Cusco

Taxi rides are one of my favorite things!

The other day was the first time I was in a taxi by myself heading to my new apartment in the new city that I lived in. I had only lived in this apartment for 1 day at this point. I had gone grocery shopping and was ready to get back home. I told 2 taxis where I lived and they looked at me like I was crazy. I started wondering if I was ever going to get home. Then I tried a third driver. He still looked at me like I was crazy. He then asked me if I would recognize it and said he would take me. As we are driving I remembered a landmark that would possibly help him know where I lived… so I told him.“es cerca de un grande Inca” which translates as “it’s close to a huge inca”.. see there’s a large Inca statue a couple of blocks from my apartment. He then laughed at me but he knew what I was talking about! It’s crazy the things that come to mind in a crunch!...

The ride got more interesting after that.. he was a very friendly driver and was talking to me the entire time. He asked if I was single or married. I told him single. He then asked me if I was engaged to a Peruvian? I told him no. Not real sure where that one came from, but it was funny! The rest of the ride we talked about various things. He told me what the actual name was for the grande Inca. I forget the name now, but it was the head Inca that built everything. When we arrived to my apartment I asked him what the proper directions were so he then gave me the right directions so I wouldn’t have such a hard time the next time. So moral of this story is.. things are going well in Cusco!

Cabana

The first week in the village we set up a meeting with the mayor, and let me just say this was one of the most entertaining meetings I’ve ever been to… First off, we had to wait an hour to meet with him.. gotta love it! We go into his office and start talking to him. We tell him our names and then explain why we were here. He starts off by asking our ages and when he found out mine he started telling me that if I lived in Peru I would be married by now.. Then he asked me why I wasn’t and when I was going to get married. Then he asked if I had a boyfriend and apparently I hesitated (most likely because I didn’t understand what he said). Well since I hesitated he assumed that I was lying. He asked me if I would date a Peruvian. We explained how difficult it would be if two people didn’t speak the same language. Then he asked if I would date a Peruvian that spoke English. Then we explained that we can’t date. After this he proceeded to ask me if I would wait 2 years for a Peruvian guy, which also led him to asking if I would just stay in Peru forever.

At some point during the meeting he also asked us, “why are Americans so tall?” and our response was, “why are Peruvians so short?” Then he asked us how Peruvians could be taller, and we said for them to marry taller people and have kids. He then told us that we were good at volleyball (he hasn’t seen us play or anything.. solely basing this on our height.) After he said that he then looked at me and told me that I was a good spiker…yet again, he’s never seen me play… and I don’t spike!

At the end of our meeting when we were leaving, we were saying goodbye. I said goodbye and that it was good to meet him. He responded with the same but added, “dream of angels and not of your boyfriend.”

I didn't get to take a picture with the mayor.. but here are some others from Cabana. And the link at the top right is where you can find more pictures.

And this is what I do in Lima...

Surfing

Well I’ve always wanted to learn how to surf but just never really had the opportunity…until I moved to Peru! Over the last few weeks we have had a break, which means we were just chillin in Lima and I attempted to go surf one day! It was a lot of fun! I can’t say that I had much success except for the fact that I didn’t die! And there was only one incident that I thought I might die.. At one point Mandy (another journeyman) was taken by a wave and heading right for me… She tells me to get out of the way, but the fact that I had been paddling for 2 hours and hadn’t made it anywhere yet meant I couldn’t successfully get out of her way… basically she ran over me. We got all intertwined… and before we could regain composure another wave came and did the same thing to us… it was interesting! And at some point during that I think a board hit my hand and possibly broke my finger. It’s not bad though, just a little painful, colorful, and crooked.

This is where we surfed.. That's a restaurant to the left. I'm sure they enjoyed watching us!

This is Mandy... she ran over me.

It was SO cold!!

