Fevers and Dreams of the Jungle

We left the project in Ica a week ago, because it was time to move on. It may have been past due, as my final two and a half days were spent with a fever that reached a hundred and four degrees at its worst. As though the illness wasn´t bad enough, the location only made things worse. Hot in the day, cold at night and loud, sandy, and angry, 24-hours a day. It was starting to feel like the whole place was trying to kill me. It was time to leave.
I would have like to see a finished house, I would have liked to build an earthbag house too, but at the rate things were moving, we would have been there a year before I saw the completion of

those two dreams. And besides... the Amazon, Brazil, and a Rainbow Gathering are calling, and the call is strong.
So I´ve spent the last week recuperating in Lima at the house of a friend. In addition to recovery - Naty got sick just as I was getting better - we´ve been trying to make as much money as possible before we make the trip. It hasn´t been great, but its been somewhat steady. Another friend put some of our stuff at her table in a craft fair and we took to the streets, filling our time more with activities found in the provided pictures.

If you follow the path a bit further, you find yourself overlooking the beach and a good part of the city. There are worse places to spend a sunny weekend afternoon.

Lima has been good to me. There´s an abundance of nice neighborhoods to stroll through, with lots of parks, the beach, and lots of good, cheap food around every corner. We did splurge on some Sushi the other night though. I didn´t eat meat for the entire duration of my stay in Ica, so this was my celebratory release of cravings for meat. It was delicious.

We´ve been spending a good amount of time just hanging out around the house. It´s been nice and quiet and comfortable. Lots of reading and juggling and writing and napping. And eating. Repeat. And some working sometimes. Grillo made paper airplanes when he wasn´t busy editing a magazine. Naty prepared Maté and worked more than me.

But we´re refreshed and recharged and we´re leaving tomorrow or Tuesday, a bus to a place, then to another, then another, and then to Iquitos, where we catch the boat down the Amazon. We have to stop at the border - so I can pay the gouging $100 visa fee to enter Brazil - then switch to another boat, but then we´re in Brazil and the heart of the Amazon. In a hammock. We still have to buy the hammocks.