Where to begin??? Great question. I'll give a general update because there are so many things to tell. Puerto Maldonado was our first stop. This is the town my brother and his wife and son live for the next year and a half. It's a small pueblo (village) off of the madre de dios river...which splits from the Amazon. SO, basically we were smack dab in the middle of the rainforest....90 degrees every day, 100% humidity...and lots of rain and bugs....wahoooooo!! There are basically no cars in this town, as seen below, mostly mototaxis or motos. If you want to get something done there it takes about 5 to 6 days to our 1 day. It's crazy slow.
I'll let the pictures explain our trip. Most of all, we were blessed to get to spend the little amount of time we could with Ty, Trac, and Kai. Having not seen them for a full year...it really was special to get to be with them and see the sweet things they are doing in Peru. I definitely learned that their job is not an easy one. Ministry..one...is hard, but in a different culture who has different ways of thinking....harder (HOWEVER, the more you see the Lord at work, eh?). I am blessed with an amazing brother and sister in law who are raising an amazing little boy with crazy amounts of energy, passion, and joy!! Love you guys.
First arrival at the airport. This is the mototaxi that Tyson bought. High rollin' yea? We fit 5 of us in this thing....ask us how...we don't know.
Presenting...........KAI! This is the start of our jungle adventure. The day after we arrived to Puerto we went on a crazy jungle hike through the rainforest. We wore rain boots and off roaded it out in the mud. This was on our boat ride to get to the first hike.
Minor detail....Kai on the back of Tyson's back about 150 ft in the air balancing on a thin piece of plastic supported by skimpy little ropes drapping over trees. Totally safe peruvian style. No lawyers present from this view.
Family pic from the 200 ft mark on the rainforest canopy. An amazing adventure...never thought I'd do that....always a surprise with the Smith family.
Kai and I having blowing wars...who can blow over the chess piece first? He won.
After we did an hour hike through the mud we took a boat ride on Lake Sandaval. It was so pretty. We saw all kinds of wildlife!!
Father and Son!
Tirantula!!! Quite large at that.
Kai and I trekking through the town.
Mom, Tyson, and I decided to rent motos our last day in Puerto. An hour into our trip my moto decided to break down...GREAT. We are in the middle of jungle farmland, hot sun, and grazing cows. Great situation you say....I agree. We flagged down a car who let us throw the bike in his truck taking Tyson with them....oh wait...that leaves my mom and I solo on the other two bikes. We find ourselves getting lost...in rush hour traffic. Imagine turning left with 10 other bikes turning left with you....AWESOME!! We finally found our way back...all in all a success!
While there we had the opportunity to paint a little in the house. Kai got the opportunity to try out his skills....lookin good!
Working hard!
OH...funny story. Wheel chair??? Oh yes, I went out in style. After getting heat exhaustion the last day in Puerto...I was not feeling to hot as we arrived at the airport heading to Cusco. As I handed my passport to the lady I turned to my mom and said, "Ma, I think I'm gonna faint"....yep..down I went. They quickly brought me a wheelchair and I got wheeled to the plane!!! Sad. Then on the plane I turned to my mom, "I think I'm gonna puke...oh...I think I'm gonna faint."...and ....I did both at the same time. Always fun, right? All in all...another great success. Cusco here we come!
Here's the family portrait in front of the ginormous rock formations. We tended to find ourselves marveling at how they perfectly fit these massive rocks together in air tights cracks....crazy. It must be the coca leaves they always ate...:)
Tyson and Kai looking over the Sacred Valley...PRETTY
Tracy learned a new form of carrying Kai...she's becoming sooo local. The purpose of this photo was to show the stairs in the background going up the mountain...Tracy was mentally preparing herself here.
Kai loved the llamas and alpacas...we are such tourists here.
NO FEAR...don't worry about the crazy alpacas...Kai's got them fed.
Kai's first train ride, a definite success. You should have seen father and son running from one side to the other sticking their heads out of the window when an oncoming train passed by. A sight to see.
Ahhhh...three generations.
I taught Kai how to pound and break...he's a professional now.
MACHU PICHU
Another Family Portrait...not a bad place to have I guess.
Love them.
Kai with a slight mischievious smile on his face.
What originally an Inca hut would have looked like. Not bad, eh? I would have totally lived there.
Artistic feel.
Perfect windows...kinda cool how they can be so exact with rocks.
