Feb 2005

We were sitting on the riverbank in front of the library waiting for a boat which was taking its time in getting there. The moon had risen about one quarter of its ascent. Of the seventeen people who had come to help receive six hundred roof leaf panels, already eleven had gone home. After four hours of waiting the rest of us were getting punchy, telling jokes and acting silly when Wilder said "Hey Antonio, you are just like Jorge" Antonio was dangling from the handrail on the bridge. Wilder and Antonio are fathers of children who come to the library. Wilder has six children and Antonio has four But who is Jorge you ask? Jorge el Curioso-Curious George, that famous monkey of children's books. Wilder knew of Jorge because his kids had borrowed the book for a weekend and Alex, his son, had eventually won the book as a prize for reading 150 books in the reading club. There we were enjoying the effects of Jorge the Monkey even after the book had been closed. People sometimes ask me if I think the library has a lasting impact on the lives of the people here. My answer is YES!

April 2003

I have a new dog. A boat driver found her swimming in the middle of the river. She was just a puppy. She changed homes several times before she came to me. She loves to ride in the canoe and sleeps in a hammock. Spoiled? Maybe.A few days ago I noticed a bad smell in the house. I knew I had smelled it before but couldn't recall what it was. I also noticed the frog population diminishing. I thought maybe they were moving into the swamps since the water is getting higher. Yesterday when I was opening the front door a stick fell and hit me on the head and shoulder. I thought it was the roof support over the stairs...rotten and broken. I looked up but the roof was still there. I looked down and a large (2 1/2 meter or about 7 1/2 feet)whip snake was slithering away. That expained the decline in the frog population and the bad smell. Also explains the thumps in the night. Hope she comes back because she left one frog. I don't like frogs.

March 2002

The water is rising. And the animals and insects are fleeing to higher ground-which includes my house. Two weeks ago it was swarmed by army ants. Looked like an oil spill coming in from under the backdoor. I turned back the tide with insecticide...I can't imagine what would have happened if the ants came in the middle of the night. The floor was crawling with them in just five minutes. The stairs and outside floor boards looked like they were covered in shag carpeting.Last week I was greeted by a fer-de-lance snake on the front steps. It was sunning itself in the first sun after several days of rain.But high water also brings good things. I bought a piano a few weeks ago and it will be delivered just as soon as the water level makes smooth delivery. It's been almost four years since I've had a real instrument to play. It's an old German upright with a nice round sound. Brahms will be so nice to play!

Hello

Hello. This blog is part of the Centro de Conocimiento Compartido and Library Project web site:

www.cccamazonlibrary.org

The Centro de Conocimiento Compartido (Center for Shared Knowledge) and the Library Project are efforts to allow people who lives in the basins of the Amazon River next to Iquitos, in the south american country of Perú, have books and other materials to read. To have more information about this project, please click on the link above.

In this blog I would like share with you my experience conducting this project and receive your comments. At first I'm including some notes of the past years. I hope add more recent notes very soon. Thanks for reading.