Congratulations Shane and Kristi

It's Wednesday and we are back in town today. That means we have a couple of hours of air conditioning and wireless internet. We appreciate the air conditioning the most. This morning we left the base at 7:30 am for a 30 minute the boat ride, then had an hour drive in the 4 door truck across the city to go to the Zoo. We got a good look at some animals that we hope not to see too close in the jungle; monkeys, jaguars, snakes, tapirs. And some animals we would like to see a little closer; eagles, parrots and turtles. It was starting to get hot by the time we left.

Next we did some walking, shopping, dodging cars, trucks and people. The sidewalks are narrow and very uneven and broken in places. I keep busy just trying to keep track of the person leading and watching that I don't trip on anything. Cindy was great helping us dicker with the shop keepers for the things we bought. Then we walked and sweat all the way to the air conditioned restaurant, where we met up with Fred and Phil for lunch.

The food here is wonderful. Today for lunch I had chicken breast, turkey wrapped in bacon, and pressed cottage cheese barbecued over a flame. I also had a little potato salad, green beans, pickled beets, coleslaw, rice and beans, tiny hard boiled quail eggs and some great tasting salsa. They weighted our plate and we paid by the gram. It was about $6.00, plus the couple of bottles of water that I drank. After about 30 minutes in the restaurant, eating and drinking, I started feeling like I might make it through the rest of the day.

We have fruit here every day. Some we buy and some we pick off trees around the base. The pineapple is sweet and mild and `mango melts in you mouth. This morning for breakfast we had the best papaya I have ever eaten. We have had at least 3 different kinds of banana's, all sweeter and smaller than the US. We have been making fresh juice out of passion fruit, star fruit, koopasu (sp?), lemon, orange, lime and some other fruits I don't remember. Will have to get that from Phil and Cindy before we leave.

Right now Phil, Cindy, Chuck and Laurel are out trying to buy a wireless portable internet modem so that they can have better internet access at their home on the base. That will be so great for them as all they have now is shared dial-up access. We will all be greatfull if they can get it today.

For the next hour or so Carrie, Fred and I are staying here at the mission head quarters in a guest room with air conditioning. Fred is napping. Carrie and I are banging on our computers trying to give all of you something interesting to read.

Congratulations Shane and Kristi! Sunday, February 15, we were blessed with another grandson. Seth Jacob Lambing. We have not talked to be Shane and Kristi yet, but did talk to Fred's Mother Joy and got the news. He was born on Joy's birthday. Please check their blog for the details. Shane and Kristi we love you and are so proud of you and the parents you have become.

Yesterday morning Phil and Cindy took us out on the "launch", the base passenger boat, for a pleasure ride around the local area. It was a beautiful day for it with the sky a little over cast and only one short rain shower. The Amazon is about 3 miles accross to a long series of islands in the middle. When I asked Phil how far it was to the other side from the islands he said that he didn't know because he had never been there. Amazing, he has lived here about 40 years and he has never been all the way across. The river really does divide the country. People travel next to the shore up and down their side of the river.

We traveled up the river toward Manaus and then across and along the islands. On the island side we saw a lot of farming and cattle. It looks much more prosperous than on our side of the river. They say the soil on this side is not as good. It is a lot of clay and sand and does not grow things as well. I saw some black cattle.....they didn't really look like angus, but they were black. I saw a couple of monkeys in a tree next to the river too. The trees had been cleared some for farming and cattle. On our side of the river it is all jungle.

This is the rainy season here. The river has risen at least 3 feet since we arrived about 10 days ago. It will continue to rise until about the middle of June. Then the rains will stop and it will get hot and dry and the river will start to go down. Our seasons revolve around the daylight in Alaska. Here the seasons revolve around the rain and the river. The sun sets about 6pm every evening and rises about 6am every morning all year long.

Our typical day goes like this. Phil starts the generator at 6 or 6:30am, depending on the day. At about 7am we start showing up to enjoy a self serve breakfast of eggs, toast, lots of fruit and/or oatmeal. Actually Cindy says it's a self serve breakfast, but she is usually standing there serving us. Over breakfast everyone decides what they are going to do for the day. Cindy starts some laundry, we have sweaty clothes at the end of every day. If it is sunny we hang the cloths on the big lines out front. If we are not so sure we hang them on the lines under the large roof eaves of the house.

By noon Cindy has made our main meal of the day. This usually includes some kind of fresh home made bread and fresh veggies in a salad, plus a meat and rice or potatoes. Most days she even has some kind of dessert; cookies, pie, shakes, or chocolate bar. We are all ready to take her menues home and use them. We may put together a cookbook of the meals we have eaten here. We can't match the fresh fruit here.

We get real hot and sticky in the afternoon, unless it rains. When it rains, it literally pours. It is amazing. You can't here yourself think let alone talk to anyone when the rain is pounding on the tin roof. Everyone starts slowing down about 5pm. We try to get our showers taken and change into clean dry cloths for the evening before supper. We eat a light supper at about 6:30pm and then play games, read or just visit. At 9:30pm the generator is turned off for the night. We all try and be in our rooms by then. Quite often we finish our game by flash light and then head next door.

One night last week Fred and I saw a huge tarantella on the wall just outside of the door to our house. We both jumped. I was going to go back and warn Chuck and Laurel, but Fred said, "No, I'm sure they will find it." It wasn't long and they did. Since then we have found a couple of smaller ones inside the house.

I think that I told you we are staying in a guest house next door. Well we do not have any hot water in our place. The first day I went next door for a shower, but that is kind of a hastle. So I decided I was hot enough that I could handle a cold shower. First let me say the the water here is not as cold as it is at home in Alaska. After the first 10 seconds, the cold shower feels real good. It is kind of like when you first jump in the swimming pool. I have a whole new appreciation for a cool shower after living in the tropics for a couple weeks. Clean fresh dry cloths feel great. It isn't long before you feel yourself and your cloths beginning to wilt, literally.

Sorry this is such a long blog......
Just a reminder, check out Carrie's photo's.