here is a great story and startling one to, well my version of it .

in the beautiful jungle sky. I was on the point falling asleep when dad slammed on the breaks as if we were about to go over a hidden speed bump I rolled on to my side as I tried to fall asleep till … I hered mom say they got guns. I was awake and sitting up in a split second what I saw was a red sport car and a few muffled shadows the brights of the car were on so I couldn’t see much. Dad had clumsily put it in revers and was moving the car backwards at a very slow rate. javen was crouched behind the seat to help protect him from any bullets that mite be shot I did the same as him once we were around the corner dad turned the car around and started back when a police car whirled up the officers jumped out and held us at gun point. dads hands flew up and explained to the cops that the action was behind us they letus by.

Well hello sorry I have been very busy latelyand haven’t had time to post.

What has been happening over here sense we came back from our furlow ??? Well after arrivingin Trjillo  we sort of stayed there for ibem and other reasons, fortunately us kids could focus on school. It stayed that way till the month of Februarybecaus we were interrupted to go to capacitacion biblice in yurimaguas . and then on arriving back in Trujillo our great friend Bert Eliot (a great brother that planted many many churches)  died.  To top every thing off we lost a baby boy that was three months along. With us trying to do school all that time. Now we are in Lima fixing our papers. We should be back to Trujillo in a few days and then of to Tarapoto to live in our tents inside our new asow skeleton of a house.  Oh its going to be great.      

cull

On Sunday we were going to Chasuta….a jungle town near a huge river…. it was 2 .5 hrs away…. This road is unpaved and really just plain gravel… It was the windiest narrow road I have ever been on.  OH MY.. Most of the road was under construction  and well needed a lot of work… the driver side was partial to land/rock slides and the passenger side was a drop off.(Jims side) Just imagine the worst road you have been on and double it……………….We were hanging on for dear life (really)… When we did stop it was a beautiful view and amazing. back on the road we finally got to our village and we were going to go down river to one of Micahs villages but we arrived to late so we went up river to see some land that was for sale…(Jims retirement place) lololol  NOT…………….. There we met a gentleman who showed us arround and we went on a path,,, before we knew it we were “walking in the Jungle” and guess what? the jungle is NOT FLAT. why do I always find the uphill trails…?????we walked about 1 mile in…..Then I turned around… Back into the boat and headed toward the murky, fast moving river.. once again I am on the water… The water was so brown it looked like chocolate milk….so Jim jumped IN… yIKES what are you thinking…….my camera was not ready…….OK Now you can go in.. yes I did get a picture….  We also stopped at a persons homestead that lived on the river…… what gracious people.. we had no idea who they were.. we just stopped to talk to them.. (something my dad would do)…..They  were so suprised to see us and all these Gringos with 5 kids.. OH my what a surpise to them….. they offered us mango and went to their coconut tree and fell some coconuts for us to drink the milk from..real great way to quench our thirst. once again Jim drank it… Little to our surprise we were getting eaten up alive. by a little bug, ans you can’t feel its bite. our legs are so bitten up its red and they itch..alot…. this is 2 days later and still scratchy. TO  BUGGY we aren”t retiring there. lol

Realizing it was getting dark soon, we needed to head back…. Micah said before” bandits” stop us on the road back… WHAT!!!! my son has a great way of telling us what may happen…..So back on the curvy road this time in the dark…Well we made it with out incident, but we all had our eyed peeled to the road, the drop off on the right, the falling rock on the left and bandits anywhere else. Good to get home.. .

My 2o things

1. Myas surprise water adventure
2. slow moving turtle
3. hours of bumpy road
4. Cullens spining top (hes a pro)
5. completed sail boats
6. movies that didn’t work on the computer
7. salt growing from the ground
8. Treasure Hunt
9. Jumping girls
10. Book readers everywhere
11. salt on everything
12. 578 bug bits on one leg
13. Micah and Amys 14 anniversary
14. drinking juice made from purple corn.. (its rather good)
15. taught the boys how to play 21.. (a good way to learn math)
16. 90 degrees again 85%humidity
17. new shoes for all
18. walked down the road and got alot of looks because were “Gringos”
19. people called us “dogs”
20. watched the boys play “Age of Empires”

Diane

I am Javen Tuttle and I am sharing this blog with Cullen (Oma too, while she’s here in Peru). I am going to share my version of the trip… so enjoy!

Ever, Pole, Edinson, Alec, Cullen, Dad and I walked to the paradero (a place where people rent cars) really early in the morning. The car would pick up lots people on the way, by the time we got to Yarina we were kind of hanging off the side of the car.

In Yarina, we ate a fast lunch, found a boat and got in. We turned off from the Huallaga (the main river) into another river, the Chiporana. As we were going, Alec and I saw some type of furry animal head come up from the water, that was cool!

We got to the next village in the evening, when we walked through the village, every one stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the gringo kids. I cooled off in the river with Ever and Alec before the open air service.

