Mexico Take 2

Cal and I have been spoiled and got to go to Mexico for the second time this year! This time we took the boys and went with my parents. We went to Puerto Vallarta for a week, where my parents have a time share at Paradise Village. It is a perfect place to go with the boys and we love it there! 

As expected, I have a million pictures.  I'll try to control myself.  :)  I'm too lazy to try to sort pictures in logical groups, so you'll just get them in random chunks...

Here is the view from our room.  Wonderful!

The boys were just a little excited about being on the beach and seeing the big pools.

They knew just what to do.

Zach trying a little boogie boarding.

One night early in the week Austin decided he was sleeping on the porch.  He drug out a pillow from the couch and his blankie and lion and put himself to bed.  Zach kissed him goodnight and he was set.  (no, we didn't leave him out there, we were high!)  

Exploring with a magnifying glass.

Playing with a shark toy.

Much more to come...

More Peru

It is time to get the rest of these Peru pictures up.

We went to a nature preserve - that translates to Gringos will pay money to see exotic animals so lets get a bunch so they will pay us. 

 While I will admit it was cool to have the monkeys so close I couldn't help but think "these things have to got to be so dirty - where is my wife with hand sanitizer."

 I love this picture because it shows the neighborhood all out with machetes clearing the street from over growth.  Now if they would just pull their money together to buy a lawn mower they wouldn't have to do that.

 I took one trip through the jungle on a Mototaxi highway.  It was about as wide two sidewalks and you really felt like you were a long way from home during that ride.

Peru was a great!

But... Move over Peru, here comes Mexico!

Iquitos Peru

A couple of weeks ago I was able to go to Peru on a Medical Mission with some folks at my hospital. It was an eleven day trip so it took some negotiating with Emily too. Iquitos is in the middle of the Amazon rain forest and in a part of Peru that I have never been to before. My role was mainly to shepherd people around and make sure everyone got where they were going. Because I'd been to Peru before I got asked a million questions about Iquitos, and I kept having to explain that while I'd lived in Peru, I have never been to Iquitos so I don't know what it will be like. By the end of the trip I think everyone got it.

The city is experiencing a 20 year flood.  Much of the lower and poor parts of town are flooded.  Most of the houses are built on stilts here but some aren't tall enough to be all the way out of the water.  Others are designed to float up with the river and are anchored to anything that looks stable.

We took a little boat tour of the flooded part of town in little boats. 

This is probably my favorite picture of the whole trip.  Nothing beats jumping into water.  Now that is something I can wrap my head around.

Here is an example of a floating house and you can see the sticks it is anchored to.

When your house consists of one room, being outside is a big part of life in Peru.

Even the chickens have to adapt.

I guess on the plus side when it floods you don't have to go far to do laundry.

A picture of the recovery room.

Surprisingly we were able to do some arthroscopy cases with the help of one of the Peruvian doctors who personally owned some of the required instrumentation.

Things weren't quite up to US standards but the OR functioned well enough.

A shot of a boat coming into a little dock.

A view out of the boat showing the Amazon River.

Look I was there!

After the week in Iquitos we headed down river to an eco tourism lodge, that had this taper roaming around.

A view of the jungle.

There was a vine that was hanging from a 200 foot Ceiba tree, I just had to swing, others followed suit after I gave it a shot and the vine didn't come crashing down.

Another jungle path

Fishing boats on the Amazon.

Small village on the bank of the Amazon that was flooded to about 3 feet deep in the town center (a soccer field)

We visited a local tribe that shows off traditional dress and blow guns.

I jumped right in at a chane to shoot the 6 foot long blow gun.  I missed the target on the first shot, but on the second I was able to stick the reed dart into a wooden post.

Evidence that I got mine in.  Not quite on the dot but not bad from about 15 feet away.
 

A little boy from the village that was willing to have his picture taken, it earned him a dollor, more then his Mom/grandma made selling trinkets.

This lady was nice enough to let me get a picture of her pet slough.

A view looking up in the jungle

A small posion dart frog.

Exlporeing up side rivers of the amazon.

A giant lily pad called a victoria regia

A good sized iguana swimming for cover.

There is a slough in this picture.

It took some serious navigating skills to get our 15 foot boat though this.

The pink dolphin of the Amazon. - Not so pink and they don't jump like their grey cousins of the ocean.

As you might imagine I've got a few more photos.  But those will have to wait for another post.