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June 13, 2004

     This day turned into another pretty long travel day.  What was supposed to be an 11:30 AM flight from Lima to Pucallpa, became a 1:30 PM flight that actually didn’t go wheels up until 2:15.  The good news was it was a Boeing 737, and the climb up over the Andes was easy, although a bit turbulent, and ALL of our bags made it to Pucallpa.

     Descending through the clouds as we approached Pucallpa, the winding Amazon tributaries came into view, surrounded by lush green jungle.  It was an unexpectedly cool 76 degrees at the airport, and the bumpy ride on the dirt roads to the Watts’ home passed quickly.

     We spent about 5 hours at the Lima airport this morning, but were able to recover our 24 bags and get out of the Pucallpa airport within just 30 minutes. 

     James and Golda Watts live with two of their children, Katie and David, in a compound just 15 minutes from the airport.  In the compound are their home, a long bunkhouse, an employee home, and a dining hall, along with a kitten, two dogs, a dozen caged birds of various bright colors, and a pet squirrel, all surrounded securely by a high wooden fence topped with barbed wire.

     After some soup and wontons, we drove to the site that is to be our workplace the next two days.  Called a “children’s church,” the dirt-floored wooden structure has a large tin-roofed porch area.  We moved a bench, hung some sheets for exam-room privacy, and set up a table and chairs outside the entrance for registering tomorrow’s patients.  A quartet of young children began a spontaneous serenade of our group as we finished arranging the clinic.

     When we returned home, it was time to get organized.  Every one of the 24 bags had a few T-shirts in it, and many had ball caps, drugs, supplies, coloring books, and hundreds of stuffed animals.  We set up different corners of two of the rooms in the bunkhouse, and moved all the shirts to one area, the drugs to another, etc.  Becky, Debbie, Marie, and Susan began sorting through the hundreds of shirts, creating separate stacks by sizes and by quantities, all to be delivered to area pastors in the next few days.  The pastors are trusted to know just who needs these items the most…

     We had to smile when we discovered that we had packed small boxes of glasses and sunglasses in five different bags.  Recall that yesterday, the Peruvian Customs boys confiscated what they thought were our only supply of these spectacles at the airport.  But, what they really got was only about half of them. 

     Mackenzie provided some thought-provoking questions in our first official team meeting on the back porch of the bunkhouse, and we headed to dinner in the dining hall.  In the middle of our meal, we were surprised by a six-man band that played their flutes, drum, guitar, and two other small stringed instruments, and they sang several songs for us.

     We’re definitely in the Peru mood now.

     Tonight should be interesting.  With our armed guard patrolling the compound and the open (screens only) bunkhouse, we’ll see who can sleep through the local dogs, chickens, and motorcycles.  Then, the no-hot-water showers should be fun in the morning.  But, hey, we’re happy to have running water!  And, we even have electricity in the bunkhouse; we can work around the funny-looking outlets.

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     Team health update:  so far, all 12 members of our team are well.  We did, however, have to put James on some Zithromax last evening for a lingering bronchitis.

Our luggage arrived in Pucallpa	Live Peruvian music at dinner