Mexican Day

There was a rumor on the street that the Mexican Embassy in Lima would allow you to order things from Mexico and have them shipped here for little cost and we all have major cravings for white cheese dip from Mexican restaurants. Then someone else told us that there was a Mexican restaurant in the Embassy. So a few of us decided that was worth checking out! We put on our best Mexican outfits and headed to the Embassy. Now our outfits were consisting of child size ponchos. We got to the Embassy and first off the guard asked us if we were Mexican! Ha! Then he proceeded to smash our hopes and told us there was no restaurant and the only food that people can get there is the name of a guy that makes tortillas. Sad Day! But the guard then told us where a good Mexican restaurant was, so we went! The food was really good! Unfortunately though there was not any white cheese dip. It was a good Mexican Day! Ok so it wasn’t an official Mexican day but we tried to do many things that resemble Mexico that day. And the best part of the day was walking around town in our ponchos! We got so many looks and people were constantly saying things. At one point we looked back and a whole group of people were just staring at us. There was one guy with us and he said he felt like our bodyguard that day! It was a lot of fun and we laughed A LOT!! And yes, this is basically what happens when we stay in Lima for any length of time.

Other things in life…

I leave this afternoon to go to a village for about 8 weeks. I should be back around October 10^th or so. The village is called Cabana. I don’t know a whole lot about it so I will be updating when I get there, hopefully! Thanks for reading and please continue to pray for me!

a little reunion...

This past week I was able to meet up with several of the girls that I went through orientation with in Virginia.  We were all in Lima for once and for several of us this was the first time to see each other in 5 months or so.  It was really great to see them and to see how things were going.  A few days after we met up for lunch we were going to disperse again.  A couple of them went to a southern town in Peru to try and get visas to go into Bolivia.  A few are most likely going back to the states to work on things there.  And the rest of us are in Peru but in various locations. Basically this was the most likely the only time we could all get together. It was a sweet time together that was much needed, at least for me!  They are all amazing girls and I’m blessed to know them!!  I literally have friends all over the world right now and I am so encouraged by their love and commitment to Christ.

"For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you.  And I am very happy because you are living as you should and because of your strong faith in Christ."  Colossians 2:5

here are a few pictures... there are a couple of links to the right with more pictures...

#14- Taxis

Where I live in Lima there are lots of taxis along my street so it is fairly easy to get one.  Today I had an interesting experience with this.  I left my apartment to head across town to some of the other girl’s apartment.  Well I walked to a taxi and told them the location I wanted to go.  Then I proceeded to ask the price (this is always key before getting in because they often try to rip gringos off).   He told me it would cost 7 soles and I told him no it should be 5 soles.  After I said that he began to laugh.  I wasn’t real sure why this was happening.  Either I offended him and he was about to drive off or I said it wrong.  Well he then said it was ok and for me to get in.  Once I was in the taxi, he chuckled a little more.  He then told me that I’ve learned fast and asked me how long I’ve been in Peru.  I told him I’ve been here for 3 months and a couple more years.  I wasn’t real sure how to take this.  Part of me wanted to be offended that he tried to take advantage of me but the other part was a little excited that my Spanish is ok enough to not let them take advantage. 

Other interesting things about taxis here...

• there is always room for one more person.  It doesn't matter if there are 4 or 8 people already in the car just keep piling them in!
• most cars here are standards.  occasionally there is an automatic, but don't fear they are still driven as standards. and when you luck up and get in a taxi like this, it's easy to get a little carsick!

Tentatively I will leave July 7^th to head out.  I will be working on a Barnabas team with two other guys; Ryan and Creston.  Our responsibility will be to travel to different villages where there are summer missions and encourage them and help them out any way that we can.  We will potentially be going to 6-7 different villages over the next 3 weeks.  So there will be a lot of traveling going on.   I am really excited about this opportunity and I think it will be wonderful.  This is a summer job that I had looked at before applying to the journeyman program. 

Pray for…

• travel safety
  
• unity among our team so we can be ready to minister to the other teams we will be working with
  
• for me to have a reckless love
  
• a willingness to go and do whatever He calls me to do

me, kristen, and brittne at our birthday dinner.

Also, there is a link on the right side under photos with links to more photos.

