Mother Nature doesn´t make mistakes

The center of Iquitos

I saw the above slogan the other day, next to the image of a substance illegal in the US. Interesting. I used to be a real purist, I didn´t want any altering substance in my body at all. I wanted to achieve everything through control of my own mind and body. This is a good basic idea, it kept me from doing a lot of stupid things. And there are no shortcuts to enlightenment. But sometimes plant wisdom, something from outside, can give us new experiences that were not possible through ourselves alone. I was resistant to this idea for a long time, but experience trumps dogma. The trick is to take the experience seriously, understand what you are doing, and learn from that experience. You should be able to see things in a different light when you are done, without any assistance, if you learned properly. So on that note, we are going into the jungle tomorrow and we may encounter some special people, with special knowledge of the plants.







Last night I ordered a fruit salad last night from a bar, and to my disappointment, it was all canned. What a rip off. I picked at it, canned fruit is not that great. Then...there were all these kids that kept coming by to sell stuff. like, seven year olds. I asked one of them if he wanted to eat the fruit salad, that I was full. He nodded yes, sat down, and slowly ate the whole thing. Portion sizes are usually pretty small for kids. He must have been hungry. It was sad because before he ate the salad, we could pretend he was like one of the kids in the States, selling gum or whatever for fun, for a school fundraiser. We couldn´t deny that that wasn´t the fact after he ate the salad. Roman got real sad and gave him a secret present. A 20 US bill that the bank wouldn´t take because it had the tiniest rip in it. If he exchanges it on the street, he can still get a load of money. We are so fortunate. It´s not so fun to be rich if you are aware of it. I am thinking about how I can be more careful with my money, and not waste so I can carefully help others more. Like with the microloan programs. Which reminds me, I think one old one I did was recently paid back, I get to reinvest it now.





Which reminds me, even in a poor country, traveling is expensive. Don´t let anyone tell you otherwise. You are spending money and not gaining any! All those people that travel after high school or college must have a steady flow of cash coming from their parents. I saved for two years for this trip and most of that money is going to be gone at the end (well, some of it is hidden, luckily. I hope to go to Iran at some point). It was worth it, but I´m only gone for a month, and I was in Peru. I can´t imagine people who spend so much time in Europe without working. They must be loaded.





When we were at that bar last night, there were some people around our age, maybe also early thirties, doing carnival-like tricks and asking for money. They reminded me of the traveling punk kids I know. I was actually really annoyed by them, going around and asking for money. If they don´t get enough money to eat, they can always go back home. The truly poor that were begging have nowhere to go. How dare such priveledged people beg in such a poor area when they could the ones giving, easily. I don´t mean that they have to take part in the economic system, not at all. But don´t be in direct competition with the truly poor, when your poverty is voluntary and temporary. Anyway, this type is easy to spot. Despite what they are wearing, what do they always have that the poor people don´t? Nice shoes.





We went to a butterfly garden today and living near there was this sweet red-facd monkey. it groomed my hair so caringly and lovingly. Then it sat next to me and I did the same thing. Roman was in love... it really shows how things should be.