OUR TRIP TO PUCALLPA

     We left Wednesday, June 4, at 1:30 PM from Huancayo, the nearest BIG CITY to our home. We traveled 19 hours to Pucallpa, first climbing from 11,000 ft above sea level to 14,500 ft, then coming down to go up again, then down again. I don't know the altitude here, but it is nothing compared to Santa Maria. 

     From 2 to 3 AM we passed a long stretch of road with no homes or buildings of any kind and, as usual, a security guard dressed in uniform with his flashlight and rifle, came on board to remind us that the community “ronderos” are on duty, voluntarily, watching out for our safety, that no bus would be assaulted. He asked for a donation, which we were happy to give. Years ago, in the 80’s, during the time of terrorism, the buses would go in caravan so that no bus would be alone on the road.

     We arrived at about 8 AM. Our two oldest grandsons, Juanito (will turn 14 on June 17) and Jetro (12 in January), were waiting at the bus depot. Their younger brother, Mateo (8 in February), and mother, Angelica, had already left for school. She is teaching first grade now. Her husband, Juan, is a draftsman, and has done many projects that an architect normally would do, but with lower pay, as he has never had the resources, and now has no time either, to study architecture. He designed the central park here in Yarinacocha, a suburb of Pucallpa, and is now working on a new market for the City of Pucallpa itself. We were so happy to see all of them in the afternoon, after three years!

      Carolyn spent the morning helping Jetro with his English and conversing with the older boys about the Nazis and World War II. Augusto had nice visits with three other people whom he knows here in Yarinacocha. In the afternoon he spent a lot of the afternoon trying to fix a broken pipe in the bathroom.

     Augusto had left Santa Maria in 1968 at 22 to come to Pucallpa to study in the “university”, which his brother told him existed here. The bus trip, instead of the 19 hours that it now takes, took him 15 days. He left home with bus fare, which an uncle gave him, a blanket, a bag of oranges, and no idea how long the trip would take. In those days the buses had broken windows and the roads were often washed out, as it was the rainy  season. They got stuck in one town for two days due to the rains. He sold his blanket to get something to eat, but he arrived and found his brother, who had a restaurant. He also found out when he got here that there was no university, but there WAS a normal school to train teachers, so he enrolled there. He worked at his brother’s restaurant at first, but later got a scholarship, so that he could leave the restaurant and concentrate more on his classes.