Lake Titicaca

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” 

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Dear friends and family,

I write this blog with some sadness in my heart because my time here in Peru is running short. Part of me can't wait to be back in my everyday life routine, but my heart aches to leave a people that have become so dear to my heart. I really have loved and treasured my time in Peru. I feel I have grown and come to understand the world, community development, and poverty in a much different way. I feel so humbled and blessed to have work alongside World Vision Peru staff. I truly admire their devotion and conviction that they feel in their heart for the children of Peru and for their well-being, growth, and development.

God has been so good and faithful. I can't believe I was blessed with the opportunity to be here. There were so many other places that were in my plans this summer, but I most certainly am glad I had a chance to come and serve here this summer. God still has so much to work in my life. I still have so much to grow and learn. My prayer and hope is that the small things I did will hopefully lead to greater things.

This is my safe ride... For some reason I can't move this picture in the right spot. It'll make sense later on.

I've been at work in the communities. The teachers are on strike, but I still have hope that I will be able to gather the data I need before I leave. World Vision Peru has been so helpful and supportive. It really is humbling to see how much they have invested in me. They truly are a blessing!

These are some pictures from my latest adventures. I hope you enjoy them. :)

I spent a weekend at Lake Titicaca. It is the largest lake in South America and referred to as the "highest navigable" lake in the world at about 4,000msnm. There are apparently other lakes that are higher altitudes, but they are a lot smaller and "big boats" can't navigate in them. Either way it was a very cold and beautiful experience.

It is pretty shallow in some parts. What you see growing is called "Totora" and they use it to build and eat!

I thought the cocaine leaves had finally kicked in. Pigs in the middle of the lake!

Isla Uros. Actually it is a community of floating islands. Legend has it that the Uros were trying to flee the Inca's and got an a boat and found some material in the middle of the lake that floated. They build floating islands and still live on them. I had mixed feelings about visiting this island. I just really don't like when culture is put on stage, and part of me felt really convicted about paying to go see people live in these conditions. Everything seemed so staged for us, and they truly looked unhappy. It must be hard to live here. Imagine trying to get drinking water where you have to get rid of your wastes and medical assistance when you are sick. The kids have to go to mainland to go to high school. There also isn't much place to run and jump and play. I would have rather seen this tourism promoting better living conditions for these people.

This kid was so cute. Apparently they had a Japanese teacher who taught them a song. His friend, friend's sister, and him sang us a song in Quechua, Aymara, and Japanese. Who would have thought? I gotta hand it to them. They were pretty creative when it came to making some money.

This was the "Mercedes Benz" I was not able to afford to ride on. Yes, I was being cheap and took the ride for half the price. It was still as fun, and in my opinion, the other ride looked safer.

Washington, you can't diss what these people eat. Immerse in the culture. Plus, they said it tastes just like broccoli.

Mother, I really wanted to bring you back one of these. I thought you might really like them. They were too overpriced. Sorry! I got you some really cute Cholitos though!

Amantani! Island #2

This was our host home. I finally got "zorocha" in Lake Titicaca. That means the altitude hit me. We hadn't eaten all day and we got the house that was furthest away from the shore! I almost fainted on my way there!

It was well worth the trip thought. Look at the view from our host home.

Our host mom. She was a widow and lived only with her son. She was so fabulous! I greeted her in Quechua, and then I think she assumed I was fluent the entire time I was there because she would only speak to me in Quechua and not Spanish. I just smiled!

Just pose and smile guys. Pretend we aren't hungry, tired, and about to pass out if we have to take one more picture. Alirio, did you get this 100th picture right?

Heaven! Nothing like some good soup with Quinoa. The herbs you see on the table are coca leaves and muna. They saved my life on the island. Actually, after my trip to Lake Titicaca and dosing on tea with coca and muna, my stomach problems have been much better.

Bonding moment with our house pet.

I asked them to pose like men, and this is what I got.

I gotta hand it to Washington. He truly knows how to make faces for pics!

Amantani stadium.

I have Zorocha. Do we really have to climb PachaTata.

Alright, it was worth the climb.

I've always got energy to dance! Breaking it down at Amantani!

Yeah! Looking great!

So, our host mom was Adventist. The morning we left she grabbed my hand our entire walk down. She started singing a song to me that they sang in her church. She asked me if we sang songs. I sang "Lord, You Have My Heart" for her. She cried and I cried. She was such a blessing and its great to know God was there too.

Gilda acquired some musical skills on the trip.

I am not even going to comment on this. I think the picture is very self-explanatory. Washington is making friends.

It was a great stay in Amantani.

Making friends with the french!

