The Georges in Peru

On Cyber Monday last November, the local airline had a special for round-trip tickets for $65! Where should we go for 'Fall Break' from school? "The jungle!" has been the answer from the kids since a medical trip to the jungle we made as a family in 2008. Several missionary friends, most notably the Wiests and Welshes (fellow Nebraskans) live in Pucallpa, so we decided to go there. Pucallpa isn't a typical vacation destination ("I've never heard of anyone coming here for vacation," stated the missionaries whose home we stayed in.) But for a week's vacation, we found plenty to do, boat rides to parks, the zoo, etc. Amy and I even celebrated our 20th anniversary on Wednesday. Friday, we went to Cashibo, the missionary airbase where the planes can take off from either land or water to take missionaries out to the tribal villages. It was the birthday of one of the MK's so most of the kids from the mission high school were there. One of the missionaries has a small outboard so we were waterskiing and tubing. While waiting in the water for the boat to turn around I suddenly felt a 'pinch'! 'Ow!' I said. "Probably a piranha!" yelled back the driver. Then suddenly, I got more than a pinch! 'Ow!!' This time the piranha got a chunk off of my foot! I was done. I didn't really needto waterski that badly! If it weren't for the fact I'm running the Lima marathon next week, it wouldn't be a big deal. Hopefully, it will heal up by then. All the kids got out of the lake, but the water was too inviting, and soon they were back in again, rationalizing that they've swum there for years without being skeletonized like a wading bovine. Despite there being 20 kids there, Sarah was the next to get bitten (Georges are either especially tasty or easy to see because of our light complexion in murky water), and another MK also got a piece taken out of his foot, but that didn't keep the rest out.

Careful where you swim,

Allen & Amy