Ch-ch-ch-changes (in Iquitos) (Andrew)

While the presidential candidates at home are arguing about change, many new and not-so-exciting things have been happening in Peru. I know that time marches on and of course, things have to change somewhat, but some things can be a little disturbing.

Most importantly for us, prices have gone up at several restaurants, including one of our favorites, Huasai. The fixed menu, which cost 7 soles when we arrived now costs 9 soles. Furthermore since Christmas there have been ominous changes at the grocery store. Our friend Maghaly warned us that the prices of staple foods might be going up, possibly because of decisions in Lima to increase taxes/decrease subsidies (possibly related to the free trade agreement?) or maybe just because of flooding upriver. While we haven’t looked at our receipts from the beginning of our time here, we have noticed some important changes in products in the stores. When preparing for our camping trips, we have some specific items that we know are delicious, easy to prepare, and appreciated when they are shared. However, on our most recent field preparations (our first since the New Year) we found that there were no more sausages or cheese in cans, or our favorite nighttime field drink, Winter’s brand cocoa. More importantly for our everyday life, not a single grocery store anywhere in Iquitos continues to carry pre-made tomato sauce, so we were forced to learn how to make our own from scratch. Yes, it’s a good skill to have, but it does take a bit more time and the tomatoes here are not very fresh.

Some of the more amusing changes have occurred this week, with the arrival of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperative (APEC, Peru is apparently a member) conference in town this week. The mayor of Iquitos decided to paint all the buildings (including the beautiful church) on the main square of downtown a sickly yellow color. And as if this wasn’t enough, he had new street signs put in on every corner, and street lights installed between the airport and town. While these might be considered important civic revitalization projects, the house-sized signs proclaiming “Welcome to Iquitos” (in English) along with the mayor’s name seem to give away the true intentions. Especially the one hung on the giant, windowless, abandoned hotel that overlooks the square. This building was also hastily painted just in time for the arrival of the conference members, perhaps to appear only kind-of dilapidated. However, the elementary school on the block between our apartment and the main square remains unpainted and falling apart. (Update: the Welcome to Iquitos sign has been replaced by a 50 foot tall “Please Come Back” sign at the end of the week)

You may have also heard that there are also some tensions arising to our north (For those of you that missed it, Columbia, using information from the US, attacked the camp of FARC, a terrorist/freedom-fighter organization, about a mile over the Ecuador border. Meanwhile Venezuela, on the opposite side of Columbia, is pretending to be offended and trying to provoke a regional war). Neither Iquitos nor the villages we work in are very close to the Columbia-Ecuador border, but there’s not much between us except forest. Although our friend Pamela suspects that Peru will try to play peacemaker and end up losing territory (“that’s how we lost Bolivia” she says), the chances that we will be affected are small. Hopefully things will calm down in time for our trip to Quito, Ecuador at the end of the month. It kind of makes one glad to be isolated as much as we are. Unfortunately we have been hearing rumors about deforestation enhancing roads being pushed in from Brazil to expand commerce. While this appears to be a ways off, both Dr. Wiley and a recent NPR article have informed us about recent road building activity between Iquitos and another small town to the north of us.

All of these things make me worried about what changes we will find at home (in addition to the anticipated immense culture shock). However, many things in Iquitos remain the same- negotiating things at work, hot days with sudden rain showers, difficulty finding a place for dinner that serves something besides chicken. And some changes are good- como mejorando mi español…

Hasta pronto!!

(And if you haven't seen it, watch the video of the presidential candidates professing their love for change: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEaS-K3j3M8 )