After resting in an air conditioned room back in Iquitos, cooling off and feeling human again we are ready to head out to the 2nd village. Admittedly while we were in the “city” we ate cookies, and ice cream, and downed liters of cold water. Geez, we were only gone overnight – you would think we had been starving for weeks! The 2-1/2 hour boat ride along the Amazon river finds us at the “dock” of Santa Victoria. Much like that of Tarapoto, it is a dirt dock. No dock really – just step out of the boat onto land. We scale the hand-carved mud steps up the steep embankment to begin a 20 minute walk carrying our luggage and gear to the village through dense jungle vegetation.

As we walk along the trail we pass local huts and wave to the people swinging in hammocks and sitting on their porches.

A man has spread kernels of corn out to dry that will be used to feed the free roaming chickens and then some of it will be used for a new corn crop.

The walk definitely seems longer than 20 minutes due to the intense humidity that envelops us. We are soaking wet and the air conditioned hotel we just left is a fleeting memory. There is a new church that has been built since the last time I was here 3 years ago. A group of men from a church group in the United States has built several satellite churches in the area. It is a large, raised, wood building – wood windows that open for ventilation – and it will double as our dorm style bedroom for the night. Again we break out the thin foam that will serve as our bed and gladly put up the mosquito nets once again. We are now both the proud bearers of hundreds of mosquito bites. 100% – yeah not all it is cracked up to be. It seems as though it’s more of an attraction!

The youth group – Breaking Chains put on a great show. Just look at the expression on the faces of the children that attended.

 As the rain starts to gently fall, we are nestled in our beds listening to the drops hit and then run off the metal church roof. And we dream…

In His Grip,

Stephanie