So the community in Isla Taquile has its own ways of showing relationship status in the community. There are different hats if you are married and single. You also wear your hats in different ways if you are single depending on what type of relationship you are looking for. Mother the single girls wave these "pompoms" around when they are looking for someone. I tried it out, but I don't think I mastered the move well enough! LOL I give up. I did it just for you mother.

This is the equivalent of a wedding ring in Isla Taquile. The man makes the belt with all the symbols and the women braids the other with her hair woven in it. Pretty interesting.

Trucha!

The view form Isla Taquile.

I thought he was devoted and praying. He was sleeping!

In Puno. Drinking some Api and eating some empanada! I am hungry Gilda, let me have my empanada!

Cheers!

A little bit of everything... Life is Good

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the skies.  

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
    your justice like the great deep.
    You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.  

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

Psalm 36:5-7

Hello Friends and Family!

Blessings and much love to all. Sorry I have been MIA for a while. I have been up to a lot of community work and time feels like it starting to fly a bit quicker than usual. These last couple of weeks I have began work in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. It has been such an incredibly opportunity to be part of the Area Developmental Programme (ADP) of Calca. They are such a wonderful team, and I have had the chance to work in the communities with the parents and the health facilitator.

As crazy as this sounds, I really love talking about sexual reproductive health with people. All the different reactions I get really crack me up. I really have been touched by how responsive and open the communities have been with me despite being a foreign stranger. The language barrier has been a bit difficult. The other day I asked the mother's in the community how many sexual partners they think a man should have, and they all cracked up. They cracked up even more when I asked them how many a woman should have. It's just been really great touching all these subjects with them and understanding a bit more the challenges and realities they face when it comes to taking care of their sexual and reproductive health. It really has been a great experience.

I also had a chance to go to Machu Picchu. Traveling alone can be a lot of fun. I met lots of people, and I was really surprised to how easily I made friends all along the way. God's always taking care of me, and I still marvel at the people he places in my life at the right time. I had reserved my Machu Picchu excursion with a local agency two weeks in advance. I wanted to climb Huayna Picchu, and as some of you may know, there are only an allocated number of tourist allowed to enter each day. The agency promised they would get the tickets for me, and quite frankly they were overcharging me, but I thought they looked more formal than the other agencies I had been to and I didn't want any problems on the trip. They had assured me that everything was taken care of, but to my surprise as I was getting on the bus ready to leave, they told me they had not been able to get Huayna Picchu for me. I was really upset. They lied to me and I felt deceived. The lady pleaded that I still go because otherwise they would lose the train ticket they had already purchased for me and told me they had bought me an entrance to another mountain so I could climb. I decided to give them grace, but I warned them that if anything else went wrong with the trip they would have to return my money because they broke contract with me.

All works out for the good of those that love God. Despite not getting to climb Huayna Picchu, I got to climb the mountain of Machu Picchu, which is a 1,000 mts higher than Huayna Picchu with a private tour guide who was phenomenal. We had such good conversations about spirituality, morality, botany (mostly from him), and just life that I feel actually really blessed that I didn't get to climb Machu Picchu. It was way more of a work out than Huayna Picchu and I had an incredibly spectacular view. I made some great Colombian, Peruvian, and New Zealander friends on the way. It was a great trip. I was beat when I got back though and my legs were somewhat terribly soar as well. It was well worth it and I still love trekking through the mountains!

Macchu Picchu is spectacular. You really do wonder how they managed to build in these conditions. These mountains are really high up and steep. The size of the stones are huge. It is a puzzle for mankind. I gottta hand it to the ancient civilizations, they were incredibly ingenious. I actually went to an observatory close to Sacsaywaman, and it really is incredible to see everything you can learn from the stars. They can help you predict the weather and season. It's also fascinating to see how the same group of stars have been so important for different people groups all around the world. God is so great, and when you think you've already seen how magnificent the world can be, He always surprises us. 

Praises:

1. Opportunities to Travel. It really is a blessing to be here and see the beauty God has created in Peru.

2. I got an answer from IRB. I have to make some small modifications, mostly to consent forms, but I hope to get official approval soon.

3. World Vision PDA Calca staff. They have been phenomenal!

4. God's grace with the communities I am working with. It really has been so touching to see how receptive and welcoming they have been with me, despite the taboo topics I've come to discuss!

Prayer Requests:

1. Professors are on an indefinite strike. So even if I get IRB approval, I still can't start research to classes begin once more. Please pray it gets resolved soon.

