I woke early after just a few hours of overly-exhausted sleep.
Fifteen of us had flown into Lima, Peru the previous evening and had been picked up by our born-in-Peru-but-very-American host, Tom. We all bundled into a van and drove a short, chaotic distance to the SAM (South American Mission) House – a tardis-esque type home that’s squeezed between other narrow, barbed wire-wrapped casas, that actually has enough rooms to shelter twenty people, if needed. We tried to ignore the guy sleeping on the couch as we walked through the front door close to midnight and listened intently as we were each instructed where to find our respective beds.
We knew we had an early morning to catch our next flight, but as much as we were all dead on our feet, we couldn’t help but visit each other’s very basic (but much appreciated) rooms and talk about the unusual sounds and smells we were experiencing, each of us silently wondering what the next week would hold.
It was still dark when I got up, but I could hear the buzz of traffic and people’s shouts wafting through the glass-less window. Peet was still sleeping (no surprises there!), so I tried to stealthily carry out all my morning faffings without putting the light on. We had our own bathroom attached to our bedroom, which was very helpful. Even more so since we weren’t allowed to put anything down the toilet for fear of blocking the pipes. Seriously, you could flush your number ones and your number twos… but don’t even think about putting toilet paper in the toilet. Oh, no. There was a little trash can for that… no matter what was wiped on it. And if that’s not awkward in itself, imagine doing that in a shared bathroom… with a shared trash can!!
Peet appeared, blurry eyed and morningy, as I was brushing my teeth in the dark. My greeting to him was, “I think this toothpaste is off…” as I contorted my face into an expression of absolute grossness. He just stood there, staring at me. My lips were peeled back and my teeth were gritted together, as if both of these actions would make whatever was happening in my mouth stop. “Seriously – there’s something wrong with this toothpaste we bought!!”
I saw his eyes move off of me and land on the tube of toothpaste. “Is this what you used?” was his contribution to the conversation, as he held up the red and white tube for me to see. It was.
Note to self: Even though the packaging of Cortizone 10 Anti-Itch Cream® looks identical to that of Colgate®, it’s very different and should never be used as a toothpaste.
And so began our Peruvian adventure…
We all scrambled like crazy things, re-packing our overnight bags, piling into the van, and trying to keep up with Tom as he checked all fifteen of us in for our morning flight over the Andes. We had no clue how much we’d fall in love with Pucallpa, and the people who live there… but we were about to find out.
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