La Casa (-Andrew)

Well, we have finally found a place to live, so we thought we’d post a brief description of our apartment (and some illustrative videos on YouTube). The apartment complex itself is very bright and cozy and has about a dozen small units in addition to the house-area where the family of the owner lives. You enter from the street through a long hallway, which opens up into a plant-filled courtyard covered with multicolored broken tile pieces (a nice touch all throughout). From the second floor we can see out across the floodplain to the river. The neighbors have all been nice so far, though luckily we are at the end and only share walls with one other apartment, with a resident who teaches private English classes and plays very loud movies. Further down the hall, Jess has befriended some engineers (who ironically work for a petroleum company) that are trying to set up a wireless internet connection that will work on our laptops (Luxury!). There are two elderly ladies who are part of the family that own this place who have found in us a new outlet for their grandmotherly instincts and we are very grateful for all of their help figuring out how to do things around here.

Our apartment is basically one big long room, subdivided into different areas (think New Orleans style, not Raleigh) and came mostly furnished, although we have invested in some bookshelves and kitchenware. There’s a living area in the front, which eases into a kitchen area with a counter island. A bathroom-island in the middle forces you to go around to the right side to reach the bedroom, which has some nice big closets. The floor is covered with white tiles, which makes it easy to see the different types of ants that swarm any bit of food dropped on the floor and are constantly exploring the walls, cabinets, and any other surface (one learns to view these as free cleaning help). The walls are yellow with an occasional green column (which looks nicer than it sounds), but the interior walls (around the bathroom) don’t go all the way up to the ceiling (so it ventilates into the bedroom and kitchen). There are two ceiling fans to combat the heat and some windows looking out on the courtyard and across some nearby rooftops for lighting (skylights too!)

There are definitely some deficiencies – no hot or potable water, one of the bookshelves we bought smells really bad (we call it “The Troll”), and the cooking facilities are fairly limited. So, we’re putting the call out for TWO-BURNER RECIPES (ie. no oven or microwave). Keep in mind that we have two pots, a deep pan, a water boiler, a colander, a spatula and two knives (and we’re going to invest in a juice-maker for jungle fruits).

So far we’ve experimented with: spaghetti with various sauces, scrambled eggs and omelets, and oatmeal with bananas.
Some possible ingredients we’ve noticed at our neighborhood grocery store: eggs, potatoes, many types of fruits (especially bananas), less types of vegetables (few leafy greens), rice, chicken, bread, pasta, milk and juice, ham and cheese, butter and oil, sugar and spices, coffee and tea. (We hear there are more options at the bigger market, but we’ve also been told that we will be robbed if we go there. So we are waiting until we have a buddy to go with us.) We’re happy for any suggestions!

You can email or send things (like letters and packages!) to our new permanent address: Andrew and Jess, Calle Raimondi #358, Interior #11, Iquitos, Peru