Chasing the Dream in the Peruvian Amazon

Traveling and working with someone can be a difficult task. You spend almost every waking moment together. You share meals, a bathroom, living quarters- you name it. The person is always there. Compound that with work that both people are passionate about. Work that both people have spent years of their lives pursuing. Work which they’ve invested everything they have into—financially, emotionally, creatively—which now embodies all their dreams, desires, hope, and passion.

Add to this situation two individuals who are both accustomed to walking their own respective paths. Two close friends who find themselves bound together by a common dream, both still unsure just how to obtain the lofty goal they’ve set for themselves.

Sounds pretty intense doesn’t it?

Welcome to the Jungle!

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Pevas via the Tamale Express and The Grippa!

Just thought I’d let you know a bit about what’s going on down here at the moment. Both Jonathan and myself are working on a couple of different stories and multimedia pieces that we will be sharing with you in the not-too-distant future. I would of loved to be able to have a couple of them finished by now but it’s more important that we do as good a job as possible then it is to just crank out “stuff”.

X is Iquitos, our home base, and the star is Pevas

My nemesis- The much loved yet much hated Tamale.

Last week we headed down the Amazon river to check out some leads for healthcare stories on the Rio Ampiyacu. For mere mortals it’s a 24+ hour trip one-way but we were able to do it in 5 with the help of our friends Cesar and Segundo and our trusty steed, the newly (re)named boat The Tamale Express. (She used to be named the Mai-Kai Express but being the manly men that we are the sole food we packed for our expedition—besides some peanut butter and jelly—consisted of a bag with cuarenta (40) Tamales)

I mean these things are cheap cheap cheap! Three for a dollar to be exact, and you can survive A-OK on one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. “What’s a Tamale” you ask? “That sounds disgusting!” you say? Well well well, you have no idea what you’re missing out on. The local Iquitoan Tamale consists of a corn and peanut mush peppered with eggs, some pork, the occasional olive, and some seasoning. They’re Frickin Fabulous!

…and after last week if I ever see another one I’m gonna gag. Seriously.

Annnyyywaaayyy… So! The Tamale Express has a 100 horsepower motor on it, and when you run it full throttle, and head downstream while staying in the center of the current (while swerving all over to avoid the trees and masses of bushes that also like the main current) you can make some pretty good time!

Jonathan with the Tamale Express (nevermind what's written on the side)

So we get to Pebas by early afternoon. Pebas is a town of about 5000 people that’s situated on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Rio Ampiyacu and the Amazon. It’s a regional capital of sorts and serves as the main hub for over 100 smaller communities and villages who all come here to buy Inca Kola (the national beverage) and *ding ding ding* get medical assistance!

Before we head to the health post though we have to check in with the local Apu (big man). Cesar leads us up a winding path to what could only be described as an Amazonian Castle! The place has a tower and everything! Cesar explains that the monstrosity looming above us belongs to the internationally renowned artist Francisco Grippa—and that he is very cordial with visitors (i.e. he likes to sell them things.) No one seems to be home so Cesar leads us inside one of the dozens of doors into The Gallery. I say “The Gallery” because it’s immediately apparent that The Grippa is a very serious artist. The room we’re now in is the main wing of The Gallery. It’s about 30 feet by 50 feet and has giant canvasses exploding with color… everywhere. The biggest piece is easily 12 feet by 16 feet with the average one being a measly 5′ x 8′ or so. Wild stuff!

A taste of The Grippa's work

While we’re poking around one of the Big Man’s people emerges and lets us know that The Grippa is in town- so off we go.

Down a path, through a gate, some mud and the main square later we find The Grippa relaxing in his bar and restaurant (they call it a Disco, but I never actually saw anyone dancing in the thing so I’m sticking with “bar and restaurant”) working on what does not appear to my carefully trained eye to be his first beer of the afternoon.

