Seasons Greetings

 Happy holidays and merry Christmas to family, friends and past volunteers from Lourdes and I here in the northern Amazon jungle of Peru!

 2020 has been a difficult year in which we had to completely shut down our educational outreach progams here in the small community of Sauce.  We did provide the service of delivery of essential food supplies during the pandemic to some of the more vulnerable families in our programs.  In addition we continued to support the Khuyay Waldorf school in the city of Tarapoto which remained in operation, but only on an online basis.

The lockdown situation did have some positive aspects:  Lourdes had plenty of time to learn Peruvian Sign Language to better communicate with some of our deaf children and adults and I got to mostly finish up our house on which I have been working for almost 10 years.  Also it was lovely having our lake very quiet with virtually no boat traffic for all those months.

We are optimistic that 2021 will be a better year.  This is still a beautiful world despite many challenges and we will continue forward inspired by love which remains at the heart of everything.

A different Christmas

In past years we have had three pre-Christmas celebrations with the young children, the older children and our group of grandmothers but this year because of Covid restrictions we have not been able to host our usual gatherings at Estrella del Sauce.  Instead this year we are delivering gifts to all the children and grandmothers who partipate in our programs.  We have permission to hold our summer camp called 'vacacciones utiles' which will start January 11 and our grandmothers group has been given the go-ahead to begin again on Jan 15.

Sauce is changing fast

 Lourdes and I moved to this small lakeside town almost a decade ago and over the years we have seen many changes especially in the hotel construction sector.  Now the main drag is getting lots of drain pipes put in in antipation of paving the entire length.  It has been a dirt road up until now - muddy during rain and dusty in dry, sunny conditions.

                                                          This is a new park being constructed a block away from our house.

Jetski boat smash

 We were sailing along yesterday minding our own business when a Jetski driven by a young inexperienced operator suddenly appeared right on our bow.  I thought he was going to veer away but he kept coming and smashed right into our bow.  He had lost control of the wetbike.

We picked him up quickly as fortunately the 'man overboard' drills I learned years ago were still there in my memory banks and fortunately we had a doctor on board who checked him for injuries and prounounced him uninjured, which seems quite a miracle as the impact was fairly hard.  We took the Jetski under tow and went back to where it had been rented.  There was splintered wood on our bow from the impact which will take me a few days to fix.

I know they are fast and fun but I don't think Jetskis belong on a small 3 mile long lake. Unfortunately every year there are more of them.  We regularly hear of various accidents with them but this is the first time we have been directly involved.

Lourdes con gatitios

 Here's Lourdes with Nikki and Gringo.

Welcome to the world Maria

 

Lourdes and I are thrilled and amazed to find ourselves great-grandparents following the the arrival of baby Maria born to our grand-daughter Kiara and partner Yared in Dornach, Switzerland on December 18.  We look forward to meeting her in person when travel restrictions ease up.

'But trailing clouds of glory do we come from God who is our home.'

                                                          - William Wordsworth

Finish details at our house in Sauce

 This  entrance-way aquarium is finally filled and in operation after several years of standing empty.  We have 6 baby goldfish from our outdoor patio fishtank and just recently added some other colorful varieties of fish as well.  There is even a bubble-blowing diver carrying treasure which neighborhood children find fascinating.

The shells came from a trip we did down the Florida Keys some years back.

And here's the bar that I finally finished during lockdown with some turned bowls displayed.

On the right can be seen the pass-through from the garage that we use for unloading groceries during rainy weather.  Very useful.

Woodturning revisited

 I've done very little woodturning over the last decade despite having a lathe in my workshop.  Recently we had to take down a caoba tree which was growing too close to La Casita del Lago and bashing the roof during high winds.  It is lovely wood and lately I have been making some bowls as Christmas presents.

La canoa rancha and other nautical adventures

 La Canoa Rancha means something like 'the moldy canoe' and is a famous cumbia song by Grupo Niche from Colombia.  We have an actual moldy and slightly rotten 18 foot dugout canoe that was recovered from being sunk and filled with rocks several weeks after it was stolen.  Our friend and volunteer Josue who is back in Peru after being sponsored by us for a residency in Germany at a Camp Hill facility where he learned German and cared for developmentally disabled adults fortunately found the canoe while diving.

Now I am repairing the canoe, which was in a rather beat-up condition, with wood and some modern materials including fiberglass so it will have a new lease on life.  I'm adding one inch of freeboard, meaning the height above the water, to strengthen it and make it safer in choppy conditions.

I have also repaired and painted this 17 foot rowing and sailing skiff made of ana, a local water-resistant wood with properties similar to teak. I go out rowing often at sundown when the heat is diminishing and the sunset lights up the sky.  Sometimes Lourdes and dog Bondo come along as well.

The rowboat now has a boathouse with a new swim ladder that doubles for rowboat access.  When the dugout canoe is finally repaired and painted it will be docked to the right of the rowing skiff.

During the months of lockdown I worked on our 33 foot (10 meter) sailing trimaran Estrella del Lago improving the roofs so we now do not bang our heads when entering under the canopies, re-epoxying and painting the main mast and various hull repairs.  Lately we have had strong winds which have been fun and I tested out a new boom which managed to resist some 25 knot gusts without mishap.

              Old boom made from bamboo, picturesque but with tendency to break in high winds.

                                          New boom made from ana, much stronger. The challenge was to find a piece of wood 6 meters long.