Upcoming Events At The Amazon Golf Course

Amazon Golf Course, photographed from the observation deck of the clubhouse on December 5th, 2009

December 8th Charcoal Chicken BBQ

On December 8th, Tuesday, during La Purisima, the religious holiday dedicated to praying to the virgin Mary, combined with partying in Punchana while drinking lots of Pilsen, Margarita and the grounds crew at the Amazon Golf Course will host a Charcoal Chicken BBQ, a parrillada de pollo, working and praying to raise money for their own Christmas bonus, knowing I am not giving out a Christmas bonus. Steve McAlear and I donated S/50 soles apiece to get them started, and I am praying to the Virgin Mary right now to encourage you to help them with a small donation also. They are self motivated, smart, hard working, and deserve your support. If you are feeling generous about Christmas, and helping hard working people with much less than anyone you probably know back home, you can funnel your donation through me, or if you are in Iquitos, plan on buying a parrillada ticket for only S/8 soles, and attending the cookout at the Amazon Golf Club on December 8th.

You can buy a ticket to the delicious Charcoal Chicken BBQ for only S/8 soles

December 12th, Golf Tournament

On December 12th, we are having a golf tournament to determine the annual winner of the Ernst and Edith Schneider Trophy. The tournament will be for all the golf students we have taught at our free Saturday morning golf lessons. They will play a round of 9 holes and be allowed only 8 strokes per hole to keep things moving along at a good speed.

The west flower garden and view of the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse from the road. Don't drive past, pull in and have fun.

December 27th, Charcoal Chicken BBQ, last Sunday of December

We are making the last Sunday of the month our day to host a special meal every month to raise money to help with the maintenance and improvements of the Amazon Golf Course. On December 27th, the last Sunday of December, we will host an after Christmas Charcoal Chicken BBQ at the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse. The red hot coals will have the good food ready to serve around noon.

December 27th will be a full fun social day of golf, volleyball and soccer or just hiking around the beautiful landscaped park. We will all be there. Please join us. Buy your ticket in advance at Mad Mick’s Trading Post, located near the middle of the first block of Putumayo, #163, at the top of the stairs on the second floor, the Dawn on the Amazon office, #185 Malecon, Maldonado, near the corner of the 1st block of Nauta, on the boulevard, overlooking the river, the Amazon Exporers Club, #101 Nauta, the first door on the first block of Nauta, around the corner from Dawn on the Amazon, windows overlooking the river, or at the Amazon Golf Course.

The approach to the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

January 31st, the last Sunday of January, “THE JUNGLE ROAST”

If you can only come to the Amazon Golf Course for one meal all year it should be this one. Don’t miss The Jungle Roast, all you can eat, the last Sunday, January 31st. The Jungle Roast will be the most remarkable meal of 2010, and one of your best days. You will remember and talk about The Jungle Roast all year. If you are living out of Iquitos, fly in special for The Jungle Roast. It will be worth it. To learn all of the details about the menu, price, and what is included in the day, follow the link below to an article I posted on the Captain’s Blog;

Join us for The Jungle Roast at the Amazon Golf Course in Iquitos Peru on January 31st, the last Sunday in January.

The entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

Upcoming Events At The Amazon Golf Course

Bill Grimes is president of Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises, and manager of the Amazon Golf Course.

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Looking Back On Our Successful Thanksgiving Day Celebration

This is the wood fired oven our turkeys and potatoes were roasted in

Wood fired oven

Six roasted turkeys totaling 32 kilos.

