Hello family and friends...
I have discovered that I am horrible at trying to keep up this blog, so this is going to be another long one. We are back in Tarapoto for a second year. Spencer has been busy working in the garden and the yard. Max enjoys helping with all the chores, especially watering, raking, chasing the chickens back down the hill and feeding all the animals.
Speaking of animals, our two cats are doing really well. They are super playful and VERY tolerant... They pretty much let Max do as he pleases and they just lovingly accept it all.
Max enjoys helping out in the kitchen, especially when it involves a yummy treat. He is going to have to work on his sneakiness though. But who can resist Spencer's cakes?! They are delicious!
For those of you that don't know, last year I contracted a tropical disease called leishmaniasis... Please don't google it! The form that I have is NOT life threatening and the spot that I had on my skin is completely gone. I do however still carry it in my bloodstream. The treatment is a 20 day course of IV antibiotics that make you quite ill. After weighing my options I have decided to wait until I am back in Canada as we live directly in the Leishmaniasis zone and I would be extremely ticked off if I contracted it again and had to endure the treatment twice. A couple that lives close to us has had it several times. The picture below was taken at the centre for tropical disease in town, the jars are filled with creatures and body parts. I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie... Not to mention the clinic was down a dusty dirt road in the middle of nowhere. 😳
While we are on the topic of scary things, we had a crazy wind storm that blew a neighbouring roof into our yard. It damaged several trees and severed our Internet cable. It was unbelievable how quickly the workers from the water plant came over and cleaned everything up. Can't say the same for the Internet... that took weeks to repair.
Here is a picture of a travelling circus that was destroyed by the wind.
Max had a little accident, he tripped and knocked his front tooth loose. I happened to have a book here called Moose's Loose Tooth, which I thought was completely appropriate for the occasion until I realized that the plot was Moose trying to get his loose tooth out of his mouth in order to collect the loot from the Tooth Fairy. Max quickly picked-up on this and got really excited to try and get his tooth to fall out. I convinced him that we could write a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining that his tooth needed to stay-
put and thankfully the Tooth Fairy wrote a very nice note back and gave him a special coin to encourage him to keep his tooth in his head for a few more years. 😁😝
Max is extremely interested in making art these days. He loves the chalk that he got from his great grandparents in Edmonton this summer. He and his friends spend hours making grafitti all over the place.
Spencer has devised a new way of knocking down coconuts, while it seems to be a little tedious and frustrating, it is effective and very entertaining to watch.
Max continues to spend time with his friends, Amaru, Tala, and David. Amaru and Max enjoy running around like maniacs, Tala and Max enjoy exploring and drawing, while Max and David spend most their time making art.
The two of them have created an art wall in our house which house many flags drawn by David... (Can you spot the North Korean one?!? 😳)
Max and Spencer went on a fishing trip to Rumizapa, which Max absolutely LOVED! They met Kristi, Rubén and Tala at a fishing pond for the day. Max spent weeks talking about and pretending to fish. He sure enjoys his Dada-Max time.
I have been trying to tackle baking while I'm here which is ridiculous as it is about 35 degrees everyday and turning on an oven for more that 10 minutes is complete torture. One food that I have been missing more than anything is bagels, so after a friend of mine posted a recipe on her baking blog, I couldn't help but try.... They looked strange but they were delicious. Try them for yourself: http://www.bakingforfriends.com/hard-winter-bread-co/
I also baked a pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving celebration with Kristi and Rubén.
Speaking of Kristi and Rubén (our Canadian friends and social life-line here) they are leaving next week so we have been spending as much time with them as possible. We took a trip to a hidden hot springs that was a couple hour boat ride from Chazuta.
This waterfall is scalding hot!
Spencer brought an inflatable boat that was a big hit with the kids.
This pool looked lovely but it was filled with tiny biting fish.
It wasn't until we were back in the boat that Kristi mentioned the last time they saw water snakes in the waterways that we had to traverse through! 😫
Benedicto cutting beeswax out of the box. These particular type of bees do not sting!
Mmmm fresh honey!
Kristi and her gaggle of children!
Joel and Irwin enjoying Spencer's inflatable boat.
Spencer was popular with the ladies at the Nayeli's 15th birthday party.
Warning: any vegetarians and vegans should probably stop reading now!
Fanny and Benedicto prepared a special breakfast for us... Cuy! Aka: Guinea pig
I know that we think of these cute and cuddly creatures as classroom pets from our childhood, but here they are a delicacy.
Don't believe me?! Check out this article from the BBC.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-38857881
Another popular snack is roasted giant ants...
Spencer quite liked them... Me? Not so much!
Unfortunately, on the night we left, San Roque was hit with heavy rains that washed away bridges and flooded much of the town. Everyone is safe but many supplies were needed. Here are pictures of the bridge on Sunday.
The same bridge on Monday... Crazy!
We miss everyone, please come visit! 😁 I guess that's never going to happen after this blogpost! 😝
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