Jungle Meetings and Safety Violations

From our roof Puerto Maldonado

From our roof Puerto Maldonado - Tambopata River in the distance

From our roof Puerto Maldonado - Confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios Rivers in the distance

President and Sister Harbertson with members in Puerto Maldonado

Really big conference poster

President Harbertson

Mission Christmas Dinner

Gift Exchange

Cusco Zone

Changing cables outside our apartment - Dangerous?

Meat Delivery

Safety first

No Safety

Scrubbing original Inca stonework

Fancy Feet

Can you spot the non-Incan stonework? Looks like drunk teenagers patched the hole...

Band Practice

Hygiene with a flair

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Tuna (cactus fruit) seller

Christmas is Coming

The yellow ruda flowers to keep away the bad juju

Tons of tinsel

Waiting for the light to change

Now it's safe to cross

Pineapple & Pacay vendors

The Baratillo

The Baratillo

Shoelaces

"New" Sewing Machines

Blankets & Ponchos

Anything & Everything for the well healed horse

Snack time

Smokers and Grills

3 soles ceviche

Heavy load

We met the Harbertson’s at the airport on Saturday to fly to Puerto Maldonado for a district conference. We have heard the drive to “Puerto” is spectacularly beautiful but it takes about eight hours. Since we didn’t have eight hours to spare, the 35 minute flight up over the mountains out of Cusco and down to Puerto on the Madre de Dios River, was far more comfortable. From the air, the vastness of the Amazon Basin simply takes your breath away. Winding rivers and nothing but green for as far as one can see. 

When we left the air-conditioned comfort of the plane, the intense heat and humidity hit us and made us aware of the “aliveness” of the jungle. We had a driver pick us up and take us to the hotel, which wonderfully, had air conditioning in the rooms. Hallelujah! Julie knew she would survive. We grabbed a quick bite of lunch in the hotel dining room, not air conditioned. The dining room sits on the top floor of the hotel with a lovely view of the confluence of the Madre de Dios River and the Tambopata River. 

After lunch we walked 10 minutes up to the church and were pretty “damp” by the time we arrived. Sadly, the air-conditioning in the church is broken, but ceiling fans were abundant, so we were able to breath a bit better. Rich and President Harbertson had Priesthood Meeting to attend, and there were no women present for Julie or Sister Harbertson to train. Julie and Sister Harbertson found a room, cranked up the fan, visited for a bit and soon fell asleep. Going from over 11,000 feet down to nearly sea-level, really makes you sleepy! The heat, humidity and overabundance of oxygen just wipe you out. It is the same way coming up to altitude; you get very sleepy while your body tries to adjust to the changes. Julie and Sister Harbertson had a good rest and we’re pretty sure somewhere during the afternoon meeting Rich and the President dozed a bit too. 

Priesthood Meeting attendance was great and the Adult Session was well attended too. Julie and Rich both spoke and there was a wonderful spirit there. The district is very close to becoming a Stake. We hope it happens while we are here. In between meetings, Rich and President Harbertson did recommend and priesthood advancement interviews galore.

Puerto has very few cars, but plenty of motorcycles and moto-taxis. After the evening session of conference we watched families of five climb onto a motorcycle and take off. We’ve seen mothers nursing babies on the back of motorcycles in the warm rain, girls with stiletto heels driving the bikes and everything else in between. It cracked us up to see girls dolled up for the evening meeting come in carrying their helmets under their arms. It was quite the sight!

Sunday morning the conference began at 9am so that we could leave in time to catch the 1:00pm flight back to Cusco. The church was packed with the overflow rooms filled too. Rich and Julie spoke again and the fans did little to help with the jungle heat, but the spirit of the members was incredible. Julie read that the “real-feel” temperature for Sunday was 110 with 80% humidity. Even Rich, who loves the heat, felt uncomfortable. Julie just kept thinking, “I will be on the plane at 1:00pm, I will survive.” 

It is such a blessing and a privilege to visit these districts. They always want pictures taken with us and the members make us feel so wanted and appreciated.  What marvelous people. A man stopped Rich and asked, “Are you the Brother Hasler that was the branch president in Espinar?” Rich said, “Yes.” The brother then explained that he knew all about us and our family and our time in Espinar. Missionaries apparently spread the word of the “gringo” family in the Altiplano. Everywhere we go in the mission, someone has heard of us. We do feel right at home here.

Monday we had a zone meeting and learned about the Christmas Initiative, “He is the Gift,” that the church has sponsored. What a great video and message to share with the world. Rich had to set a missionary apart who is headed for the Dominican Republic. We also did some catch-up from the weekend.

We worked hard the rest of the week taking pictures and Thursday night had the mission Christmas dinner and fireside for the Cusco and Sicuani zones. It was a great evening and the missionaries were each given a Book of Mormon in their native language to study and read this year. We are to decide why Mormon included verses or chapters and how they apply to us individually today, in our lives. During the past year we read it in Spanish marking references to Christ and His words, each in different colors. It was very instructive and uplifting. We look forward to the New Year’s study.

On Saturday, we went to the Baratillo just for the fun of it. We did not have a mission to find anything, just wandered through and Rich took an obscene number of photos. We so enjoy the cultural environment of these places. You can find everything from finger puppets, blankets to tire rims and the odd donkey head. If you have any personal space issues, it may not be the place for you… You get jostled, jounced, bumped, and butted (literally). Still, there is something just crazy about it. Later, we went to lunch at a traditional picanteria, where we were the only gringo’s in sight.

We didn’t travel this weekend because of the “Run-off elections” being held on Sunday. There will be no church so we will spend the day quietly. We’re happy to stay home for a weekend. Our friend Matilde (Yeny) Yauli and her boyfriend Alexander are coming to lunch on Sunday; it should be a fun afternoon.

It has finally begun to rain each night. The farmers hope this is for real. Normally this is well underway by now. People generally express their concern for the agricultural implications of the rain beginning so late. Everybody has some family member who depends upon farm production for their wellbeing in these parts. When Rich worked among farmers in the Apurimac region, he became very attuned to the concerns of these folks. They freeze dry the potatoes (chuño) that would not be used up in the normal process of fresh potato consumption. Once while eating chuño with the folks in a meeting, he asked, “How long is this good for?”

The man with whom he was eating, pointed at the repast in front of them and said, “Fifteen years, at least!” and smiled.