TexasTrack Blog

I didn’t get a chance to write over the last weekend in Iquitos. Mary Isabel and I actually had some time to spend together for a change. The dinner with her family was changed several times as Mary was quite nervous about introducing me to her family since they did not know I was a foreigner. She may have even been more nervous than me!

On Saturday, she and I took a quick trip up the Maranon River to visit a jungle zoo which amounted to little more than a lot of animals in small cages. While it was interesting to see these exotic creatures, it was also very sad to see them leased to poles or stuffed inside their jungle prisons.

We saw a lot of monkeys, an anaconda and a boa (got great video of those two), a puma who was quite upset at being disturbed from his sleep, and several other animals. We were able to hold a pair of three-toed sloths who were quite interested in my video camera.

Afterwards, we spent some time at a large restaurant/club on the banks of the convergence of the Nanay and Amazon Rivers watching the light of evening sun slowly fade away in night. It was incredibly peaceful watching the simple lives of the river people play out before us.

Later that evening we met her family at a local chifa (Chinese restaurant) a few blocks form the hotel. Her father, a sister and brother-in-law (who I had already met), an aunt and uncle, and various cousins joined us for a very interesting dinner of grilled chicken and french fries. Though I never really relaxed completely, as the night progressed I felt more and more comfortable with them and they seemed to really enjoy getting to know me as well.

By the end of the night, Mary’s father had invited me to go fishing on the river with him upon my return to Iquitos. She told me later that he was quite happy with me, especially with my answers to his questions. When her aunt referred to me as her infant son’s cousin, I felt pretty good about things.

After eating we walked around the Plaza, got some ice cream cones, and headed down to the Malecon running along the river for a wonderful walk.

As you can imagine, I was very happy they accepted me. In fact, she emailed me this morning to say how happy they were, too.

I haven’t been home long and am in the DFW airport right now waiting for a flight to Albuquerque for a coaches conference the next three days. Seems like I’ll be traveling non-stop over the next three weeks, but I’ll write some closing comments about Peru when I get a chance this week.

To those of you who took a moment to write to me while I was there, it meant a lot. I really am blessed to have so many wonderful friends.