Now now now, a bit about The Grippa. And I’m struggling here because I’m not sure how best to describe this unique creature… Well, for starters, The Grippa is a very large man– and he’s always covered with an impressive display of paints, kind of like one of the Jungle Animals he loves so much to capture on canvas. The Grippa will always tell you what he thinks. The Grippa has a larger personality than 99.99% of the people you have—or will ever—meet. The Grippa is crazy. The Grippa Rocks!

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More to come soon-

Mike

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How to Conduct an Interview (AidJoy Style!)

Have you ever wondered how the pros interview someone in less-than-ideal situations?

I know I have! :)

I still don’t know- but if you’d like to see how we do it here at AidJoy check out this video:

Interview—AidJoy Style from NGO AidJoy on Vimeo.

Without the support of http://www.foreigntranslations.com and generousindividual donors this work would not be possible.

The People of Lima, Peru

Wednesday, April 6th.

So Jonathan and I finally made it to Peru. We were supposed to fly in this morning but fog coming up the cliffs from the Pacific prevented us from landing in Lima so we were re-routed to a military base where we sat for almost 5 hours listening to some incredibly loud monkey and/or bird sounds playing over a loudspeaker system presumably designed to scare off birds that might decide to Kamikaze the Peruvian Air Force’s jet engines.

We got some good footage while on the plane with Jonathan that shows him explaining AidJoy and Project Amazonas to our neighbor. You guys’ll get to see it down the line.

After running some errands this afternoon in Lima I headed out to take a few snaps. The light was escaping so I only got in about 30 minutes of shooting before it was too dark. The neighborhood we’re in (Miraflores) is a touristy part of town with plenty of shops and a mess of street life. Take a gander at the shots but please keep in mind that they in no way represent Lima, Miraflores (or anything really) as a whole. I was just walking and shooting whoever looked interesting from my hip as I passed.

Anyway- here’s thirty minutes of walking round Miraflores, Lima, Peru. (Be sure to click on the images and let em load up if you want to get a good look at them!)

Enjoy-

:)

And So it Begins (AidJoy’s Trip back to the Amazon)

Atlanta: A 4:30 A.M. alarm clock precedes leisurely bowls of cereal as Jonathan, his girlfriend Karen, and I sit around the floor of Karen’s living room in the dark. There’s no electricity. A stomper of a storm rolled through late last night and shook the place up pretty good. No worries, we have our trusty headlamps! Jonathan and I are scheduled to fly to Miami at 7:20. It’s a leisurely twenty-minute drive to the airport and spirits are high in anticipation of getting down to Peru and getting to work. We’re packed up and out the door before 5:00. Some five blocks through the neighborhood we come to an abrupt halt– there’s a rather large tree blocking the entire road and powerlines lying all over the ground. Hmmmm…. No worries, there’s other routes. Two minutes later we’re turning around again– the trees didn’t fare too well last night.

Now, we’re off with a quickness– the primal fear of a missed flight sitting, unspoken, on our chests. Rounding a bend we’re greeted by the lights of a news crew, another downed tree and more powerlines. Oh Joy! One of the reporters comes up to us and before we can ask him how the devil he got INTO the neighborhood and how WE can get OUT he picks up Karen’s accent when she politely greets him. “You’re French!” he exclaims with a big smile. I can’t tell if he has a thing for French girls or if he just smells a story but Jonathan’s having none of it. “We’re going! We’re going!” says Jonathan, motioning to the reporter to move. The reporter points at Karen and glares at Jonathan “She’s friendlier than you are” then turns away. We dive back into the maze of streets, confronted a few blocks later by yet another tree. OK this is starting to get a bit ridiculous!!!

We turn again, drive two minutes and… guess what? A TREE!!! YAAYYYY WE LOVE TREES!!! Jonathan thinks we have a chance with this one though so out he jumps to move the caution tape. Karen drives through and up to the tree while Jonathan moves branches around. He comes back to the car and directs Karen to drive up the curb and onto the sidewalk, around the tree. No dice- Karen doesn’t like it, so Jonathan jumps in the driver’s seat as I run up to direct him.

