Puerto Maldonado, 3pm

Hola everyone!

That´s right.  We´re back to a Spanish speaking country again.  I keep forgetting and saying "Grazie" and "per fevore" everywhere we go!  It´s funny...we´ve been here a week now (I think) and I have lost all sense of day and time being here.  For starters, day of the week doesn´t really matter in the jungle.  And it gets so dark so early here that at 6pm it feels like midnight. 

We have been juggling our time back and forth between the site of the retreat that Stephen´s friend is building 40 minutes outside of town and a cool little jungle lodge right in town. The retreat is going to be really cool.  It´s a huge flat space that drops off into a cliff that overlooks the jungle.  There are about 2 dozen local workers who are up and at it every day at 6am digging and building everything by hand.  It´s pretty amazing actually.  They work pretty fast. 

We have been staying in tents under a wooden shelter, falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle every night.  Thank God for bug repellant! The mosquitos come out at 5pm and if you´re not protected...good luck to you :) It´s unbelievably humid and hot at times.  And then just as fast, the sky can break open and douse you with a rainstorm. We caught a beautiful glimpse of a rainbow after one such storm.  It was gorgeous.   There´s a film crew here too doing a documentary about the construction of the center and everything Stephen´s friend Bob is doing to get it up and running.  It´s a really great group of people we´ve been hanging around.  They keep us well fed.  Pasta and rice and beans make a hearty breakfast.

The lodge/hotel in town is nice too.  It´s a nice break to be there and take a proper shower.  We will be here a couple more days and then we will go on to Cusco.  One of the guys recommended a great spot in the sacred valley that has a beautiful garden on site, yoga, organic vegetarian food and access to a lot of the sacred sites.  The plan is to be there for 4 nights and figure the rest out from there. 

So that´s the latest.  We are happy and healthy and enjoying ourselves.  Hope you´re all well wherever you are...

Love,

Andrea & Stephen