Jungle Guide Finds Long Lost Daughter After 36 Years
By Mike Collis
This is the story of Juan Maldonado and his search for Maribel the daughter he has not seen since she was a year old.
Juan was born in Callao, Lima, the 10th of April, 1946 .After leaving school in Lima Juan became a firefighter and became one of the few firefighters in Peru to belong to an elite unit of firefighters that were parachuted into remote areas of Peru to fight fires..
Later he left his job and in 1971 hitch-hiked from Lima to New York where he got a job as a cook. In January 1972 Juan got married to Idalia Torres in Brooklyn, New York and they had a daughter Maribel who was born 21st November 1972. Unfortunately the marriage failed and Juan returned to Peru just after Maribel was one year old. Over these last 36 years Juan never forgot his long lost daughter and wondered where she was ? was she alive ? did she get married ? does she have any children ?
Juan returned to Iquitos in 1973 and has been a jungle guide since then. His knowledge of the jungle, its animals, its plants and legends and his command of the english language make him one of the most popular guides in Iquitos. Now Juan has remarried and has 6 daughters and 4 grandchildren.
In 2007 I published an article about Juan Maldonado the jungle guide and I mentioned in that article about Maribel his long lost daughter and how much he wanted to see her.
Greta “Sherlock” Roza the searcher from The Netherlands
In October 2007 a couple from the Netherlands arrived here in Iquitos and went for 4 days in the jungle with Cumaceba Lodge, Juan was their guide. The tourist Greta
Roza and her boyfriend from the Netherlands had read the article about Juan in the Iquitos Times and Greta who considers her self a bit of a Sherlock Holmes decided to search and find Maribel, Juan’s long lost daughter. Greta told the Iquitos Times
“When Juan told me about his daughter Maribel and about how much he wanted to know what had become of her I told him about my passion in tracking people down and that I would really like to give it a try. Didn’t realize at that time that there could be more then 1 or 2. Of course it was difficult because we didn’t know where Maribel was living.I found photo’s of women with the same name but all the time Juan told that it wasn’t his daughter. Of course a woman with an African look couldn’t be his daughter. Then during the first week of February 2009 I was working on my pc and I thought let’s give it another try. I searched by the name Maribel Maldonado on Facebook and saw there were 132 women with that name. Isn’t that amazing? I sent over 50 messages like this;
Hello Maribel,
I have a friend in Peru and his name is Juan Maldonado.
Juan is trying to find his daughter Maribel.
Maybe you can help me.
Roos.
After the 50th message Facebook blocked me because they said I was spamming.
Greta “Sherlock” Roza the searcher from The Netherlands
There were 9 Maribels who responded to that message and one of them was Juan’s daughter. So thanks to Facebook I found the daughter Juan had never forgotten.
Isn’t this a nice story?
So if there is an old love you like to find send me an e-mail. I don’t charge much.”
What about Maribel ? Well Maribel is fine ,she has an 8 year old daughter Jomari and they live in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Maribel and her Father communicate frequently nowadays and they are looking forward to when they can save enough money to pay for Maribel and
Jomari’s flights to Iquitos for a real reunion.
The Editor and staff of the Iquitos Times wish Juan and Maribel all the very best for the future.
