Peru Post 4

5/20/09 (still)

This brings me to today (Wed).  I woke up feeling sick this morning.  My stomach hadn't felt very good since last night and was still bothering me and I had a headache.  So I took some meds and drank some Coco de Mata tea.  Anyway, we were excited about today because we were going to get to talk to teens instead of small kids.  So we drive back to Usibamba and arrive at an empty school.  Turns out that the teachers decided to go on strike. (For one day might I add)  So we just went back over to the little kids again before tackling our service project which was to clean the Plaza in a small pueblo nearby.  It was really really bad.  We were all down on our hands and knees for what felt like forever and afterwards you could hardly tell we'd been there.  Finally all of us were feeling a little woozy from the heat so we had to go.  So we went back to the hotel and rested for a while.  the ride back was horrible.  My head was killing me.  So when we got back to the hotel, I went up to my room and I threw up.  I felt sooooooo much better afterwards.  However, this was obviously the day that everyone decided to get sick.  Karis came back and slept until the next day.  Angela had a bug of some sort.  She was really sick!  Puking and fever.  She was under like 6 blankets when I came back.  Poor thing.  

Later that night I went up on the roof to have a little quiet time.  The roof of our hotel is one of the highest points in the city and the stars were amazing!  (considering I was 12,500ft closer to them than at home.)  It was breath-taking.  Moments like those just make you wonder how anyone could deny the existence of a God.  

Oh something else we learned today in Usibamba.  When you're 13,000 ft higher than at home, it also means you're 13,000 ft closer to the sun.  We learned the hard way.  We all were cooked after about 30 minutes.  Mine was just on my arms though.  Thank God!

The next day, (Thurs) was really busy.  I'm really glad Karis was feeling better and could come.  that morning, we went to talk to the teens we were supposed to talk to the day before.  We did our dramas and whatnot and talked about hygeine and stuff (school wanted us to). And then we got to talk to them about Jesus.  At this point we began to lose the attention of most of our audience.  Except for one 16 year old girl named Mirret.  She asked questions like crazy!  Finally we told her to stay after and talk to us so we could let the others go.  We ended up talking to her for more than an hour and a half.  Most of the people there grew up catholic so she had questions about like the saints and stuff and we had to be very careful how we answered them so as to not offend anyone.  She also said she'd visited evangelical churches before and always wanted to make a commitment but didn't like that the churches were so legalistic.  For instance, you can't wear makeup?  This girl was very very smart.  She asked some great questions.  It was a great opportunity to share the gospel and how its not about rules.  It's about your personal relationship with Christ. (At the beginning of the trip, we were all given a spanish Bible with intentions on giving it to someone who needed it in Peru).  I knew I wanted to give her my Bible.  I highlighted John 3:16 and left her a note on that page in spanish that basically said that all the answers she wanted were in here.  Then we all exchanged emails with her.

After that we went to a small village to  show a (really cheesy) Jesus film.  Peruvians love this one though.  We invited a ton of people and actually had a pretty nice turnout.  Afterwards, the adults asked quite a few questions.  The hardest thing here is not the language.  It's trying to bridge the gap between us and catholicism.  They have no concept of grace and a personal relationship with God.  

After that, we got back to Huancayo around 10 and were starving so John took us to a nice restaurant where I ate some kind of rice stir fry dish.  And yes...I tried cuy (guinea pig).  We ordered one just so we could all say we'd tried it.  It was not good.  I did not like it at all.  I was picturing like a tiny steak looking thing...nope.  It was still like in tact.  You could see the stinkin head!  Some didn't mind it but I was to freaked out I think to keep eating it.  No bueno.

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Probably 2 more posts and that will be all!

Peru Post 3

This is actually the last bit I wrote over the trip but it's a lot so I may not type it all right now.

