Guest Blogger Mary Haight's Mad Dash in the Amazon!

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Jungles of Peru and Amazon CARES, Mad Dash

by MARY HAIGHT on AUGUST 12, 2012Suddenly it was Friday and my flight to the jungles of Peru was looming – it was a mad dash to get my dog Tashi over to his Aunt Elizabeth’s place then it was off to O’Hare. After three airports, as many planes and ten-and-a-half hours of flight time, I made it to Iquitos and Amazon CARES, blurry-eyed and headed to what I thought would be a bed somewhere.As I and my fellow volunteers arrived, we all got a surprise – Amazon Cares arranged a tour for us to meet the Yaguas, a jungle tribe and go to a sanctuary known as monkey island. We quickly learned what Iquitos had to offer. And even in my travel worn state, I got it – pictures and all!It has been a whirlwind of activity since I landed with boat rides up and down the Amazon – not the whole river of course, that would take days – and today was the first day we got a chance to see the dogs. I’ve taken a picture of every one of them and will have a little “guess the breed” competition when I get them uploaded. The dogs I met were all happy to see us, coming up to greet with excited wags and barks.The real work of volunteering starts tomorrow with surgeries in town. I’ll be back with a more detailed report later on, but for now take a look at a couple of the photos from my first day in Iquitos – there are more stories to tell from blow gun practice to pink dolphins!
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