'fútbol' and following in the footsteps of Indiana Jones

After four weeks, I have completely settled into my new life in Peru. I feel comfortable in the community and have adapted well to the climate. Currently, on weekends, I am in Santa Rosa with my 'family' and during the week, I am in the little village of Pucallpillo living with an older woman. She has a few rooms and cooks for the Choba Choba crew. So, we usually move around as a team: we have breakfast together, go up to the office, return to the village for lunch, take a nap, and work again until around 5:30 PM.

At 5:30 PM, you suddenly hear different people shouting 'fútbol' through the village, signaling that it's time to play soccer again :-). If it doesn't work out, you hear 'uno más' or 'uno falta' calls echoing through the village until someone joins and we can start the game. Everyone here enjoys it a lot that the 'Gringita' (as I am lovingly called here: Gringa = foreigner, Gringita = because I am tall ;-)) also plays. It has become a routine that in the evening about 10-12 men and I play soccer for 5 Soles each. The soccer field is anything but in good condition. Occasionally, we have to shoo away the chickens, dogs, horses, and other animals from the field before we can start. During the 30 minutes of playtime, there is really nothing else but soccer. Many from the village are there as spectators, visibly enjoying this 'spectacle.' After the game, we often sit together in front of a house and chat about missed chances, fouls, or just about everything under the sun.

Darkness falls around 6:30 PM here, so I usually spend some time in the hammock before dinner around 8:00/8:30 PM (depending on the discussions after the soccer game).

In the past weeks, I have not only played soccer but also had the opportunity to accompany visitors from Europe (chocolatiers from Switzerland and Germany) in their activities. We have looked at all the steps taken here to ensure that the dried cocoa beans can eventually be delivered to Switzerland. Organic farming and high quality are top priorities at Choba Choba. In the photos, you can see some steps of the process.

On the last day, we all went to the 'Parque Nacional del Río Abiseo' National Park. The Choba Choba Foundation supports the preservation of the primary rainforest and participates in various conservation projects within the 'Parque Nacional del Río Abiseo' (more information here: Link to project description community-based nature conservation by the CC Foundation, Link to the website of the working group with information on nature conservation). We took a boat ride about 1.5 hours upstream until we found the 'El Breo' waterfall. The journey was once again spectacular: the valley became narrower, surrounded by tall trees and beautiful rock formations. This environment gave me an Indiana Jones feeling: I could vividly imagine myself wandering through the rainforest for days, discovering various plant and animal species, and finding a secret entrance to a long-forgotten treasure behind a waterfall...

When we reached the 'El Breo' waterfall after about 10 minutes of hiking, it was a truly overwhelming feeling: here we suddenly stood at the foot of a huge waterfall in the middle of nowhere, seeing nothing but forest and a bit of sky. We spent some time at this beautiful place and then enjoyed our picnic down by the river. On the way back, as we passed a rapid, we all got a little showered. Fortunately, it's not cold here! ;-). Afterwards, as the ride became calmer, some people dozed off from time to time. It had been a very exciting day, and now we had to digest these experiences. The music of Indiana Jones played in my head for a long time...