The next day I had breakfast at the Quiroz home and then they took me to the airport to catch my flight. My flight was delayed because of rain in Tarapoto. We boarded the plane and then waited, and then were told to go back to the airport to wait. We left 5 hours later. In the interim, I made friends with the Tarapotino neighbors sitting next to me, sharing my overpriced trail mix with them. They mentioned they had plans to go to Brazil the next year for the World Cup. Cool! Generally speaking, though, there were a grumpy group of passengers, that’s for sure! I felt bad for the employees of Star Peru, having to deal with all the grumpy people. It isn’t their fault that the weather is bad! It helped that I had expected weather-related delays, so I wasn’t terribly surprised or upset when it happened. Keep your expectations low.
On a random side note, our plane picked up passengers in Tarapoto, including some missionaries heading to Iquitos! They were Assistants to the President and happened to sit in the same row as I did. They filled me in on some of the news of the mission (Iquitos is becoming its own mission on July 1 and has a new president from Mexico). I happened to have a package for them with the new logos of the mission, which my friend Marlene designed. So, it worked out perfectly.
I did feel bad, however, because there were people waiting for me at the airport. I had to keep on texting and calling them to let them know that the flight was delayed. I didn’t want to inconvenience them and ruin their plans.
I arrived at 7:30 pm. Janifer and her mom, Flor, met me at their airport (some of my favorite people). I was supposed to stay at Vicky’s house, but they were so sad when I told them that. So, I (being the people pleaser that I am) told them, “You know what, why don’t I spend four days with you and four days with Vicky. She will understand!” They brightened up and were excited. I called them my “kidnappers.” They found a moto-taxi and I came back with them. We had so much fun together!
I must confess, that for the first three weeks in Peru, my life seemed like a dream. It seemed surreal that I was there in Peru, visiting my friends. However, when I got to Iquitos, I snapped out of my dream. I felt right at home and felt so comfortable there. I LOVED IT! Keep in mind that I had spent a year of my life in this city. Keep in mind that these are some of the nicest and most friendly people I had ever met. This is why I love Peruvians, this is why I loved my mission, and this is why I loved my trip!
When we got home, I changed shoes and Janifer and I immediately began to visit people, to say hola and to invite them to come to church the next day. I loved it! I felt like a missionary again. We made quite a few visits that night, surprising many people by our visit.
To be continued…
