wrapping nearly 400 presents for the children’s Christmas celebrations, and we spent many hours listening to Christmas music and chatting while we wrapped gifts and marked off names.

The Christmas celebrations took place on three different days in three different locations: December 16, 17, and 18 in Monte de Sion, La Isla, and Rumacocha. In each location, young adults from the church — dressed up as dolls and clowns — led the children in singing and dancing and games. We then handed out hot chocolate and sweet bread, and finally, gifts were distributed. The kids were told to wait until all the presents were given out to open them, and then our hours of work were gleefully ripped to pieces in a matter of seconds. It was worth it.

Kids showing off their presents in Rumacocha.

There was no church in Rumacocha the Sunday morning before Christmas, but rather, we had a Christmas Eve eve service that night in Monte de Sion. We sang Christmas songs, some familiar and some less so, listened to a sermon, and watched a skit in the newly-expanded building decorated with festive curtains, lights, and ribbons. Afterward, we ate a meal together of barbecue chicken, rice, and potato salad, which felt a bit like a summer picnic except for the Santa Claus faces pinned around the room.

Peruvians celebrate Christmas on the 24th, so the whole household gathered upstairs that night for a Colombian meal of stuffed pork and some kind of addicting fried dough balls that reminded me of hush puppies. And rich Colombian hot chocolate (yum!). Afterward, we exchanged Secret Santa gifts that had been piled under the tree in the living room throughout the day.

In front of David and Cecy's tree on Christmas Eve.

The two of us opened our presents on Christmas day after a late breakfast of leftover hot chocolate and panettone. Wanting to keep ourselves in the holiday spirit (it’s hard to do in 90-degree weather), Elena and Serena also baked and decorated sugar cookies that afternoon.

New Year’s Eve involved yet another feast, this time American, with roast turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and chocolate cream pie. It was, admittedly, more reminiscent of Thanksgiving, but when Cecy asked Elena to roast a turkey, we decided to run with it. After stuffing ourselves, we played Phase 10 (a card game) until midnight.

We started English classes back up again this past Thursday after a two-week break and are settling back into our normal routine. But since most of the usual children’s ministry leaders — including David and Cecy — will be leaving Saturday for a month-long sharing and learning trip to Colombia, children’s ministry is on hold until mid-February. With Juan Carlos and Cielo still in Colombia, this also means many of the church leadership tasks will fall to Elena and us. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our work and take up new responsibilities in the new year.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a blessed new year!

Jungle Living

The Nanay River, viewed from an animal sanctuary we visited upriver from Iquitos.

In Spanish, the word selva is used to describe the landscape surrounding the city in which we currently live. It translates best to “jungle,” and that, along with my (Serena’s) odd love for alliteration and the word “journey,” is the reason behind the name of our blog. But what is it like to live in the jungle?

In truth, Our Jungle Journey is a bit of a misnomer, as we are living in a city and rarely see, much less enter, the jungle that surrounds us. The only reminders of the rainforest are the constant heat and humidity and the sandy soil that coats everything. There are also, of course, palm trees and other tropical plants scattered about, as well as occasional birds – most often parakeets or vultures.

For the most part, we had expected this. What we did not expect was the noise. In a city where the roads are dominated by motorcycles, silence is pretty much nonexistent. And if someone is playing music, it has one volume: loud. This is true even in church on Sunday morning and children’s ministry on Saturday, though despite the excessive volume, I do appreciate the passionate, worshipful atmosphere, and we are beginning to remember the words to the songs.

Dancing and singing during children's ministry in Rumacocha.

Getting around the city is quite easy, as motocarros – motorcycle taxis – are abundant and inexpensive. The buses are even cheaper, and we often take one to the outdoor Belen Market to buy produce at some point during the week. They are much shorter than a typical city bus in the U.S. and built with wooden ceilings and floors to prevent the inside from getting too hot.

Riding in a motocarro with John Lapp, who visited for a weekend along with Linda Shelly (both MMN staff).
(photo by Linda Shelly)

We were noting recently the lack of colonial architecture here, though Iquitos has its roots in rubber production, and we saw much of this style in Lima and Cusco. Instead, the buildings are typically plain cement and brick structures. Houses tend to be made of the same materials with iron grates over the windows and doors (often with decorative patterns), though in the areas where we work, most houses are wooden and have either cement or dirt floors. Nearly all buildings, residential and otherwise, have corrugated metal roofs.

One day in early October, we did head upriver in a boat with our friend Freddy (who happens to be a tour guide) to see a bit of the jungle and visit some touristy locations. Our first stop took us to a mariposario to see and hold butterflies, moths, and caterpillars, as well as to a Kukama village where we watched traditional dances and bought a few handmade souvenirs. We then visited an animal sanctuary, where we were encouraged to hold many of the animals that our guide showed us, including, to my great delight, a three-toed sloth! It was a welcome opportunity to get out of the city and be tourists for a day.

Our routine remains much the same as it is described in our previous blog post, though the lessons with Juan Carlos have been put on hold while he and Cielo are in Colombia for a few months, and we haven’t scraped any paint for several weeks. We appreciate your continued prayers as we teach and serve and navigate life in the jungle city of Iquitos!