Turkeys

Enough chicken and noodles for 100 guests at the Amazon Golf Course Thanksgiving meal

Noodles

Grannies Southern Cornbread Dressing for 100 guests at the Amazon Golf Course Thanksgiving meal

Grannies Southern Cornbread Dressing

Roasted potatoes for 100 guests

Roasted Potatoes

Marmelita getting ready to serve our Thanksgiving meal

I want to give all of the credit to my hard working, dedicated crew that made so many of the details of this day possible. They made it look easy…but it wasn’t. Marmelita, Judy, Magaly, Deydi, Richard, Poly, Margarita, Rodrigo, Cesar, Emerson, Augusto, Orlando, Pablo, and Shudar, all came to work early and stayed late several days in a row getting ready for our Thanksgiving event. This was a team effort. Everyone contributed above and beyond the call of duty. Three cheers, I’m proud of them.

The 24 acre Amazon Golf Course was manicured, the clubhouse had a new coat of paint, the whole place was spotless, we served over 90 delicious thanksgiving meals, and had everything cleaned up before we went to bed around 10:30. It was a long hard week, and a long day, but it was worth the work.

One of our thanksgiving turkeys on display

Enjoying the upper deck of the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse

Matt, Mike, Dave, Raul and family in the shade under the tent.

Jeremiah is our expert on fungus.

Pretty girl

Joel demonstrating the typical after thanksgiving meal position.

Thanksgiving golf game

Brooks on the driving range for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving volleyball and soccer at the Amazon Golf Course

Late afternoon golden light at the Amazon Golf Course on November 29th, 2009

I am too full of turkey, noodles, dressing, potatoes and mushrooms. What a feast!

We had a feast

One of the best part of my day was meeting new people, and making new friends. That was what made all the hard work worth while.

Our thanksgiving bouquet is still blooming at the Amazon Golf Course

Looking back on our successful Thanksgiving Day celebration

Bill Grimes is manager of the Amazon Golf Course

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Working at the Amazon Golf Course, November 27th

Matt walking in from the back of the Amazon Golf Course

We are working hard at the Amazon Golf Course. The Thanksgiving dinner is only two days away. Things are coming together in the nick of time. Wait till you see.

Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse with a fresh coat of paint and the light green trim

There is still plenty of trim left to paint but the clubhouse  is looking good.

Emerson painting the trim on the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

Before

The snake shed has been a dangerous hazard for years

After

After

Before

Before

After

After

After

Green #7 at the Amazon Golf Course without the snake shed eyesore in the background

This is a big improvement

Rodrigo is a hard working guy

I am proud of how hard our crew works

Machete work at the Amazon Golf Course

Poly built these new window shutters for security

The showers and toilet remodeling is finished

The tile work in both bathrooms is finished.

New hand rails go the practice putting green

Matt and Bill, on the top floor of the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse

This was my son Matt’s first visit to the Amazon Golf Course. He walked all around the property and inspected our work. We passed. If the weather is nice Sunday I expect we will have 80 guests for our post-Thanksgiving lunch. That will be the base for my next article. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Working hard at the Amazon Golf Course, November 27th

Bill Grimes is manager of the Amazon Golf Course.

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We were working and playing at the Amazon Golf Course, Saturday, November 21st

View from the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse observation deck

The temperature was 84 degrees F. on a beautiful partially overcast Saturday at the Amazon Golf Course. We had a lot going on. Saturday means free golf lessons from 10:00am till noon. Leo Jones helped teach the golf students. Rodrigo and Poly finished the tile work in the showers and toilet. One worker was painting the roof, one was mowing greens,  two were rolling and packing the greens, one working on making the entrance lane more smooth, and one planting the 15 beautiful Pomarosa saplings we bought for S/ 3 soles apiece, a little less than $1 apiece.

Fifteen Pomarosa saplings to be planted on the Amazon Golf Course on Nov. 21

These are some of the healthiest, nicest Pomarosa saplings we have found. They are planted on the west side of the soccer field. I am looking forward to their shade and fruit. They are part of our 2,000 trees and blooming bushes landscaping project. I want to get a new count of how many we have that are thriving. I believe it will be over 1,000.

