Iquitos

i arrived on March 1 at 7am. yes, that´s when i arrived. and praise the LORD, i was met by a lovely woman from Scripture Union named Rosi, the wife of an administrator with the organization named Carlos. i spent yesterday resting and meeting several other people and trying to sort out (have yet to figure out how to say that very useful phrase in spanish) my housing situation. we´re trying to find a family for me to live with. currently i´m staying in a room on the 4th floor of a clean, lovely hostel that looks out over the Amazon River. and costs about $7.50 a night.

To give you a word picture of Iquitos... (photos to come)

• people come here by boat or by plane.
• it´s a city of about 1 million people.
• the primary mode of transportation is in a mototaxi (half motorcycle with a seat behind for passengers and a little roof overhead)
• it´s ON the Amazon River
• there are "CyberCafe´s", lots of stores (all kinds - clothes, shoes, electronics, motorcycles, bread/food items/the usual junkfood selection and drinks shops) , major banks and government offices, a government hospital, a dozen hotels-hostals, some restaurants (including a 60´s style burger joint that appeals to the foriegners called Ari´s Burger) several squares, lots of churches, lots of people, lots of noise, lots of mototaxis, lots of heat. today, for about an hour, lots of rain.
  
• the top 3 reasons foreigners come here are... 1. Tourismo de la selva (jungle tours) 2. Tourismo sexual (no translation needed) 3. Tourismo de brujeria(tourism of witch craft)

So that´s where i´m working. More specifically, in an area of the city that i wrote about the last time i came here (Peru trip June 2004 with Zion Church) called Belén. I´ve recently learned in my study of spanish that Belén means Bethlehem. I´m still trying to sort out the spiritual implications of that.
I´m working in a new clinic in Bélen which wasn´t there in 2004. only the foundations. if you´d like to check out the website for Scripture Union Peru, it´s http://www.unionbiblicadelperu.com
search around a little to the Medical tab and if you can switch it to English, or if you can understand enough in Spanish, you can read about the clinic and the work going on here. The medical work is fairly new, as largely this organization helps children who have been abandoned by their parents or whose parents cannot afford to feed them or care for them. hard to imagine, i know.