Another Sunny day in Lima..

As it often happens time travels faster than we can keep up. Thursday is here which means tomorrow is our last day here in Peru. It has been quite an adventure as well as humbling in many aspects. Due to our schedule and the early hours, it has been difficult to maintain a daily record of our tasks. I will attempt to catch up with myself. I am wondering if that is really possible.

Arriving in Lima late Sunday night left us with not more than settling in our rooms and getting aquainted with the hotel. The Santa Cruz Hotel is often the host to many mission groups and is alive with students from Michigan when we arrived. As with most hotels, we are greeted with the traditional coffee, warm milk, cereal with yogurt (that you pour over the cereal) and rolls. As we came down the stairs we were greeted with the bodies of sleeping texans, a group of 25, whose plane of course was delayed in Miami, and arrived at 4 AM in Lima. Ahh to be young again!!
Our hosts Sarah and Rusty, met us early as we headed to Santa Rosa an new community being developed far outside of Lima. This is known as a Puelbo Jovan people come from the jungle or other parts of undeveloped Peru with the hopes that they will have a better life. It does not usually happen they way they have hoped. Most of the men leave the women and children in small straw homes to seek work in the city. The goverment sells or the family sits on the land, and then have a set amount of time to build their home from straw to brick....literally it is made of straw. No running water, no electricity. The children have now childcare so often they are literally just around after school while they parents work. The team went out to contiune building a small church in this "neighborhood" by setting bricks, building a wall of only stone, no cement, no leveling just placing large rocks upon one another. Reminded me a bit of France, but the backdrop was far from the countryside of Provence.
After our work we were treated to an traditional Peruvian lunch of chicken,rice, potatoe and a drink made of black corn;Chica. When this is left to ferment, it becomes a very toxic drink. The intoxicating drink was used in many ceremonial sacrifices over 500 hundred years ago. Children were sacraficed to the "gods of the mountains" when the volcanos errupted. They would climb up to the summit, some 14,000-18,000 feet where between the trek,altitude, the child would already be somewhat out of it. Given the last part of the ceremony the drink of Chica, is given the child layed into a small grave,covered with a blanket. After placing all the things they will need for the next life, they are given a sharp blow to the head which ends their life. The "Ice Princess" is worth googling and reading about. She is something to be seen.

It is again time to hit the road so I will attempt to continue later. caio for now!!

Arequipa another view

This morning is again beautiful with the sun shining and the horns (birds is what some refer to them as) blowing. The activity level is very high very early. Thursday I took a break from the eye clinic to lay some bricks at the partner church just a brief walk from the Casa. It was a good time to do it as there was a transportation strike and the teams that did go out did not arrive home until very late. The vision team arrived in 5 seperate taxis. Most of the taxis are the small Ford Fiestas, thousands of them it seems during the peak times.
The brick laying was quite an adventure. Once again I have found myself working with simple tools and another way of doing things. The Peruvian workers are quiet and very persistant in their work. We are making a new path for the courtyard where the people come into the church. We had to wear heavy masks as the dust is very heavy and everywhere! I have a feeling I will be sore tomorrow though.
One of the other members of the team has arranged for a trek to ElMisto a volcano outside of town. It is one of the National Parks and will take 2 days to hike. I decided to join him and two other hikers. It is 5400 meters....18,000 feet. really high! We will begin at mid day and spend the night at 14,000 feet then head out about 2AM for the 6-7 hour trek up to the Crator. Very cold about 5 below zero degrees. I went shopping so that I would have warm scarf and hat and legs.
So the day is closing and I have an early start. I´ll fill you in tomorrow. I wish I could up load photos but I feel lucky I have acess to a computer alone!

Peru!

Good morning! it is a beautiful day in Peru. We have begun our mission trip with the sunshining and a temperature of about 63 degrees. We could not ask for anything better. The accomodations are in a small but very comfortable Casa of rooms around a quiet courtyard. The Casa doubles as a school for both english and spanish and a hostel for travelers all over the world.
Breakfast is hot and excellent with juices and fruit and yogurt served from a pitcher! We started our eye exams yesterday in a school that begins with primary grades in the morning to early afternoon and then changes to the secondary students until 6 pm. They are very active all day playing and running about.
We have to make our sandwiches for the day....so I will continue later. for now T