After the meeting, there was a possibility of hopping a night boat , but when things were over, my dad seemed to have disappeared. I asked a guy where dad was and he said dad had already gone on the night boat! of course, I didn’t believe that, so I went walking to the house we were staying in.  It was locked up and nobody was home! When I knocked on the door, a big dog came and started barking at me.  So, I went walking to the dock, and the boat seemed to have left!  I saw a little light drifting down stream so I walked back to the village rather scared, thinking that I might call the next village on the public phone.

When I went through the gate of the village, there was dad coming down the road talking with a man from the church!  It turned out that I knocked on the wrong door!

We walked to the port and just then, around the bend came the night boat.  So we arrived at the next village Santa Marta at almost 12 O’clock, safe and sound.

Here is what happened on the second half of my trip:

(you might want to read the 1st half first)

DAY4

So when we woke up, I packed, then we ate, then we said bye, and we were off. We first came to a little brook easy to cross,

the hard one was the Chiporana. Edison, Dad, Alec, and I swam across to get the boat for the others. The current was pretty strong, but it was nothing. With everybody across we kept going till we got to San Jose. There we ate a little bit then kept on going but Pool, and Edison, went in the boat to the next village the rest of us walked, we walked, and walked, we crossed the Yanayacu two times and finally at 7:30 p.m. we arrived in Santa Rocio.

as soon as we got there, we ate deer, then we were off to the open air, and after that we set up the tents in the house of Quinto (a very nice house), then I went to sleep.

DAY 5

In the morning we went to pick guava, the trip turned in to a long walk and when I got back I felt a bit wobbly but I went swimming anyway,

then the wobbliness turned into a dizziness, so I took a nap and everything went blank. And I don’t remember anything else till the night
when I took a pill then went to sleep. I missed dinner and the open air.

DAY 6

Next morning I felt better and got in a boat to San Jose there we had a wedding, and a baptism,

then I started to feel sick again, I went to bed, so the open air was skipped and so was dinner for me. The others got locked out so I had to get up and let them in. In the end I got to sleep.

the return

Then when we got up we grabbed a boat to Yarina. On the way, we stopped in Leche to pick up are stuff that we left there and held a gator leg.

Then we continued the trip spent the night in Yarina, only slept two hours, then took a car to Tarapoto with giant pig .

Earlier this week we went to the Zoo.. Not your ordinary Zoo. You had to walk about 2 miles to this zoo. UP and down Hills. I don’t think anyone would go to the Portland Zoo if they had to walk this far and up down hill. But when you get there you get to see about 9 animals.very close up and even touch them.

One was a ocelot…  he  was right there in a very week cage.  If you wanted to you could of touched him… but not a good idea.

Also a bear. great claws and yes I did touch them.  There cage is  made of rebar.. I had pictures of all of this, but this is making me so frustrated to add pictures that it is ruining my vacation….. so I will just do the writing.

Yesterday we went to a real Peruvian home ( now I wish I had the pictures). they live very much off the land.  Pick plantains, yucca, limes, mangos, passion fruit. and not much else.  they killed a monkey a few days earlier for meat….  They were very hard worker and very seldom get to town, even though it was 3 miles one way. They go to Micahs church and walk into town when they go….. They were very warm and generous with there produce and gave us coconuts and all of the above stuff. There kitchen was a dirt floor and a oven made from mud.. Micah told us how they cook on it.. amazing……

Jim and Micah are doing some electrical work on the church.. digging in the dirt floor and pounding out cement walls. I did a great video on them, but alas……. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

20 things.

1. new and old construction on the same buildings
2. the roosters do not know what time to crow 3:20,3:45,4:10,4:12.4:50…you get the picture
3. There are to many roosters near this house
4. little girls waiting by your door to great you when you wake up
5. Way to many bumpy roads
6. rained last night
7. coolest night of sleep so far
8. I got in Micahs pool (3 feet deep)
9. I hate water
10. My legs hurt from walking up and down trails in the jungle
11. made wooden crafts with the kids
12. City Water is shut off between 10 am and 5 pm
13. fridge door does not stay shut.
14. High cement walls surround the back yard
15. Neighbor likes to sing  with a microphone at night
16. Friday night is Party night….for the neighbors
17. Kids a creative when they play
18. Amys fast asleep on the cool cement floor
19. Moss is slippery when wet….
20. Father and son going for a walk at 5 AM every morning.

1. 20 more things
2. homeschooling is not for me
3. Amy has patience like a lamb
4. Cullen does not like math
5. Javen loves drawing
6. The girls and I had a Tea Party today
7. To hot to do anything
8. computers are slow, or its operator error
9. rained last night
10. hundreds of motocars, more motorcycles
11. the pool feels good
12. upper lip is sweating
13. lunch is there biggest meal
14. Tupperwear is a necessary
15. lots of books in this house
16. clouds today
17. saw a Gecko
18. no snakes yet
19. yes bug bites…. a few
20. Micah has a collection of animal skins on the wall (3)
21. Bye for now