“It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying- ‘suddenly he disappeared because God took him.’  But before he was taken up, he was approved as pleasing to God.  So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”  Hebrews 11:5-6

#13 - Flexibility

For the past few weeks a resounding theme in my life has been that of flexibility!  I’ve been in Lima for a while now and everyone else with my job is already out.  I’m waiting on a couple of people to get in this week and then I’ll head to the village Huancapi with them for at least a week.  The flexibility has come in many different aspects…the first is being in Lima for the first 3 weeks of the summer just chillin by myself and not really having a purpose.  I’ll be honest some of those days were pretty hard!  But it’s all good.. I’m in love with a huge God that can take care of all things! J well after being in the city for a good week I decided that I couldn’t handle it anymore and tagged along with another team that was going to a village for a few days.  This is where the large portion of the flexibility lesson came into to play. We had planned on going to one village, Vilcus but apparently it’s strike season… who knew they had those?! Since there was a strike we couldn’t get to the village.. so we waited until they said it would be over and we still couldn’t get there.  After trying 4 times we decided to head to a different village. We went to Ica and from there we had 3 options. We picked the one that seemed best and we felt led to.  So we went and we were only there for a total of 24 hours but it felt a lot longer.  Things there surely did not go as planned and we had to end up leaving due to a few different circumstances… so we headed back to Ica.  There is a pastor there that has rooms for us to stay in so we went there for a few days.  There wasn’t enough time for us to go to another village and be there long enough to actually do some work.  So we stayed in Ica.  This turned out to be the highlight of our journey.  There were a few students coming through to go to another village that stayed where we were so we got to hang out with them and get to know them.  They are a great group and a ton of fun!  It completely lifted our spirits!  Then on Sunday morning the pastor and his wife asked us if we could teach Sunday school for the kids.  So we did.  This was wonderful!  The kids were great and it was just fun and refreshing! Later that day we decided to return to Lima.  And have now been back for a couple of days.  And the flexibility lesson is apparently still going on.. I am still not certain what the rest of my summer looks like.  I leave this week to go to a village, Huancapi, for about a week and then we all have mid-summer debriefing in Nasca.  Right now I have no idea what I will be doing after mid-summer.  I have been told 3 different possibilities and one of them I heard for the first time last night.  So who knows!  I know that God is in control and that He has everything perfectly planned out.  And for that I am so thankful!

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.  He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.  He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.  Everything was created through him and for him.  He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together… But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.“  Colossians 1:15-17, 23

since I didn't really do anything to take a lot of pictures, here is a picture of the beach in Lima on a rare sunny day!

# 12 - San Damian

This past weekend was quite interesting.  Friday we went to the school down by the river for their mother’s day program.  That was pretty interesting.  We got there and the principal didn’t even know we were coming but that didn’t stop him from making us the guests of honor, even though we didn’t have any kids and were definitely not mothers!  It was a really cute ceremony though.  The kids danced some traditional dances and then sang some songs or recited poetry.  There was also a raffle and I got to be the lucky one to draw.  But they do raffles a little different here.  I was to draw 3 names.  Well the first 2 were basically, “hey, you almost won because I drew your name but in all actuality you didn’t.  Sorry.”  And it was the last name I drew that won the prize.  I even got to be like Vanna a couple of times and give the prizes to the mothers that won! Ha!  It was a fun time!  After that was over we went to a trout farm to get some trout to bring back to the school to cook for lunch.  The teachers were making rice, potatoes, salad, etc. so we brought the trout.  The principal sat and ate with us.  It was a really great time!  He was asking all sorts of questions and wants us to come back Wednesday to talk with the parents.  He was really nice and said that it’s important that the people here get to hear about God.  It was a good day and we are going back Wednesday!

