Yes, I like old country songs.....and yes, we were on the road (and winding roads) again last night! We left Lima last evening at 10:30 on a nice double decker bus to travel to the region of Chanchamayo, in "La Selva Central" which is literally "the central jungle." We´re in the town of La Merced, so it´s not as wild as it sounds....but it is lush, green and mountainous, and is considered a gateway into the jungle interior. We arrived at about 7am this morning, waking up to the new surroundings. It is like going on a mystery trip to travel in the night and cross into another geographic region. It wasn´t so fun when Magdalena and I woke up with stomach sickness in the night, and couldn´t go back to sleep until pills took effect. But, what fun to look around upon arrival and begin to discover this new place.
We were warmly greeted at the small bus station by Luis, our host, who quickly packed our heavy suitcases into a mototaxi and packed our sleepy family into his car taxi (taxi driving is his work). Within 5 minutes we were greeted at their home by his wife Rosa, who is equally as warm and welcoming as Luis. They are empty nesters whose adult children live in Lima, and they have much experience hosting university students from the U.S., including Goshen College students. There home is nestled in a small farm of chickens, fruit trees and countryside, just outside of town. It is another "tranquilo" place to be, for which we are especially grateful after two weeks in a huge city where we had to guard our children and belongings every moment.
After visiting for a bit with Rosa and Luis, we settled into our rooms just enough to be able to shower and nap until the main meal at 1pm. Our agreement is that we will have lunches with our hosts, and do breakfast and supper on our own. They are very happy to share their large kitchen which has a gorgeous view on 3 sides of the countryside and mountains. We enjoyed chicken, rice, green salad and passion fruit juice, along with more conversation at lunch. Then we did more unpacking before heading out for a walk to town, a 30 min. walk at a relaxed pace.
After asking for help a couple of times, we located the main plaza around which the town is set. And, for some reason, we quickly noticed a fair trade coffee and chocolate shop on one corner :) We had heard that Menno Tea (bottled garden mint tea company founded by former Goshen College students) is sold at a coffee shop here....and sure enough this was the place: Highland Coffee. (Their plant is outside of town, and we´ll definitely tour that later.) Today we just enjoyed some Menno Tea, terrific iced coffee, samples of coffee liquor (requested by Kent!) and chocolate covered orange peel (all local products!).
It seems that wifi isn´t available in town, so we found an internet store, and we are each on a computer, catching up on Facebook, email, and the blog. Next we´ll visit a grocery store to get breakfast and supper supplies before heading back to our new home, likely by way of mototaxi. Tomorrow morning we´ll meet with the man who directs the police department´s summer children´s programs to finalize plans for our classes that will begin on Thursday. We look foward to teaching and enjoying music with children again, and in this new setting. And we look forward to learning more about La Selva Central!
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