Day Seventeen - Heading Home

We spent the better part of Monday traveling home, reflecting on our visit to Peru and the new friends we had made. 

At LAX.

During our two weeks working with Amazon CARES, we spayed or neutered 142 cats and dogs, provided 480 pets with parasite and medical treatment, distributed 1,668 anti-parasite tablets to the human population, and educated 250 students about the humane treatment of animals. I think it's safe to say our journey was a success! Now, to start planning for next year!

I encourage you to visit the Amazon CARES website and blog. It is a wonderful organization that deserves all the support it can get! 

http://www.amazoncares.org/ 

http://amazoncares.blogspot.com/ 

Day Sixteen - Iquitos

Our final morning in Peru some of us woke up a little hung over...okay, me! Our plane home didn't fly out until the afternoon, so we had one more day to spend in the city.

The dock next to the Amazon CARES clinic. We used this dock every morning and evening while we stayed at Cabo Lopez.

The only pink dolphin we saw the entire trip.

One final relaxing visit to the Boulevard.

Justin, Donna, Debby, Kendall, and Shannon

While waiting to meet some friends for lunch, we enjoyed some Peruvian sunshine on the Boulevard.

Helping a street dog reach an itch he couldn't quite scratch.

Two very fun travel companions!

Some of the local children we had come to know stopped to say hello. Justin and I managed to barter with them, trading our smelly bandannas for bracelets.

Did I mention that the bandannas smelled badly?

Regardless, they were happy with the trade.

Kendall sharing his music.

Finally, we headed to one last lunch with some of the friends that we had met during our work with Amazon CARES. Unfortunately, the service at the restaurant was very slow, almost making us late to leave for our flight. As we were getting ready to leave the restaurant and head back to the hostel to get our luggage, it started to rain. And I mean rain. We hurried the few blocks back to the hostel, attempting to stay dry and failing miserably, and threw our luggage on the back of a few MotorKars, knowing the luggage would get soaked in the rain. 

Debby and I hopped into one of the MotorKars and headed to the airport. About halfway there we heard the motor die and we were simply coasting downhill in the torrential downpour. We started scanning the passing MotorKars looking for Kendall and Donna when we saw their MotorKar driver pull up behind us, stick out one foot, and push us to the nearest gas station. After refueling we were off to the airport just as Justin and Anthony's MotorKar rolled into the gas station to refuel as well. We were all a little soggy, along with our luggage, but we made it to the airport a half hour before our flight left.

At the airport just in time. Justin and I found the debacle much more entertaining than Kendall did.

A beautiful goodbye to Iquitos.

Day Fifteen - Cabo Lopez & Iquitos

After having a relaxing day off, it was back to work...and it was our last day of work. We spent our final day of work examining the shelter dogs at Cabo Lopez.

Gathering some of the shelter dogs.

Dr. B. examining one of the dogs.

Donna bathing a dog.

Lunch...always delicious!

After working all morning, we gathered all of our belongings and piled in the boat to spend our final night in the heart of the city. It was sad to know that it would be our final boat ride on the Amazon...at least for now.

Toucans

Anthony, Kimberley, Justin, and Shannon

Jumping into the river.

We stayed our final night at a hostel in the city.

The hostel.

After settling in at the hostel, our first stop was lemonade on the Boulevard. We were lucky enough to spend the entire evening with all of our new friends. Some of those friends include a few local children who sell items on the Boulevard.

Giving away the last few whistles Donna and Debby had brought.

Donna and friends.

After a refreshing glass of lemonade, we were off to meet our new friends from Amazon CARES for dinner.

Dinner was followed by a visit to a local bar...

...and then dancing at a local discotheque.

The first discotheque we visited.

There was one singer who loved to come off stage to interact with the crowd. At one point he even managed to get Dr. B. to sing along in the microphone.

After dancing for a few hours, Bruno suggested that we head to another discotheque across town. He cautioned, however, that we should leave our cameras behind. We ended up dancing until about four in the morning and had a wonderful time.

Day Fourteen - Fiesta de San Juan

We ended up getting an extra day off from work because of Fiesta de San Juan, a local holiday where traditional juanes is served. (More on that later!) 

Before heading to some local festivities for the holiday, I met a new friend at Cabo Lopez...

...and Debby and Dr. B. fished with some locals.

Then we headed to the city to check out the celebration.

A crowded commute!

We decided to visit a small carnival and market celebrating the San Juan holiday.

Enjoying some ice cream on a hot day!

There were rides...

...and games.

Safety first!

The market we visited.

A work in progress.

It is tradition to serve juanes on the San Juan holiday. Juanes is boiled rice and chicken wrapped in leaves.

Juanes

We had wonderful weather during our visit to the carnival and market, but just as we were leaving it started to rain.

How MotorKar drivers protect themselves from the rain. And yes, they keep the screen up while they're driving.

We continued exploring the city of Iquitos until it was time to head back home.

Vultures

When it was finally time to head back home, we decided to take the bus to the dock instead of our traditional mode of land transportation, the MotorKar.

Waiting at the dock for our boat.

Our boat arrived just in time for us to cruise the river as the sun was setting. It was definitely one of the more beautiful boat rides of our journey.