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5/20/09

Haven't written in awhile.  Been busy/exhausted.  So time to catch up.  Sunday after church our teams got together and planned out what to do for the week.  On Monday, we went to a village called...wait for it...Usibamba!  My new favorite word ever.  We went to an elementary school there and taught in a few of the classes.  It didn't go quite as we'd planned.  The idea was to do activities with the kids but they were all pretty much unresponsive.  Very very shy.  After that day, we were pretty discouraged.  Oh and before I go on, lets discuss the car ride.  We are in our journeyman John's truck.  It's an old, purple, standard truck that feels every single bump on the road. And the road we take to the villages is HORRIBLE!  We have a full backseat and LB and I share the front. (Not to comfortable but quite the bonding experience)  The ride is about an hour...maybe a little more.  Anyway, so we drive all the way back to Huancayo to eat supper at the church.  After supper, we go all the way back to a pueblo(village) near Usibamba to show a Jesus film/talk to the villagers.  It's night by the time we get there and the Plaza, where everyone was supposed to meet for the movie, is empty.  The room we were going to show the movie in was also locked.  So...Karis, LB, and I all really had to pee.  We'd already figured out, however, that we'd rather squat down somewhere than use the actual "bathrooms."  So we walk to the other side of the Plaze (which we spent a couple of hours cleaning earlier by the way haha) and we find a semi light place...and we pee.  so we finish our little bonding experience and walk back to the truck.  Now this place is a ghost town.  No one is around.   And it's cloudy so its really really dark.  So we're back at the truck.  Where are the guys?  We don't know.  We call them a few times, all with no answer.  At this point we're freaking out just a little.  (Well Karis isn't...but LB and I were.)  The truck was unlocked so we decided to hop in the back seat together which ends up being a little scarier than being out in the open.  We're sitting in there probably for 10 or 15 minutes and I hear a noise that scares me a little.  Turns out its just a pig outside.  So after reciting the Lord's prayer a few times, we hear the boys walking up.  We then jump out of the car and yell at them for a few minutes. It was pretty scary...but that's not the end of the story.  So we all walk over to the other side of the plaza just to look out over the view of the mountains for a minute and on our way back...John's flashlight happens to shine on some figure...it was a little Peruvian boy.  Outside...by himself...in the dark.  I'm pretty sure that after that we terrified the poor little thing.  John was shining his light in his face asking him all these questions and whatnot.  Poor thing.  Anyways...we eventually left because no one showed up for the movie (more disappointment) and we had an after thought.  If that little boy had been there...he probably saw all 3 of us squat down and pee in the plaza.  Hmm...

The next day we went to a town that I can never remember the name of.  We had a much larger group of kids there that ranged from the little ninos all the way up to teens.  We changed up our plans a little.  It was great!  At the end of the games and activities, we asked the kids why they thought we were there and then got to share with them about Jesus.  They asked some crazy questions!  For example:

>Why are there rich people and poor people?  (This was a LITTLE kid...probably 8 or so.)

>Why did Jesus have to die?

>Why are there so many unbelievers or atheists?

Wow.  These were children!  We were pretty blown away by their curiosity.  After that, LB and I actually did use their bathrooms.  Blech!  It's amazing the places God will call you to pee.  So late ron when the kids were out of school, we brought out 2 soccer balls.  Everyone, children, teens, even a few adults, played in this big field with us! (covered with poop I might add)  It was so fun!  But we did have to stop occasionally to let sheep, pigs, cattle, etc.  pass through.  Soccer at like 13000-14000 feet will kill you!!!  I've never felt so out of shape in my life!  My lungs are used to Charleston!  Below sea level!  This altitude is so bad that we're taking hot showers now just to breathe in the steam. 

Oh! Forgot something.  Got a little altitude sick today during one of the classes.  I thought I was going to throw up but I never did.  Bad feeling :/  Hit me like a wall!  But I got over it.  After all that we went to the hotel and napped til dinner.  Then went to a nearby mall but only got to stay for about 30 minutes.  Then we had "family time" with the whole group.  We shared stories about our weeks thus far.  It's weird but I feel like the only people I see are the ones on my team so family time was good.  Got to see everyone else.  I enjoyed it a lot!  

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That's a good stopping point for now.  I'm tired of typing.  :]

Peru Post 2

The dates may be slightly skewed from now on because I realize that I kept going back and adding stuff but whatever.  Here's post number 2 straight from my journal:

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Peru 5/17/09

Ah!  I feel so much better!  I slept 7 hours last night!  YES!  We got up this morning and came back to the church for breakfast.  We had stuff like cereal and fruit and whatnot.  I tried some kind of cereal I'd never heard of before but it had the word fitness in it?  It was good.  But the milk here is different.  they put something in it so that it can be stored in boxes and not refrigerated.  It was alright though.  We had a while before church so a few of us went up to the roof. Well there was this little raised up part that had stained glass panes on it.  We wanted to climb up on top to where the concrete was and you had to go around the stained glass.  Well Andrew broke one of the panes.  It was pretty funny.  So after that it was time for church.  The people here are very friendly.  Everyone greets each other with a kiss!  I love it! haha  So we're in church and they're singing everything in Spanish.  Wow.  It was interesting.  Some of the songs were easy to catch onto but others were just impossible.  And there was one song with motions.  You held hands with people around you then put your arms around each other then waved your hands in the air. haha  It was great.  So before the preacher came out, you went around and greeted everyone.  Can I just say that the children were adorable!  When that time came, they all just flocked to us!  It was absolutely precious!  I loved it!  And now the preacher is talking but he talks pretty quickly.  No comprendo.  haha So I figured I'd take this time to catch up on my journaling.  A lot of others are doing that as well.

