Things that make the biggest impression

Pucallpa is a third world city in the Peruvian Amazon region. From Lima you fly over the Andes and deep into the jungle. It is large though - about 300-400,000 people but does not have the same infrastructure that you would think for a city that size. There is electricity and internet but the list of differences could fill volumes. The biggest things I've had to discuss with Ruby are:
- it is hot and there is not A/C except in rare situations (our house has no a/c). It is in the 80's pretty much year round and bearable. But you do need fans.
- because of the climate there is no need for glass windows so everything is screened or open air (our house is screened and barred and very safe).
- because of the dirt roads it is helpful to have a courtyard style house where the street is completely closed off. We have a lovely yard for the kids to play in.
- for some reason the toilets can't handle toilet paper. this seems like a lot of latin america and central america.
- the water from the faucet has contaminants and can not be consumed. you can have bottled water delivered to your house within the hour but you have to be careful about the children. they are bound to get sick at some point but this is a stress of mine to keep that at bay. i have vitamin and supplement recs from a friend but with felix in diapers, it will be no fun.
- the dogs are not the cute molly, trixie, bo types we are used to.
- lunch is the big meal of the day and then a rest period during the heat. In the evening things come back to life again.
- it is winter so it gets dark much, much earlier than i was anticipating.

There are so many things I have questions about and I am trying hard to not look at things from my gringo eyes but I do look forward to trying to learn and understand more about the way people live. many more impressions and photos to come...

"Are we already in Peru?"

That's what Ruby said after we landed. David knew I had been stressing about the plane ride and said "Wow, that went better than you imagined in your wildest dreams, didn't it?" Yes, it sure did. David's father drove us to the Atlanta airport where we made it in plenty of time. The kids played in an empty gate for an hour or so and we boarded without incident. International travel is SO much more dignified - actual meals and your own tv screen. We'd had restricted all video watching for the few weeks in the Carolinas so when we got on the plane it was an extra special treat. Ruby was content from the get-go and even agreed to sleep for the last few hours. Felix wanted to read books and watch a few shows but slept for the last few hours as well. I was able to watch Invictus, incredible story. I can remember the last time I saw a movie.

We made a great choice by staying at the Lima airport Ramada. It is definitely a class above our normal choice but Lima is such a nightmare traffic-wise and you'd have to go at least 30 minutes to find even minimal accommodations. Since we were arriving at midnight and had to go through customs and security it was Incredibly luxurious to just be able to walk across the street to the hotel. Especially since we flew to Pucallpa in the morning. Lima is cloudy and cool this time of year anyway so it was a good choice to get out. We had toyed with a few day vacation upon arrival but a festival taking place all over Peru made that too challenging. After a delicious breakfast we were able to walk straight to our gate while the hotel folks checked our luggage. Worth every penny.

The storm before the storm

The preparation to leave our house and take care of everything, that should have been done since we moved in 3 years ago, was surprisingly more exhausting than I had even anticipated. And I knew it would be a lot of work!! A to-do list that would never end which grew from 33 items to 133 nearly did us in! I guess I didn't take into account we'd still have our regular full life of 2 jobs and 2 kids to contend with. But all whining aside, our house is now in great shape and everything in our world has been organized down to the 6 large bags and 5 carry-ons for our adventure.

Luckily we didn't go straight from the frying pan to the fire and had a wonderful respite with our families in the Carolinas before we leave the country tomorrow. They were very helpful and accommodating. Our crazy scheme would not have been possible without that assistance. Especially since I was able to regain my sanity during that time, which will come in handy on tomorrow's travel day.