TexasTrack Blog

It´s Sunday morning and I´m heading back to Lima in a few hours before flying home tomorrow night. I can´t describe how much I´ve enjoyed my time here. Between spending time with the local people and hanging out with a great bunch of folks at Gerald and Pamela Mayeaux´s "Yellow Rose of Texas" restaurant/bar, the last few days have seemed like a visit to paradise. I really feel sad to be leaving all the many friends I´ve made. Spending so much time every day with so many great people allows you to make some lasting friendships with others who share a special bond so far away from the worlds we normally occupy.

I meant to write more often, but it has been a whirlwind of doing little to nothing at times! I was able to explore more of the city and discover that I have more to discover when I return. The people of Iquitos were just as friendly and gracious this time as last May when I visited.

Soon I plan to write another piece about my trip for the website with lots of pictures again. (About 400 photos are in my camera right now of everything from the unbelievable poverty of the shantytown of Belen to dancing Boras Indians to the animals of the parque zoologica at Quistocoha to a real Thanksgiving dinner at the Yellow Rose. As last summer, I´ll have a link to it on the main page of the TexasTrack.com website. It may be a few days or weeks before I can sit down and write, but look for it soon.

Thursday morning. I am dragging pretty badly, but adrenalin is keeping me going. I am in an internet shop typing away with the loud music of the Mexican group ¨Mana¨ playing over the loudspeakers.

The long night in the Lima airport led to a nice flight across the Andes and the rainforest right into the hot, sweltering city of Iquitos. I made it through 44 hours without sleeping before finally crashing about 1 am last night. Over half a million people fill this frontier outpost on the Amazon River and seemingly every single one drove a loud motorcycle passed my hotel window about 6:00 this morning. My room is nice and comfortable complete with a rock-hard bed that would be miserable for most, but fits my preference perfectly though even my 5-8 frame drapes over the edge.

I spent a lot of time yesterday sitting on a park bench watching the tourists pass by and practicing my Spanish with every tour guide and tout that swarm tourists in the main plaza with tales of how their lodge or tour is the best in the world! Once you get past that, they really are quite friendly. I spent about three hours last night talking with three young ment who shine shoes, sell curious, and try to get customers for some of the Amazon river lodges. We talked about similarities betrween US and Peruvian politics, differences in our cultures, and, of course, the many beautiful women in Iquitos (the same as single guys all over the world!). 

Today I am off to eat breakfast at ¨The Yellow Rose of Texas¨. It´s not the best, but it´s filling and cheap, plus the Peruvian waitresses wearing University of Texas cheerleading or drill team outfits is something to see.  Then it´s off to the market of Belen which is one of the largest jungle markets in the world. I´m told you can find everything you can imagine and just as much you can´t imagine there -- all kinds of food from fruit to fish to exotic meats, jungle herbs to cure all your ills, a host of creatures that would make Noah proud, and curios and craftsmade by native ribeños all up and down the river.

After that I´may explore the floating village of Belen which is a slum that sits on stilts or floats on one back bay of the river. (Picture Venice filled with native palm-roofed huts and you´ll get the idea.)

Well, it´s time for breakfast. Last night´s late-night fare of milanesa con arroz has just faded away leaving me hungry for some eggs and coffee. I´ll try to update again in the evening. If I can find a place where I can upload some pictures, I´ll try to post a few.

It´s about 12:30 in the morning and I´m sitting in an internet lounge in the Lima airport. My flight here was actually easy except for nearly an hour delay. That didn´t bother me at all since my next flight doesn´t leave for another 5½ hours. I could have spent nearly $60 for a room including the taxi ride there and back, but wouldn´t have gotten more than five hours sleep so I decided to kill time here. It´s really not a bad place to stay. This place is open all night and the foodcourt appears to be open, too.

The flight down was nice. I had the entire exit row to myself meaning I could spread out all my junk! I brought a portable DVD player, but forgot to pack any DVD´s! Fortunately, there was a place in the new terminal D at DFW airport which sold them and I was able to buy a couple for $25. They did show "Fantastic Four" which was pretty lame and "The Italian Job" which was much better than expected.

Getting through customs here was a breeze as always. I was surprised to be able to check-in for my flight to Iquitos so early. I´d heard that it wasn´t possible to check in more than three hours early, but the lady at the counter said no problem. And my flight is still scheduled to leave on time! I was more than a little concerned since flight cancellations and delays are normal here. Three of my previous four flights on LanPeru airlines have had that happen here.

In about eight hours I hope to be in my hotel room in Iquitos. I{ll be ready fgor a shower befrore heading out to explore the city and find something for breakfast. I´m sure I´ll head over to the "Yellow Rose of Texas" -- a restaurant bar owned by a former UT baseball player who came down here as a petroleum engineer and stayed. It´s a very interesting place with all sorts of jungle curios everywhere like anaconda skins, a giant stuffed armadillo, and many native artifacts. I had my first meal there last time I was in Iquitos and it was great. If I haven´t gone off down the river, I´ll be able to watch the Cowboy game on Thursday and the Texas-Texas A&M game on Friday there.

It's early Tuesday morning and I'm just about ready to leave for . I did my packing yesterday and have a couple of quick things to do today before catching a flight to Lima and then on to Iquitos in the Amazon Basin . As this will be my second trip there this year, there's a little less apprehension and a lot more anticipation.  

I’ll try to post regular reports over the next week, but it depends on where I am. This trip is going to be very much a “make it up as I go” trip. My only plan is to spend five days in the Amazon basin and one day in Lima before flying home. If I go down the river at all, there obviously won’t be any internet access.  

(The conditions in Iquitos are already bad -- 77 degrees and 83% humidity. Low 90s all week, but little chance of rain.)

I sometimes wonder what coaches are doing all day. This morning I started the 2006 spring schedule and suddenly I'm swamped with emails from all over the state from coaches asking to have their meets posted. Hmmm, aren't you folks supposed to be in class?

Ha Ha -- I'm just teasing. I know that no one would be working on their track schedules during class, right?  :-)

Seriously, coaches, please email any information about your meet(s) that you'd like posted ont he schedule. Please note if you want contact information published bacause I won't post your email or telephone number without explicit permission.