What an adventure! In order to save some money and be able to bring the heavy bags of cement we needed for our trip, we decided to drive/canoe instead of fly into Cusuime (1 hour flight OR 8 hour drive & 3 to 4.5 hour canoe ride). WOW what a time we had. We began in Shell and drove 2 hours to Macas which was all a paved road. For the next 6 hours after Macas we had a combination of road under construction and gravely rocky road. Unlike at home, there are no detours or alternate routes, and when a the road you are driving on is under construction the journey can be haulted for many reasons. On our journey in we only had minor delays as they graded portions of the road and pulled buses out of sticky situation.
The views during the drive were amazing...
After our 8 hour drive we arrived in Kashpime, which is only 10 minutes from the end of any driveable road. Folks in that community were then waiting with a canoe to take us upstream to Cusuime. The canoes were quite large and powered by motors. We loaded up the canoe and continued on our way. The canoe ride began well. We were enjoying the sun and the beauty of the jungle.
We had some concern initially because there has been a lack of rain and the river was low... little did we know what awaited! About two hours into the ride the skys opened and there was certainly no lack of rain. It poured down rain for the rest of our 2.5 hour journey!! We attempted to use the umbrellas for an hour or so, but then gave up. Steph and Lizzie were bailing out the boat and the rest of us would get out and push when we got to lower spots in the river. I can say it was one of the more unpleasant situations initially, but once we were drenched it wasn't too bad. We arrived in Cusuime in water wars and completely drenched from head to toe! :)
Our time in the community:
The work we did in Cusuime was a bit different from the rest of the work we have been doing. The engineering portion of it was only to replace the damaged pump, paint the inside of the concrete tank that was deteriorating, and paint the water tower that was being invested by termites. That being the case, we were able to work in the school with the kids running a sort of VBS program. It was so wonderful! The clase was about 38 students Grade 1 to 6. We did songs, Bible stories, coloring, hygene teaching, and games. When we were walking into clase on our last day we heard the kids singing... they were singing one of the songs we taught them and remembered it all. The song is about having faith the size of a mustard seed and telling the mountain to move and the mountains move!! It was so powerful singing that with them because the message is so powerful and helps them learn the truth.
For a parting gift the kids gave us papayas and sugar cane. We had such a wonderful time with the kids and have continued to pray that Jesus be working in their lives and bringing others to show them His love.
The guys that work working on the water project were really funny. We had a great time being on site and helping out where we could and getting introduced to new jugle creatures. Here are some fun photos:
The adventure going home...
So getting home turned out to be quite the adventure as well! We didn't have rain during the canoe ride and it only took 2.5 hours heading downstream. Initially the drive was going great! We thought we were going to be able to make it home on Thursday night, making the journey in 1 day. Once we were about an hour and a half outside of Macas, the road construciton got us! We wound up having to wait 4 hours for them to install and culvert and then fill the hole back in. The view where we were stopped was incredible though, and we stayed there so long that we got to see the stars come out and there were sooooooooo many! It was gorgeous.
The road block:
Waiting patiently :)
We had a blessed time in Cusuime and thank the Lord for the opprotunity to be a part of what He is doing there!
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