From June 26th to July 6th of 2008, a crowd of us from WSU went off to Peru to sail down the Amazon River!  What fun!  Here’re some photos people took during the trip.  I’ve culled WAY, WAY down, so as to minimize the pain for the family members!
Peru, 2008
The group at the end of the trip.
Lima---a modern city.  Pollution included.  jb
Well, mostly modern...  jb
Town center. jb
The Bishop’s palace shares a square with the presidential palace.
Yep.  We’re everywhere.  jb
All the kinds of hamburgers are available.
The presidential palace. jb
Don’t go over there.  jb
I didn’t know that pigeons were sacred to Catholics, but it explains a lot. jb
Wow!  jb
Who lives behind doors this big? Oh, right. God does. jb
Our hotel
 jb
Lima---home to 9 MILLION souls.  jb
Even the doves are colorful.  jb
Kennedy Park fountain There’s dancing every night.jb
Lima is on the pacific. This is THE place to eat! jb
Night in Lima is not dark.  jb
The Pisco Sour.  A truly superb cocktail.  jb
Jose, our Lima tour guide.
Jose gave us a great tour of Lima’s archaeological museum. Further supporting the idea that all learning is social. jb
The museum is barely inside.  jb
Ancient Incan pottery.  jb
Grumpy man.  jb
The rise of Mass Production.  jb
Internal travel by Lan.  A far superior airline.  jb
Oops.  Broken plane.  Let’s just park it here.  jb
Iquitos airport.  jb
We spent many hours in the Iquitos VIP lounge.  jb
Iquitos.  It floods here.  Every year.  jb
Chicken anyone? Welcome to the 3rd world. jb
Try not to think too hard about this.  jb
A delay meant more time in Iquitos market---yay!
Did you know this is where cashews come from? Me neither. jb
BBQ grubs anyone?  jb
What are these things anyway?  jb
The country is Catholic, but some of the people aren’t. jb
Iquitos is busy, busy, busy!  jb
Erik explains the history of Iquitos.  jb
There’s going to be a parade.  jb
Would you like Coke...
or Inca?
Power lines.  Dirt roads.  Varied priorities.  jb
You wondered.  Didn’t you?  jb
Fallen leaves protect the soil. jb
Erosion and soil loss.  jb
Crazy botany jb
La Esmerelda---our ship  jb
We used a skiff to get on and off the ship. Raoul was our expert driver! jb
The ‘cabin boys’ teach us towel-folding. You might think this was not interesting, but it was! jb
Every day, a different towel.  jb
I learned to do the dog.
a boat! jb
an elf shoe!  jb
Candles... jb
Learning from the expert chef!  jb
Americans stink at soccer.  jb
Blake nearly didn’t come home!  jb
1,000 miles from anywhere, a soccer jersey! jb
Kevin catches Piranha!!!  jb
But this looks more like a meal!  jb
Jorge owns the sugarcane rum factory. Apparently, he is seeking a bride. jb
Erik, master translator.  jb
Nancy, who is suffering from liver cancer, visits a shaman. jb
We toured tributaries with locals. I’m trying to remember my Spanish! jb
Steve learns to weave a palm frond roof!  jb
We visit a prosperous village. jb
We learn to take the hulls off of rice. THIS is work. jb
A dugout, in progress.  jb
We asked them to flip it over.  jb
Eventually, it will look like this.  jb
Everyone’s a little tired and hot.  jb
Manioc. This is poisonous, unless you know how to treat it. jb
The village school.  jb
Inside the school---kiddies!  jb
They taught us a song.  jb
We brought them school supplies.  jb
Edgar was our naturalist guide.  jb
They shared protein with us. Yep, I ate one. Ew. jb
Laundry on the Amazon homestead.
Goodbye, gringoes!
We got to have lunch with a family. Quite a spread! jb
Walls are over-rated.  You want BREEZES!  jb
An amazon pet.  Check out that roof!!!  jb
Gift exchange.  jb
A proud child shows off his pig!  jb
And his poultry.  jb
Sky Bridge jb
In Nauta-town.  jb
We got to go for a ride!  jb
Busco las fruitas de la selva!