Emerson, painting the roof of the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

Roofing with corrugated metal is not rocket science. It seems like just plain common sense to this old farmer, with several barn roofs back in rural Indiana, to hammer the nails into the high part of the corrugation, not in the low part where water runs down hill and into the nail hole. But metal roofing is bouncy and it is easier to nail in the valley than on the ridge. The person that nailed the roof on the clubhouse must have gotten a blood blister on his nail holding finger the first day because most of the nail holes are in the low part of the corrugation and they leak. A couple of days ago one of our crew worked with a combination of brea, (a substance similar to roofing tar) and cheese cloth to patch the leakes, and now Emerson is painting the roof with a highly reflective white paint. Besides covering the ugly black brea patches, the bright paint reflects the sunlight and makes the interior of the clubhouse several degrees cooler.

View of the volleyball and soccer field from the observation deck of the Amazon Golf Course

You can see in the photo above we have one of the best volleyball and soccer fields in Iquitos to play on. The new Pomarosa trees are planted on the far side of the field in the brown strip. When they grow up they will block the view of that ugly building and the neighbor’s junk.

The new sign at the Amazon Golf Course has been enhanced by Johnny the artist

Our sign artist Johnny Nuñes, came back to enhance the sign like I originally asked for it to be. If you don’t like the sign now, it is my fault.

The finished version of the new welcome sign at the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

At least we have a sign identifying the Amazon Golf Course so that a person passing by can know we exist, and a new visitor can find us easier.

Saturday's wildlife was bees pollinating this palm tree blossom

Wildlife

In my last article, This Is What We Saw at the Amazon Golf Course On Nov 17th, there were three photos of blossoms on palm trees that I thought would open in a few days and they did. Here are two photos taken 5 days later of the blossoms that are open and being pollinated by small bees.

Bees pollinating the blossoms on this palm tree at the Amazon Golf Course

The bees pollinating the Palm tree blossoms are today’s wildlife observation.

Steve McAlear and Bill Grimes upstairs at the Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse

Steve McAlear came all the way from Leticia by “rapido” to go to our Amazon Golf Course members meeting on Thursday and came out to inspect the golf course this Saturday.

We had another good day at the Amazon Golf Course. Meet us there next Saturday morning. The showers and toilet will be plumbed and finished and the clubhouse will be painted, including the light green trim. The grounds will be manicured.

We will be putting the finishing touches on getting ready for our post-thanksgiving turkey, noodle, dressing, trimmings, lunch on Sunday, November 29th. You are invited. Join Us For Thanksgiving Lunch At The Amazon Golf Course, November 29th.

We were working and playing at the Amazon Golf Course on Saturday November 21st

Bill Grimes is manager of the Amazon Golf Course.

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This is some of what we saw at the Amazon Golf Course on November 17th.

The fruit of the palm at the Amazon Golf Course

Palm blossom at the Amazon Golf Course

Palm blossom ready to open at the Amazon Golf Course

Guido, Marmelita, and Noelia, preparing to release 50 young turtles at the Amazon Golf Course

Guido getting things ready to release the turtles

A handfull of turtles to be released at the Amazon Golf Course

Dr. Noelia Raffo Moron releasing 50 more turtles that she donated to the Amazon Golf Course

Young turtles smaller than golf balls being released into a water hazard at the Amazon Golf Course

Painting the clubhouse at the Amazon Golf Course

We are having the clubhouse painted. It will be white trimmed in light green

We have this new sign at the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

New welcome sign at the entrance of the Amazon Golf Course

New hand rails and steps to the volleyball and soccer field at the Amazon Golf Course

New handrails to the charcoal grill and outdoors cooking shelter

Many thanks to Dr. Noelia Raffo Moron for donating another 50 turtles to the Amazon Golf Course helping to increase our wildlife.

We heard the monkeys in the aguaje trees east of the club house again but they were just out of sight.

We need a couple of more $100 donations to finish painting the clubhouse. It will be white, trimmed in light green.

