Investigative Trip to Cepawa

After a relaxing vacation we were ready for another adventure J We had been gone for 3 weeks now, but before we could go home we were going to investigate the town of Cepawa!  During our team meeting our newly appointed boss, Trent Jones, had decided that this would be a perfect time for both of our families to visit Cepawa.

Why did we need to visit this little town, you ask!? Well, with our term ending at the end of the year and with the hope of a new vision we had researched the area that Cepawa was in – in hopes that it would be a good location to reach a new people group.  But as you know (or maybe you don’t) you just can’t get all the information that you need on the internet … especially when it is in regard to a people that have possibly never been reached!! And so, upon arriving in Lima we met up with Trent and Kay Jones and their two children Jack (2 years old) and Maya (1 year old) and got on a bus to Huanuco.

I know what you are thinking … didn’t you just get back from Huanuco??? And its true – we had … funny that when we went through the last time we had no idea we would be going back through – especially not weeks later!!! The bus ride was 8 hours of winding narrow roads – Trent only had to tell the bus driver to slow down once or twice (which means we were a bit fearful for our lives) but we had consolation in the fact that the kids were strapped in their car seats all snug and safe J

However, when we arrived that evening in Huanuco we were told that there were no buses leaving for Pucallpa in the near future. Apparently there had been another mudslide and the road was truly impassable … GREAT! The bad thing is that now we were stuck --- the only thing to do was to take the bus back to Lima and then fly to Pucallpa L While Kay and I checked into the hotel the guys went out in search of a new plan … whatever that might be, and when they showed up a couple of hours later they were both grinning --- we can take a helicopter they said… WHAT!? Kay and I were speechless, they started laughing – quite humored with their little story and our shocked faces …. apparently they hadn’t had any luck but were going to try the next morning.

Fortunately the morning proved more successful than the evening before. The guys found a van company that offered to drive us to Pucallpa – apparently smaller vehicles could still make it through, just not buses and other larger trucks… of course they said if for some reason we couldn’t get through – we could WALK all 10 kilometer’s of the mudslide, and they would have another van meet us on the other side….hmmmm. So we loaded up the next morning and headed to Pucallpa.

As you know – it should only take about 5-6 hours to get to Pucallpa … but after we passed through Tingo Maria the traffic began to slow and suddenly we were stopped completely … I was full of dread – not this again!!! I had visions of us hauling our children, the car seats and all of our luggage through 10 kilometers of mud and it wasn’t pretty!!! But 2 hours later we made it through … we didn’t have to get out of the van and no boulders fell on us – so all was well J

The plan was that once we reached Pucallpa we would take a float plane to Atalaya and then a boat to Cepawa … we did do this – but it was almost 3-4 days later before we had everything in order and had met with all our contacts. Unfortunately Adam, Sophia and I were going to have to go without Trent and Kay. Their kids were super sick and had awful diarrhea so we headed out into the unknown all alone….

The flight and stay in Atalaya was quick and fairly uneventful – with the exception of my cell phone being stolen, running into the Gayhearts (definitely the highlight of the stay!!) and Sophia getting a bad fever L Fortunately the day of the boat ride Sophia was better and we were ready and anxious to get to Cepawa. The 4-hour boat ride actually took 8 hours and we arrived in the pouring rain J BUT it was beautiful!!!

We ran to the nearest hotel (one of two in the town) and got a room. It was snug but clean – which is important J I got settled in the room and put Sophia to bed while Adam went out in search of some food…. Which proved more difficult than one would think …. He was gone for almost an hour so I figured he was getting something yummy … however when he returned all he had was a little sack --- and in that sack were sticks and on those sticks were grilled chicken parts – I say ‘parts’ because I don’t know what they actually were…hmmm.  We just sat on the bed staring at them and wondering how hungry we really were …. Fortunately for all 4 sticks, it only cost $1 J

The town only had power from 6-11pm every night. I was a little worried about this because I thought it was going to be really really hot in Cepawa and I didn’t know if we would be able to sleep much (especially Sophia) but it was amazing spring weather and of course the rain definitely helped, and so with our fan on we all fell asleep quite easily!

The next morning we woke up and hit the town – it was very small and quaint but had great bread stores … unfortunately Adam hadn’t seen any of these in the dark the night before J We spent the day and the 2 after that getting to know the town and the outlying areas – it was beautiful and people of all different groups lived there!! We were so excited – one evening in the park we heard 3 different languages other than Spanish – clear water streams flowed through the town and we took Sophia swimming in one of them … it was then that she discovered rocks!!

We don’t have rocks in Iquitos … as weird as that sounds – just sand, dirt, dust, etc. The clear streams in Cepawa however are lined with beautiful rocks and pebbles – Sophia just sat in the shallow water and played --- and then she realized she could pick them up and put them in her mouth J oh goodie! I think we managed to leave without her actually eating one … but who knows. 

After a very successful visit in Cepawa we were ready to move there especially when we found out that we would be able to fly there from Pucallpa by floatplane!! (Which is how we left) But we will leave that decision to the ‘higher-ups’ and will wait patiently while we see how the pieces all fit together.

Although we greatly enjoyed our time away – it was really nice to be home … I think Sophia slept for days straight (which meant we got to sleep too, haha)!!! Now that we are here - we are just preparing for the next addition to our family and getting things done around the house. The summertime will be full of visiting family and we are really looking forward to that and the help they will be with the new baby J