2. Efficient time use and diligence. I have A LOT of work to complete before I leave Peru. I only have about three weeks left, and I have a tremendous amount of work to complete before then. Please pray it all gets done. Mostly, it is difficult because the timing and control of time is not in my hands. For example, I got to a community ready to meet with the father's of the community, but by the time I got there, they were all slightly drunk on Chicha because they had had a celebration. Nothing I can do about it!

3. I continue to have GI problems. I've pretty much limited my diet to rice, toast, water, and broths. I am surviving. I just feel really bad because food is really important here, and I have had to turn away so many meals people in the community offer me because I've been sick. Thankfully they have been very understanding.

PS... I am also transforming World Vision Peru. Most of the female staff do not drive! I couldn't believe it. I got authorization and have been cruising with the ADP Calca pick up and have encouraged the other women to learn how to drive. I hope they overcome that fear! I've also shown a few men how it's done. I know my mother would be very proud of me!

Hugs to all!

Sorry. I had to do the tourist thing and hold a baby llama. It's so cute! I really wanted to take it home! The cuy back there is the fattest cuy I had ever seen in my life.

This is the Sacred Valley of the Inca's and I work in one of the most important ancient sites: Calca.

This is on my way to work.

The Inca's were just so ingenious. They had a filtration system set up in these terraces. They truly are a remarkable civilization. This is Alex our Sacred Valley tour guide.

Ollantaytambo. It was spectacular. It's my favorite ruin so far after Machu Picchu.

Let's play a game. There are actually two historical figures traced in this mountain. One was the guardian of all the agricultural seeds the Inca's preserved in these mountain refrigerators they had created. The other (hint:close to the side) is their famous Inca leader.

Machu Picchu. My pictures do not do it justice. It is absolutely spectacular especially before the crowd of tourist come!

Making friends. I literally met them on the street. This is Rafael and his mother. They joined me for dinner as they also were heading to Machu Picchu.

Huayna Picchu is the peak you see behind.

Could you imagine waking up to this every morning? I love the mountains. I can't blame them for worshiping them. They truly are majestic. Creation does speaks of God's glory!

Dad, these are some of the orchids native to reserve of Machu Picchu and no I won't bring you back any. :)

The crowd is receiving energy from the Sacred Rock. Apparently the stone used for construction in Machu Picchu is mostly granite and contains a lot of quartz. Therefore, Machu Picchu is believed to have a lot of energy stored and my group was trying to gain some before we continued the hike.

I had to do the tourist pose. I hope you'all appreciate it!

 The mountain far in the back is Machu Picchu mountain. That is the one I hiked up! It was a well worth climb. :)

 I felt I was fulfilling some kind of pilgrimage. I think I pretty much repented of everything on my way up!

We are 1,000 mts above Huayna Picchu as you can see!

This is another orchid I also did not bring back for you father. :)

I made it!

The top was spectacular. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Still smiling after our climb down. I don't get it. It took me about 2 hours to climb up and 45 minutes to get back down to Machu Picchu. Then we started hiking it back to town.

Goodbye Machu Picchu! Hasta luego!

These are some of the members from Unuraqui, one of the communities I've been working at this last week. WE gave the mother's some hygiene kits. Heather, you would have loved them.

This is Gilda. She is fabulous! She works in the ADP Calca and has a radio program with some of the sponsored kids. She is really admirable and she is joining me to Lake Titicaca this weekend!

I love this fruit. This is Chirimoya which is the Peruvian version of Guanavana.

This is Guiler. He is the administrator of ADP Calca and what was ADP Lamay. He has been lots of fun to hang out with. I still think I drive better than he does!

I love this poster... what would a world where all children can be safe be like? That is what we are working for and having the children themselves be the agents of change for their community.

Lunch has arrived...

Edith you really want me to eat all those Nabitos? Edith is the health promoter for ADP Calca. She has been a joy to work with this week. She has been trying to teach me some Quechua, but I am struggling. Wawa=child. Gracias=gracias...that is about it right now.

I had an activity with the mother's in the community.... and there was a huge pile of corn in the room I needed to use. What do I do? Well... the kids used it as their playground. It kind of became a nursery on its own. The children were quite entertained and allowed for the mother's to participate.

This is another of the communities I have been working in.

You can't judge me. I have no practice or skill doing this. That poor boy was a brave soul.

Nailed it! I really admire how women walk around the mountains with their Wawa's like that. I loved carrying that boy around. His Chuyo says CUSCO. (Chuyo=hat)

The mother's thought I should produce some Wawa's of my own! They didn't look to convinced at my Wawa carrying skills. I think they meant I needed more practice!

 You all right back there?

 He cuddled with me! I actually really love this technique. I hope to implement it someday. It really is a great bonding experience.

Love to all!!!