And the winner of Miss Iquitos 2011 is...

Although Friday had come and gone, our weekend did not officially start until Saturday afternoon as we had an early morning meeting at the Centro de Salud in Belen, our third and final municipality in which we will be surveying. This meeting was a little different from the others in that no surveying has been done in Belen in the past. In San Juan and Punchana, we were merely asking the health centers to provide us with a competent guide to help us track down previously surveyed families. However, in Belen we not only need a competent guide but also assistance in selecting which houses and from what regions of the municipality we will be canvassing. As always, the people we met at the Centro de Salud were more than helpful in every way. We tentatively decided to begin in Belen on Wednesday or Thursday, as we believe we will be done in Punchana either Monday or Tuesday. Sampling in Belen will consist of surveying 40+ houses in order to round off our sample size, as well as collecting water samples from various sources TBD once surveying is complete.

After our meeting, we grabbed our cameras, books, and journals and headed down to the river. We stopped in to one of our new favorite spots: Camiri. It is a floating restaurant that you get to by descending a steep set of wooden stairs and crossing several planks that lay atop the water. We spent several hours there, laying in hammocks, drinking Camu Camu (a pink fruit drink) and iced coffee, reading, relaxing, and enjoying the beautiful river scenery. Around noon we went to lunch at Kim's friend Angel's new restaurant, Q'chara Brava. We had a delicious menu which consisted of sopa del minuto (chicken soup) and an entree (lomo saltado, pollo de seco, cecina con tacacho). Angel provided us with great service, food, and company, including the presence of his adorable five year old daughter Luna. Later that day we headed down to the Boulevard along the river for the Miss Iquitos Pageant, quite a spectacle. After watching the initial dance contest while snacking on coconut Shambo popsicles (our favorite hot afternoon treat) and Peruvian street kettle corn, we met up with friends at a nearby restaurant to watch the main act over chifles (plantain chips) and drinks. We stayed for the first three rounds: traditional dance and costumes, evening gowns made from recycled materials, and bathing suits. It was quite the event and seemed like almost all of Iquitos came out to see the pageantry. Later that night we had Kim's friends Ariana and Jessie over before we headed out for a night of dancing!

The view from Camiri.

This morning we woke up in time for Jessie, her sister, and her two nieces to come over to the apartment. Jessie's sister does nails for a living and treated us each to a "house-call" pedicure. We improvised a little, i.e. used kitchen pots for foot soaking, but the end result was three beautiful sets of nails! The Peruvians love nail art, so we have officially been decked out with flowers, colors, glitter and gems...oh my. After every one was dry, we grabbed a mototaxi to the Nanay Port where we headed to Caza y Pesca, the Iquitos Hunting and Fishing Club. We took a short boat ride over to the club, which is a two story open air building overlooking the river. We ate a traditional lunch upstairs before heading down to the docks to soak up some sun before the afternoon showers set in. What a wonderful Sunday we had on the water! We will definitely be returning there sometime soon for a swim or two. Now off to Chato's, a Peruvian version of a diner/grill, for a light dinner...

Check back for more updates on our big week starting in Belen. And go America for the big win today in the women's world cup! For anyone who is interested, Peru will be playing Chile July 12 in the Copa America. We will be watching!

Chau Chau for now,
Katie