So some observations: You see on tv like these hills covered with really run down houses and villages.  Well, we've seen many of these hills so far.  It's really sad.  There's an unimaginable poverty rate here.  Oh and there are no public trashcans.  Trash is everywhere.  Just in huge HUGE piles kinda like in Slumdog Millionaire.  Another thing: Restaurant bathrooms here have no toilet seats, toilet paper, or soap to wash your hands with. (Though I was shocked at this during this early time of the trip, by the end I was ECSTATIC to even see an actual toilet!)  Kinda makes you wonder about the people cooking your food.  Oh and these people are all about some car horns.  I'm listening to them now while in church.  It's like they have their own road language...

The altitude doesn't bother me that much unless I'm walking up stairs.  Gah!  It will wear you out!  By the time I make it to the third floor, I feel like I'm going to black out.  Literally!

So this valley that Huancayo and all our other towns are in is beautiful!  Everywhere you look, there are mountains!  The city isn't pretty (obviously) but the surroundings are gorgeous!

So Katie wakes me up at 6:30am this morning and we find out that the power is out.  I'm glad she woke up because our alarm would not have gone off.  So my plan was to get up and actually look pretty today.  I wanted to shower and straighten my hair and whatnot.  Fail.  Instead I'm wearing a hat and I did my makeup in the dark.  I have no idea what I look like right now. Haha  On further investigation however, we find out that the power is out in the entire city.  Oh my.  I just hope it works soon.  

The whole not having heat in the hotel really isn't all that bad.  We were pretty comfortable last night.  I had my Hannah Montana blanket so I was okay.  Speaking of which, I introduced myself to a Peruvian woman here and she referred to me as Hannah Montana.  Yay.  Can't even go without that halfway around the world.

One more random fact: One of the little girls here was wearing a playboy sweater! It said playboy all over it and had little bunnies on it!  Haha I'm pretty sure she has no clue though.  (Throughout the course of the trip I saw 2 more little girls with the same one.)  

Fun facts:

>You burn 2x as many calories here at this altitude than at home at sea level

>Japanese people make up the largest minority here.  Random?

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This concludes post 2.  Hope you enjoyed!

Peru Post 1

Okay so this is the first of several of my Peru posts that I'm copying directly from the journal I kept while I was there.  I would post it all at once but it's late and I'm tired. :]

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5/16/09

So we arrived in Lima, Peru late last night.  Yesterday morning we went to bed at 12:30am and got up at 3:00am.  Left for the airport at 4am.  Flew to Newark at 6:45am and arrived at 8:45am.  We then proceeded to stay in the Newark airport until 3:50pm, when we flew out for Lima.  While in the airport, we all basically stretched out on the floor and slept for a bit.  We arrived in Lima around 10:30pm(Lima time...1 hour behind).  Hopped on a bus and rode for about an hour to where we were staying for the night.  Finally made it to bed around 2am-ish.   Had to get up at 5:30am.  Hopped on another bus to ride for 6.5 hours to Huancayo.  No sleep on the plane or bus.  Wow. 

Got here and decided to go eat Chinese food? Anyways.  So the Andes Mountains are the biggest mountains I have ever seen.  While on the bus we got up to I think more than 16,000 feet.  Needless to say, we all felt a little loopy.  The tops of some of the highest mountains were snow capped glaciers.  These glaciers make these awesome lakes when they melt!  It was the bluest water I've ever seen!  Not like Carribean blue...like legit royal blue water.  It was gorgeous!  One of the most breath-taking things I've ever seen. Oh and the bus...we were on the second floor in the very front at the windshield.  Best view on the bust but also the scariest!  Our driver was insane!  I only got really sick feeling once while we were at the high altitudes.  But now we're only at about 12,000 feet. (I think) which is still pretty high but not that bad.  Everything is high considering we're from Charleston which is below sea level. It's only 10:30 right now but I'm so exhausted.  I have no idea how I'm functioning.  

My Spanish is definitely getting a workout!  I love it!  Everything here is in Spanish! (Go figure right).  

So tonight we got together with our journeymen to discuss our plans for the trip.  We met at a local baptist church in Huancayo.  My first impression was that this is a pretty crappy little church, comparing it to the ones back home of course. ( I later found out that this church is definitely among the nicer ones we visited.)  Oh!  And taxis!  We had to take cabs there and back and it was LOCO!  It's like there are no road rules here at all!  People constantly cut others off and speed and don't ever stop and they're always ALWAYS laying on their horns!  It was madness!  But quite an experience. (We took tons of cabs throughout the trip all with the same experience)

While we had Chinese, we had this drink called Inka Cola?  It smelled and tasted just like bubble gum.  It was kinda gross. Some people loved it though.  Just not for me.  I haven't gotten to try guinea pig though. (Look forward to that post people. haha It's a good one.)  

I really want to write more but I can't.  Bedtime.  Nighty night.

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This ends post one!  More actual mission-trip related stuff to come later.  :]