The Hunt for Supplies

Frances and I sat down the other day and contemplated the feat of buying supplies. It went something like this:

Me: Frances, Necessitamos buy supplies!

Frances: Yo sais!

Me: Where should we go?

Frances: No sais! But we need to get them! Nooow!

Me: Yo sais!

Iquitos is a small city, but it seems vast and without limit when you need to find something specific. Hardware stores can be found on nearly every corner, but that doesn´t mean they have what you want. For instance, they might have a machete and some handy tools, and then some buttons and stickers, or candy. So, you could potentially walk to 10 different stores and still not find everything that you need. Which basically leaves you wandering around like an idiot. Now, imagine this added to the fact that Frances and I have the vocabulary of a toddler. Interesting.

Yesterday, we had a stroke of good fortune, or

maybe we sought it out and in turn were taken pity on....

It came in the shape of this fellow.

Caesar Peña.

Or, as we secretly refer to him when he is doing something valorous: our night in shining armor, who´s help has been absolutely indespensible to our project. KUDOS CAESAR!

He has worked wtih Project Amazonas as a translator for about 10 years, and we got to know him durng the medical boat trip. He speaks English and a few other languages to boot.

Caesar´s office is across the street from our hotel (how convienent), and knowing this, Frances and I ambled over, doing our best at nonchalant.

¨Hola Ceasar, que pasa?¨¨we say. A raised eyebrow and a frown, ¨Nada, commo estas?¨

We are fine (imagine us rocking onto our heels and twiddling our thumbs)! Smiles all around and nodding. Then, to keep from bursting, we spill our predicament. Caesar, nodds in all the right places as we tell of our woes and shakes his head at us. Whilst chuckling he flags down a motocarro.

Despite the confusion between pvc pipe for wires and pvc pipe for AGUA, finding the correct sizes, and locating gasket material, etc, we managed to find everything in two hours! MUY BUENO!

Frances rode with the rotoplast tank all the way back to the hotel. YEEE HAWW!

When we arrived at the entrance,

we thought...wait a second...(hands on side of face, OH MY!) this is NOT going to

fit in our room (note: I say this for effect, really we knew it going in to the situation).

Frances and I share a glance, a

glance that says PLEASE LET THE HOTEL TAKE PITY ON OUR SITUATION! It is a good

tactic. We ask, their eyes buldge, we look downcast, and they heave some signs. Crazy gringas! Some awkward fumbles and stumbles

later, and the large black tank is nestled conspicuously amongst the shrubberies in the courtyard.

GRACIAS A LA PASCANA and Caesar, we couldn´t have done it with out you!

Tomorrow, LA SELVA!

Dear readers, please stay tuned as we are headed out to the jungle and will not be able to

update the blog for a good period of time. BUT NEVER FEAR, there will be more to come at some point. Don´t fall off the edge of your seat! Until, I am Brigitte Cronier, and this is WIIILD Peru!