The new sign identifying the Amazon Golf Course and welcoming visitors is a big improvement over no sign but it is not exactly what I asked for. The sign artist will come out and enhance it today. If you would like to donate $50 to help with purchasing the sign it would be much appreciated.

Some of what we saw and heard at the Amazon Golf Course on November 17th.

Bill Grimes is manager of the Amazon Golf Course.

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Here are some of what caught my attention at the Amazon Golf Course, November 14th.

Amazon Golf Course water hazards on November 14th

These water hazards are part of what make hole # 4 and hole # 6 difficult.

These water hazards at the Amazon Golf Course help make hole #5 difficult

Water trap at the Amazon Golf Course

Turtle water hazard at the Amazon Golf Course

Green #6 at the Amazon Golf Course on November 14th

Green #4 is one of the most difficult holes at the Amazon Golf Course

Green #3 at the Amazon Golf Course

Every Saturday we have free golf lessons from 10:00am until 12 noon at the Amazon Golf Course.

We have free golf lessons every Saturday morning from 10:00am until 12 noon

Free golf lessons for beginners every Saturday morning at the Amazon Golf Course

Leo Jones showing the proper technique at the Amazon Golf Course Saturday

Amazon Golf Course free golf lessons every Saturday morning from 10-12

Coconuts at the Amazon Golf Course

Coconuts at the Amazon Golf Course November 14th, 2009

Crotons at the Amazon Golf Course

One of over 100 crotons landscaping the Amazon Golf Course

One of the 115 crotons used in a landscape pattern at the Amazon Golf Course

Pomarosa sapling at the Amazon Golf Course

New growth on a Pomarosa sapling at the Amazon Golf Course

Blossoms at the Amazon Golf Course

These beautiful blossoms help mark the water hazard around green #6

Guests of the Amazon Golf Course

Greg Bauer relaxing at the Amazon Golf Course

Greg Baurer visited our golf course for several hours. Greg is in Iquitos on a scouting mission for Shankly Productions to get ideas for a documentary on the ex-pats of Iquitos. Could be interesting. We do have some natural born characters living here.

Guido, Greg, and I in an Iquitos Golf Cart at the Amazon Golf Course

Progress on remodeling the bathroom at the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

Rodrigo cutting tile for the shower stalls and toilet in the clubhouse of the Amazon Golf Course

Working on the shower stalls on November 14th, 2009

We are making progress on all fronts thanks to the hard work of our crew. I give them a lot of credit. Thanks particularly to Margarita, Rodrigo, Cesar, Augusto, and Orlando. I am very proud of them. Today all of our full time crew signed contracts giving them health insurance, and a retirement fund. Most of them got pay raises, and all of them make at least minimum wage.

I hope you were interested in what caught my attention at the Amazon Golf Course, November 14th, 2009.

Bill Grimes is manager of the Amazon Golf Course.

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This is what caught my attention at the Amazon Golf Course on November 12, 2009

The view of the Amazon Golf Course from the top floor of the clubhouse

I like to sit on the top floor of the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse and watch the trees grow.

The 9th green at the Amazon Golf Course

The entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

West of the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

Flower garden west of the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

Flower garden east of the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

Ficus tree west of the entrance, inside the fence at the Amazon Golf Course

Ficus tree east of the entrance, inside the fence at the Amazon Golf Course

The row of Ficus trees, and the row of Pomarosa trees along the front of the Amazon Golf Course

Small start of a Bougainvillea vine at the Amazon Golf Course

Amazon Golf Course bush

Spotted croton at the Amazon Golf Course

Oak leaf croton at the Amazon Golf Course

Espanolita blossoms and buds at the Amazon Golf Course

Blossom at the Amazon Golf Course

Wildlife

We had a good nature experience this morning. Marmelita and I were standing behind the clubhouse when she urgently whispered “Monkeys, I hear monkeys. Pichicos!” Pichico is Spanish for Saddle-backed Tamarin.