There’s a damn stump blocking our path, and the trunk of the tree is still in our way. Jon jumps out and together we manage to pivot the tree in such a way that we MAY have enough room to get through. Jon’s back behind the wheel and ready for action. I hold back some branches and shudder as Jonathan revs the engine, up onto the curb, seemingly trying to jump the stump with Karen’s shiny Civic. The car crunches onto the stump and sits there, stuck. (In case anyone was wondering– Honda Civic’s don’t have very good ground clearance!)

Jonathan’s thankfully able to back the car off the stump and I help him realign for a second try. We’re going to take the front right wheel up onto and over the stump. Some deft maneuvering and inspired driving and *Presto* we’ve beaten the stump. Jonathan’s back out of the car again to help me push the tree (It’s about a fifty-footer) further out of the way, then he jumps back in while I grab branches. Next thing I know Jonathan is flat on his back, groaning. The tree has decided that it’s not going down without a fight! A few tense moments and we determine that Jon’s OK but Karen’s looking a bit flustered. I give her a hug and a smile, reassure her that her car’s alright, and we all jump in.

“Wait a minute- my headlamp!” yells Jonathan. The evil tree has stolen Jonathan’s prized headgear and he isn’t inclined to leave it. After a couple of minutes of rustling through branches with no luck we decide that it’s more important to catch our plane (Who knows how many more trees might be waiting for us) then locate a $35 piece of gear, so off we drive.

Karen appears to be a bit upset and drives silently. Jonathan seems afraid that he may have just squashed Karen’s and his relationship just as it was getting going. I’m glad I’m in the back seat– there’s a bit of tension in the air. After a mercifully incident-free 20 minutes we get to the airport and unload. I’m not sure what Karen is thinking but I’m worried about us leaving her on a bad note. Jonathan’s pretty crazy for Karen and he’s really excited about where their relationship might go. I’m super happy for Jonathan– I just met Karen but I can already tell she’s an awesome person and a great fit for my good buddy.

Thankfully, Karen really is as cool as she seemed to me and a quick phone call confirmed that everything was OK. (As most of you know, Jonathan and I can be pretty intense at times and it’s sometimes difficult for people to understand/cope with the wildness.)

So where does this leave us? At the moment Jonathan and I are in Miami waiting out a good ol fashioned thunder-bumper. We met with Dr. Devon Graham (Project Amazonas’s Executive Director) earlier this morning and hammered out some details for the next few months in Peru. Then we ran some errands and caught up with the lovely Carolina from Colombia for lunch. Tonight we fly to Lima where the journey will continue!!

Thank you for coming along on this ride with us!

Also- a big Thank You to our sponsors: Foreign Translations, Immedion, Watershed Cabins, Eloquia, and Nimlok as well as the individual donors who have supported us. We wouldn’t be here without you guys– but with you, we’re about to make some really positive things happen in the Peruvian Amazon!!

Talk to you soon.

Mike

Saving The Amazon

ODE TO AIDJOY AND THE BLACK BLOOD DRAGONS

by Bo Bryan

Part I

Going with AidJoy is risky business, off the chart, where the geodetic survey drops from the table, over the edge where discoveries are made. Where the olden time mapmakers signified the unknown with a terse warning, “Here There Be Dragons”.

Where AidJoy goes the dragons are sometimes microscopic, the size of sporozoites, those tiny, savage bugs that cook you alive in the slow fires of Malaria. Sometimes the dragons are flame-throwing, petroleum giants feeding on the Earth’s black blood, way up the Amazon River.

The dragons are always way up the river. This time in northern Peru, on the Rio Corrientes, a tributary of the Amazon, where a giant lizard, name of Occidental Petroleum, has sucked the black blood out of the Earth for thirty-five years, and now the river is sick. A lot of people who live along the river are dying, and nobody knows. AidJoy will go and investigate, taking medical personnel up the Corrientes, along with cameras, and journalists and all the equipment that directs the light of the civilized world into the caves where the dragons are.

BRIGHT LIGHT IS THE ONLY THING DRAGONS FEAR!

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