Greetings from Arequipa!

We have emerged from the jungle and now we have arrived in Perú!

Our week in the Amazon was muy interesante. We stayed in a lodge on a ridge above a village on the Puyo-Pongo river, and our project for the week was to build the stairs to get to the lodge! The path was steep and slippery and in need of a lot of maitenance. We perfected our machete skills chopping up trees to make steps and spent hours pounding them into the ground. We also got to trek through the jungle and visit a shaman. Andy got to hang out with a monkey. It was pretty chill.

The shaman visit was fascinating. He began each of our cleansing rituals by smoking a cigarrette and demonstrating how the cigarrette represented each of our bodies. Then he stuck the wrong end of a different cigarrette into his mouth and blew smoke all over us. The stains on the cigarrette were our ´mal aire´or bad energy. To cleanse us, he did a series of rituals like spraying us in the face with sugarcane alcohol, blowing smoke on our heads, and using magical rocks to call spirits from the jungle and cleanse us. We were all given a specific herb to smell six times per day, three times in the morning and three times before bed, for three days. After three days our current sicknesses we supposed to be healed. I think as far as shamanism goes it is nessicary to believe to be able to see, rather than to see to believe. For some of us the experience was more meaningful.

After a dirty ass week in the amazon, we took off for Quito at 6 in the morning with bags full of wet clothes and mud. Upon arriving we chilled in Quito for two days. Some of us got to visit el Mitad del Mundo - the official equator - while others got the chance to have a private tour of the US embassy with Jeff´s friend Mike, the head of security there. The US embassy in Quito is brand new, cost $80 million dollars, and is considered small. Don´t try breaking in, even to use the water-conserving toilets that can actually handle toilet paper (a major novelty in these parts). After a couple of days in Quito we all wke up at 3 in the morning to catch a flight to LIma Peru and then transfer to another flight to Arequipa, our new home...for two weeks.

Arequipa is a cool city - it´s hot and dry during the day and cold and dry at night. It´s actually on the north end of the Atacama desert... or you could just call it Tatooine. We´re living with wonderful families. OUr mornings are spent taking intense Spanish classes. Tomorrow we apparently have to give speeches in front of the entire school, to demonstrate our bomb spanish skills. Andy, Milo and Dawn entered an agreement on Monday: Andy and Milo would quit smoking for five days, and Dawn would fast. Andy and Dawn are holding strong on day THREE, but Milo not as much... and he has paid the price - he TOLD us to pants him if he smoked... and Keegan is not one to let him go back on his word.

We´ve passed the afternoons exploring this new place... we saw the market on Monday - anything you would ever EVER need. Yesterday, we went to the Monastary and explored the seemingly never-ending labrinth of bedrooms, kitchens, and sanctuaries. We´re also in the midst of planning our weekend to Colca Canyon - hopefully we can find a mule (or puma. or condor) for Maddie and her knee to ride down on! Free travel plans are also in the works - Lake Titicaca, here we come!

Peace from the SAMtastic team!

Hasta luego - photos to come!

Your bloggers, Maddie and Andy