Then she spotted a Black Saddleback Tamarin running along a branch on an Aguaje tree. Then another one jumped from Aguaje tree to Aguaje tree. We watched 8 or 10 of the long tailed little monkeys performing acrobatic leaps from tree to tree for half an hour until they moved farther back out of sight.

I was happy with what caught my attention at the Amazon Golf Course. You could be happy there too. Stop in and look around and see what catches your attention. There is golf, but also more than golf.

This is what caught my attention at the Amazon Golf Course on November 12, 2009

Bill Grimes is manager of the Amazon Golf Course

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Join us for a delicious Thanksgiving lunch at the Amazon Golf Course on Sunday, November 29th.

Your invitation to a delicious Thanksgiving meal at the Amazon Golf Course on Sunday, November 29th

This is your invitation to join us for Thanksgiving dinner at the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse on Sunday, November 29th. Keep in mind that is the Sunday after thanksgiving, not thanksgiving day. I realize thanksgiving is a North American custom but all nationalities are invited. The only requirements are that you be nice, thankful, and purchase a ticket for S/ 15 soles, around $5. The tickets are on sale at Mad Micks Trading Post on the first block of Putamayo, the Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises office on the Malecon Boulevard #185, and at the Amazon Explorers Club Lounge on the first block of Nauta #101 at the junction of the Malecon Boulevard.

The meal will include roast turkey, chicken, homemade noodles and dressing like grandma used to make, only better. Wash it down with cold frosty beer, pure water or pop on sale at the clubhouse.

Family fun at the Amazon Golf Course

Love fun! Bring your family and friends. Show up anytime from 10:00am to late afternoon. We will start serving the meal around 12:00 noon. Anyone that purchases a ticket for S/15 soles not only gets a delicious meal, but can play golf all day, or if you prefer, play volleyball or soccer. Hang in a hammock, play cards, relax, visit, enjoy being with old friends, make new friends.

The Amazon Golf Course Clubhouse is a good place to hang in a hammock, play cards, relax, drink a cold frosty beer and have fun

All profits go for improvements to the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse. Thanks for helping.

This map shows how to get to the Amazon Golf Course. See you there.

To receive your other invitation click this link, Celebrate Thanksgiving on November 29th At The Amazon Golf Course

Join us for a delicious Thanksgiving lunch at The Amazon Golf Course on Sunday, November 29th

Bill Grimes, manager, Amazon Golf Course

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This is what caught my attention at the Amazon Golf Course on November 7th.

The Iquitos version of a golf cart at the Amazon Golf Course

That is Mike Collis and Elizabeth in the motocar, coming back from feeding the piranhas. Seriously!

The Amazon Golf Course looking across the 9th green

The 4th green at the Amazon Golf Course

The 6th green at the Amazon Golf Course

The 7th green at the Amazon Golf Course

The 8th green at the Amazon Golf Course

Every Saturday we sponsor free golf lessons at the Amazon Golf Course. It is great to see the enthusiasm of these young Peruvian girls. They have the potential to be good golfer if they keep coming back to practice.

Free golf lesson every Saturday morning at the Amazon Golf Course

Look at all the golf balls these girls have chipped up on the 9th green. They are getting good.

Leo Jones coaching the golf students

Free golf lessons at the Amazon Golf Course. Teeing off to the 1st green

Golf lessons at the driving range at the Amazon Golf Course

Leo Jones enjoying the Amazon Golf Course

Life is too short to waste. Come on and enjoy a round of golf at the Amazon Golf Course.

Volleyball and soccer at the Amazon Golf Course

Or if golf is not your game how about volleyball or soccer.

Remodeling the bathroom at the Amazon Golf Course

Just so you will know what we are doing and where the money goes; someone used balsa wood behind the tile when these showers were built. Bad idea. We have to take a step back and redo the entire bathroom. There are other problems that must be taken care of in the clubhouse but one project at a time.

