Five Weeks in the Amazon - #true #story

Chapter 14 - Toiling with Tools

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12

8:30pm, Green Track Hostel

Part of me worried I'd lose it all once I came back to Iquitos. I was scared my vices might awaken and take control, but they didn't. At least not as much as I'd expected them to. It reminds me what it's like to be me and it's a good feeling. 

Today in Iquitos, I skated around the bustling jungle city searching for plumbing parts. I want to improve the water/plumbing system in Otillia's main house. She has a 250-gallon tank that collects rainwater from the roof and I want to make it easier to have access to that water. 

As it is right now, there's a large hose that leads from the tank to a single faucet. The faucet has a big red lever that you pull to turn the water on or off. It's the kind of faucet you'd normally use to attach to a fire hose. It is set a few feet from the doorway that separates the main room from the kitchen. 

Sometimes when Juliana pulls the lever too far, the water comes out in a burst and the bucket gets ripped from her hands. Then when she's washing laundry, she has to go back and forth from the kitchen with buckets of water that splash all over the kitchen floor. 

With a little ingenuity, I'm pretty sure I can make it better. I plan to attach a splitter to the faucet with two hoses that each have individual faucets. One will go to the sink so Juliana can wash dishes, and the other hose will go under the floorboards to the area outside where she does laundry. 

Joshua and I went into town together and spent most of the day talking. He's quite an intriguing person. His eyes are solid brown with dark pupils and they always look dilated. It's hard to tell where his black pupils begin and the chocolate color ends. When he speaks, his voice is humble without ever sounding over-excited, and rarely do his words betray him. 

He grew up on America's East Coast but now he's somewhat nomadic. From his stories, I learn he has visited many countries and studied with all kinds of different teachers on his path towards self-improvement. 

I had already planned to go to check out the Green Track Hostel. Joshua was going to a place called Alfert's Hostel. It sounded like a good deal for a private room and I might check it out next time, but after being alone at Otillia's for so many days, I wanted a hostel with other backpackers to have a more social experience.

I told Joshua I would meet him later in the afternoon, at a place he knew called the Vegetariano Restaurante. Last time Joshua was living at Otillia's, he befriended the family who owns the restaurant. He would eat there every time he did what we're doing now, coming into town for supplies, once or twice a week. 

At 23, their son is close in age to Joshua, and studies health and nutrition at a university in Iquitos. We invited him to join us while we ate lunch, and his mom prepared the three of us the menudel dia. 

With Joshua's help, we started to have a slow, but easily translated, conversation. The son told us that people in his class, and even his teachers, don't believe he eats a strictly vegan diet. They don't think a vegan can be healthy and active like an omnivore. It is ironic that even the people teaching nutrition have this view. 

I might have believed the same thing a few years ago. However, people like David Zabriskie, an American cyclist who completed the Tour de France on a vegan diet, have proven it's possible to be a vegan and thrive in life, even if you're an elite athlete. Science has proven that meat is less important in our diet than we previously thought. Good quality protein eaten at the right times is necessary, but not necessarily meat.