After our meetings with the artisans in Puca Urquillo, we had a peaceful and productive evening in Pebas. It was quiet in Pebas for the first time in weeks after relentless loud campaign parties. Alcohol was banned leading up to Election Day and soldiers were mobilized to keep the peace.
Yully and Marianela sorted and classified crafts we had recently bought. Pablo worked on his woven birds, Doilith worked on her woven butterflies, and I edited photos while listening to the TV in the background with actors on CSI Miami speaking in dramatic dubbed Spanish.
We had another chicken dinner at the same restaurant secure in our plan to get some rest before heading to the port for our midnight rendez vous with the Ferry heading back to Iquitos.
We got a rude shock when we got to the port. The little boat taking passengers up to river mouth had come and gone because the Ferry had already passed by an hour and a half before. Passengers who had bought their tickets in Pebas had been informed about the earlier departure, but working from our cloistered hotel with tickets bought in Iquitos had kept us out of the loop.
Our next blow came when we trudged back to our hotel and were told our rooms were already promised to incoming guests. I experienced some minutes of American entitlement and pondered what might happen if I refused to vacate my room. The manager then said we could all stay in the room with four beds until 6 am for another 100 soles. I thought about it, but Yully was too incensed to consider it.
We took all of our bags back to the port with hope that a lancha bound for Iquitos might pass by in the night or morning. So we hung out and tried to sleep on the benches and floor until 5 am. A small rapido that had been chartered to bring a family to Pebas for a funeral was about to return empty to Iquitos. So our weary five person group climbed aboard and crashed for the express trip back to the city. We were lucky because the next lancha didn't come until 7 pm that night.
Andrea spent months working with this designer and four artisans to make dozens of colorful balsa wood birds and giant chambira butterflies. The birds included an egret, tiger heron, toucan, macaws and a kingfisher. When we stopped at the mall after visiting the aquarium, I loved seeing these creatures twirl around in a mild breeze.
I was most happy to hear the Chino artisans wanted to resume attending our bird ornament workshops. Half of them have made some birds based on what they learned five years ago, but they were eager to improve the quality of these woven animals they could sell to their visitors and have secure sales to us.
I selected a few baskets laid out on benches and placed an order for elegant two-color models. Lindy reported good progress making lady bug ornaments and planned to attend our artisan facilitator training. We were happy the group looked forward to hosting a bird-making workshop in July with artisans from 3 Tahuayo communities.
