We went to Kids Alive to test their water, exploring the urgency of installing a clean water system there on a future visit. The Kids Alive team work hard, investing in the lives of over 350 local kids through homework help, sports programs and youth clubs in an area of the jungle that suffers from extreme poverty.
We also experienced some incredible fruit: some of it familiar, but it’s never tasted so good; some of it not so familiar, and maybe not so appealing, either!!
Peet, shooting the breeze with Juan – one of the Kids Alive team members, located in a jungle community just outside Pucallpa.Look at that heron, balancing on the tippy top of the tree!!There are so many plants in the jungle that have healing properties, whether they’re administered internally or externally. Here, Tom was showing us a plant that’s pretty common there, and it could be part of a cure for diabetes.A new fruit to us gringos, just picked off the tree. The pomarosa. It looks like a colorful pear… but when you bite into it, its soft flesh is bright white, incredibly juicy, with a somewhat perfumed flavor.This is the flower from the pomarosa tree, which is also edible… and pretty dang tasty!! You can eat all that bright pink stuff – the round bits near the stem and the long strands that look like stamens. So, so good! Very tart flavor… enough to make you pucker up!!
Peruvian “limóns”. Not a lemon. But not a lime as we know it, either. Far more wonderful.
Jeff picked an orange from a tree and ate it. I’ve never had such an orange-y tasting orange… it was fantastic. (Check out the juice droplets falling from his hands!)Star fruit. Which Michelle doesn’t appear to be enjoying that much.
William always has a piece of paper in his hand, ready to get things done.
Kyle (a fellow Brit) and Tom. Kyle is the Regional Director and Assistant Field Director at Kids Alive. Not a bad bloke for a Northerner!!
This is Luna, Kyle’s pooch. Look at those huge, velvety ears!!We stopped on the drive home so William could buy some of this strange stuff from these ladies at the side of the road. Some people call this “guava” (what we know to be guava is called “guayaba”), but its real name is “pacae” (pronounced pak-eye). You open up the long pod, and inside you find lots of white, “furry”, bean-like things… maybe the size of a pecan. They’re dry to the touch. You pull a smooth black stone from inside of it, then eat the rest. It’s a bizarre texture in your mouth. Slightly chewy, kinda juicy… but also dry and leathery from the furriness! It has a floral, perfumed flavor. I don’t think I ate more than one!!I tried to grab a quick shot of William without checking my camera settings. Oops!! Totally overexposed, but somewhat redeemed. Love him and his huge smile!!Driving in Pucallpa.