Redoing the other shower stall in the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

Remodeling the bathroom at the Amazon Golf Course

We took two small coffee trees, a capirona, 4 asai palms, 2 cedros, and 1 copoazu with us to the Amazon Golf Course to plant. Rodrigo “found” three or four species of palm trees we did not have before.

Good progress is being made on all fronts at the Amazon Golf Course. Stop in and see for yourself.

This is what caught my attention at the Amazon Golf Course on November 7th.

Bill Grimes, manager of the Amazon Golf Course

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This Is How The Amazon Golf Course Looked November 5th

The Amazon Golf Course viewed from the observation deck of the clubhouse on Thursday, November 5th

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Both weedeaters were broken down waiting for parts for two weeks, and the push mower needed repair last week. It is a jungle out there and difficult to keep up even when the equipment works. The mowing equipment is all repaired and running good today. We look forward to when the John Deere tractor mower arrives the first of next year. That will be a big help, and the weedeaters will not have to do it all. No weedeater, even a Stihl, is designed to cut 24 acres working nearly every day for 8 hours.

Looking east from the observation room of the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

I am not sure if I have shown you this view looking east from the clubhouse. Someday soon the trellis fence will be full of that blooming vine. There are 4 small ficus trees, some citrus fruit trees, and some blooming bushes all doing very well. To the right, out of the photo is a low wet place were we have camu-camu bushes started.

The top floor observation deck at the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse.

As you can see, the top floor of the clubhouse is a great place to hang in a hammock, relax, and look out over the golf course while drinking a cold frosty beer or soda pop.

Looking up at the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse from the practice putting green

Notice the four ficus bushes to the left (west) of the putting green? The white flag is pointing at them.

Ficus bushes showing the results of compost, and fertilizer at the Amazon Golf Course

These ficus are showing the results of our special compost mixture, our fertility program, and tender loving care. Compare them now to how they looked on May 31st, 5 months ago in the photo below.

This is what the ficus bushes along the practice putting green looked like on May 31st.

You can see similar results in nearly every tree and most importantly, the improvement of the greens.

A small croton showing brilliant foliage at the Amazon Golf Course

We bought 10 more crotons today to finish our pattern of one croton in between every Coconut Palm Tree along the fairways. They are small now but if they survive and thrive, like I am sure they will if we take care of them, they will grow to knee high in a year, waist high in two years, chest high in three years, and up to 6 feet tall in a few years. They will be spectacular.

Another style of croton on the Amazon Golf Course

Crotons come in many colors and leaf configurations. We have more than a dozen different styles.

A young croton growing at the Amazon Golf Course

Croton at the Amazon Golf Course

This is the oldest croton at the Amazon Golf Course

This is the only croton we inherited when we took over management and maintanence of the Amazon Golf Course. I wish I had a before photo but I don’t. It was mostly bare stems with three or four leaves at the top of each stem. Now look at the new leaves on top, and all the new growth coming up around the base, compliments of our compost mixture, fertilizer, and tender loving care.

This croton was pruned by animals. See the new growth?

Wild animals grazed on this croton several weeks ago. It is coming back with new growth on the top.

Colorful foliage on a croton at the Amazon Golf Course

Blossoms

Bromeliad in bloom at the Amazon Golf Course

Brides Bouquet blooming near the clubhouse at the Amazon Golf Course

This Lupuna will be a tall vine full of blossoms, growing on a trellis, near the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

As this Lupuna vine grows we will trellis it and provide a place to sit under its shade.

The flower garden west of the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course on November 25th

The flower garden east of the entrance to the Amazon Golf Course

The flower garden east of the entrance looking up toward the Amazon Golf Course clubhouse

I hope these photos give you some idea of how the Amazon Golf Course looked Thursday, November 5th. We are going back tomorrow, Saturday, for the free golf lessons, to monitor progress, and to pay the crew. I will try to get more photos of what ever catches my attention to show you.

How The Amazon Golf Course Looked Thursday, November 5th

Bill Grimes is the manager of the Amazon Golf Course

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