TexasTrack Blog

Yesterday ranks petty high as one of the worst days of my life.

It began early in the morning when I walked to the Belen marketplace to shoot some video of the market as shops are set up and people arive to purchase things for the day -- especially the incredible variety of foods. I was there for only a few minutes when I stopped by a police officer who was asking me many questions about my video camera that I could not understand. While we were standing there, I head a loud ruckus above and everyone looked up. Just as I did the same, two screaming cats fell off the roof above staight onto the front of my camcorder. The front lens was knocked off along with the shutter housing. Needless to say, the lens was badly damaged the housing was broken. 

I doubt it as accidental. What are the odds that two fighting cats would fall fom the top of a building onto my camera? Pretty slim, I think. Bottom line is that I no longer can take vido from this trip, but it turned out that was the best thing that happened today.

Mary Isabel brought the packet that she received from the embassy including her newly issued visa that she was extremely proud of. Just as she did, in my excitement I opened the packet on the side with her name. And like her I did not notice the seal or the sticker on the other side with instructions that the envlope NOT be opened. When I finally saw it and read the words that it was to be opned only be an immigration official my heart nearly stopped. She didn´t even know it as there until I brought it to her attention. She had simply opened the packet, saw her visa, and then put it away for safekeeping.

Apparently, everything that we have done for the past year is fo nothing because her papers are no longer any good. No one told either of us anything about keeping the packet sealed, but for one mistake our plans may be ruined and lives may be changed in ways we don´t yet know.

I've tried to contact the embassy with no luck. Unfortunately, I do not have the direct email address that I used before to reach someone quickly so we face a lon wait until I return home next week to know anything. I sent a fax to the embassy, but have not received any response yet.

It took Mary all day and a phone call to a friend in Lima before she realized the gravity of her mistake.  Needless to say, neither of us slept much last much and she rarely stopped crying. She even asked me to leave her because I didn´t need to be with a stupid woman. (Don´t worry -- of course, I turned down her offer.)

We had planned to bring her back to the US in early May, but we don´t think that will be possible now. It looks like I have another long stretch of trying to resolve issues with the U.S. govenment -- lots of time, lots of money, and all from 4000 miles away. There's not much I can do now until I get home.

We sure would appreciate your prayers that all of this is soon resolved in a positive way. We are both terribly frightened about our future now and we've been doing a lot of praying ourselves.

It´s still stifling hot here in theAmazon, but we took a break yesterday evening and traveled to Lago Quistococha for some swimming in the cool lake water. We went with our friends Margarita and Antonio to the lake about 10 miles outside of the city in the middle of the jungle. This was the place we went on our first date, so it will always be a special place for Mary Isabel and I. We didn´t see much of the zoo there because we arrived pretty late in the afternoon and didn´t have much time before dark.

I was surprised to learn that Mary can not swim. Despite all our efforts, she barely learned to do a flailing imitation of dog paddling. Fortunately the water isn´t deep and it´s pretty safe, though as the sun disappeared it became quite dark in the jungle and we were all pretty careful. 

Afterwards we stopped off at the Belen market and bought a fish from one of the market stalls where it was quickly grilled then wrapped in a giant leaf along with some yucca for us to take back to the hotel. I don´t know what it was, but this fish was definitely on a diet because there was almost no meat on its bones. The little that was there was quite greasy. Still, after a long day it tasted great. As of this morning, it appears I didn´t pick up any parasites from the meal.

I´m not sure what we´re going to do today. I want to visit our friend, Gundrun, at her Butterfly Farm up the river. I´m not too excited about the butterflies, but I want to see my friend, Tony, the little monkey. Tony latched on to me on my first visit and wouldn´t let go. He even fought off the other monkeys who dared to approach too closely! I talked with Gundrun a few days ago and she said Tony is still there.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. Feel free to write me at phil@texatrack.com. I´d love to hear how everyone is doing back home.

It´s been a busy 4 days since I arrived back in Iquitos. Mary Isabel and I have been very busy catching up on a lot of things. (We´d only seen each other for 2 days since July when we met at the USA embassy in Lima for her visa interview in November.)

Christmas was great, though I´m still worn out from everything. As you can imagine, Christmas in this Latin American country is all about family. But here things don´t wait until Christmas morning. Indeed, Christmas starts at midnight and so do the festivities.

We began the night by visiting Mary´s family. We stopped by her aunt and uncle´s house first and brought them cakes. They are a wonderful family who are incredibly kind to me. I love playing with her 3-year-old nephew, Christian, who calls me "uncle". She also took me across the street to meet her grandparents for the first time. I really liked them-- especially her grandfather. I don´t think they cared at all that I´m a foreigner. (That will always be an issue with some in her family.)

Next we went to the home of another sister, Lourdes, and her  husband Carlos. We drank Inca Cola and talked of the differences in Christmas in our countries.

We were a little late for the big event at midnight -- Christmas dinner at the home of Mary´s best friend, Margarita. Of course, being late is a normal thing here. Though I only know Margarita and her boyfriend, Antonio, they welcomed me with open arms. I was even honored to be given one of the turkey legs -- something usually reserved for the elder men in the family. We ate and ate and ate. They had enough potatoes to make anyone from Idaho proud.

I´ve spent a lot of time at my favorite haunt, the Yellow Rose of Texas restaurant. Here I get to spend a little talking with all the English-speaking ex-pats who live here as well as the constant flow of tourists who pass through on their way to and from the jungle lodges. Yesterday we were fortunate to meet an American, James, who was visiting with his wife, Cecilia, who is from here. They are a very nice couple from Atlanta who gave us a lot of tips on adapting to married life int he states. I think Cecilia helped with many of Mary´s concerns.

Today we´re off to our favorite place, Lago Quistococha, where we first met. I love walking throught he zoo there and it´s fun to swim in the lake together. I expect the crowd will be small since most went over the holiday weekend. Of course, with school out, there could be a ton of children there.

I hope everyone back in the states is doing well and enjoying the holidays. If you get a chance, please send a little cool weather down here. The constant 90 degrees with 99 percent humidity does get a little old!