Finished at last!

After three months living in the jungle, we finally got the digester up and running as a source of fertilizer. We spent a day squelching through a bucket of kitchen waste with our bare hands to get it started. Two parts water for every one part bananas peels etc...

Saying goodbye to the Julio, the caretaker, and his family was the hardest pat of leaving for me. We went to watch a last game of foot

ball at the nearby village and I spent the entire time getting chased and chasing his kids. Here is a picture of us attempting shaky face, a entirely diverting game that involves a camera and wobbly jowls.

I also got to go swimming in a cocha, which is spanish for seasonal lake, and exists only during the rainy season. We took the boat and had to hack our way through some water plants clogging the hidden entrance (at least I would never have found it). I couldn't believe we made it through, but I was amazed at what was on the other side.

A vast expanse of water filled with floating water hyacinths with delicate lavender blooms. Pink dolphins, or bufayos, dipped and jumped, breaking the stillness of the surface, and macaws flitted through the azure sky dotted with drifting clouds. It was a hidden paradise.

Frances returned home a little ahead of schedule, and I stuck around in Iquitos for a week, and met up with Fernando, the manager of Project Amazonas in Peru. We are planning on working with the university students in Iquitos as a part of involving the community and furthering the sustainability of our efforts in Peru. Apparently my Spanish has gotten a lot better! Anyway, I left with many new friends, and a desire to return some day, hopefully sooner rather than later. Adios Amigos!