Saturday was a completely different day!  We woke up early to go to some Inca Ruins that are close by.  So we left at 730 am and started walking!  Misleading fact #1 is that the ruins were right past this arc way that we had been to several times.  Well it was past it but it took about another hour to get there.  We got to the ruins and they were really neat.  We climbed all up on them… Similar to how I did at the Mayan ruins! Ha! We even got to see some bones that were at one of the burial things.  Well after we left there we decided to go to the top of one of the mountains… it didn’t look that far from where we were and we probably wouldn’t be that close again anytime soon.  And one of the guys with us really wanted to go to the top of a mountain before he leaves Peru at the end of the month.  Sooo we went!  We left the ruins about 1030 or so.  We started hiking and then this guy came up to and told us that he has some bones and skulls on his land if we wanted to go see them.  So we went and sure nuff there were some skulls!  

After leaving there we eventually got to the bottom of the top, where the road stopped, around 200 pm… Now by this point we are basically starving because all we ate was a little breakfast and didn’t really bring any other food with us because we were just going to the ruins that were just a little ways away.  Well I’m not exactly a good hiker and the entire time I had a backup plan of just turning around and finding my way back on my own.  So we are at the bottom of the mountain and it’s pretty straight up.  I know my limitations and it wasn’t looking good.  One of the girls with us said, “Oh it’s not bad.  It looks like it’s just 50 meters.”  That is misleading fact #2.  So I start going up this thing and the point we all thought was the top because that is all we could see, was not the top at all.  Misleading fact #3.  Once I made it the 50 meters, I looked up and low and behold, there are about 50 more meters to go to the “top”.  So I kept going.  I’ll let you in on a little secret… I probably stopped to take a break like ever 5 minutes or so!  The air was so thin and it was STRAIGHT up!  I eventually made it to the next marker.  I thought this was really the top because one of the girls with us stopped on one of the rocks and sat there for a good little while.  So when I was almost there, I was getting excited because I thought I had finally made it!  Misleading fact #4 – that was NOT the top!  There was a lot further to go to the top!  I couldn’t even see the top!  So I went a little further to some rocks.  This was my goal and I made it and looked up and basically decided to give up.  I found a nice rock and layed down.  I decided that would be a good place to wait for the others to come back down.  At this point I was at least 12,000 ft up.  It was really nice and surprisingly comfortable!  In the distance I could see some snow capped mountains and a ton of other mountaintops that aren’t visible from the ground.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!  As I was laying there the other girl (only 50 meters girl) came to where I was.  Turns out she had given up too! She was WAY ahead of me and said she could never see the top!  And shortly after the translator guy came on up to where we were.  He was a little ways behind me.  So that left this one guy climbing to the top by himself – he was the one that wanted to see the top super bad.  Well the three of us sat there and relaxed for a while waiting for him to come back down.  Well about 4pm the clouds were coming in pretty fast so we decided to go down to the path to wait for him.  We got to the road and waited for about 90 minutes – no show. For some reason I had thought that he came down a different way and was probably back in town but the other people didn’t think that was possible. Then we decided to move on down to the road.  We waited there for about another 20 minutes.  By now it is getting DARK!  And I did have a couple of headlamps so that was good.  We had no clue where this guy was or if everything was ok, but we had to get going.  On the walk back we met a family that walked with us.  I think the total number of the family was 7 and they only had a little bitty flashlight.  They were really sweet and we talked with them the whole way back.  Creepy fact... the lady walking back with us thought the 4^th guy had “given his blood to the grandfather” on the top of the mountain… yeah figure that one out!  Well when we got almost back to town, we see this flashlight blinking at us.  Turns out it was the 4^th guy.  He had come down the mountain and went to the hostel because he thought we were there.  When he realized we weren’t and that it was getting dark, he decided to head back out to look for us so that we would know that he wasn’t out there anymore.  It was a crazy day and everything turned out fine!  By the time we got back to San Damian it was past 830 pm.  So misleading fact #5, we were only going to be gone for a few hours.  Our few hour hike turned into a 12 hour hike…. with NO food!!! Ha!  BUT it was all worth it to see such an amazing view!  This picture really doesn't do it justice!  God is a BALLA!

here is a link to some more pictures... just copy and paste..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2115758&id=42810696&l=904746c312

or

http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4f5451784f546b784e413d3d0d0a&blogview=true