My soup waved at me....and then I rode a Llama!

            This past weekend I was able to travel with twelve women from the church up the Andes Mountains to Cajamarca for a Women’s Retreat. We had to get up early in the morning to drive to the bus station in Chiclayo where I realized that I had not brought my passport (if I hadn’t already felt like a stupid American since coming here, I did then for sure). Thankfully someone was able to find it and bring it to me just as the bus was pulling out (literally he waved at them to stop as it was pulling out of the station). Now this bus was a double decker charter bus…and we went up and down twisty windy roads at speeds I never thought would have been possible in one of those. We rode on the top layer, and no joke, it swayed from side to side the whole time and when we would cut around corners that were never made for a vehicle that size, people and bags would slide from side of the bus to the other (and my seat buddy slept the whole time so he kept falling into my seat with each twist and turn). The trip was six hours long, so half way through it we made a stop where I paid to use the bathroom for the first time. Side note, for the first time in my life I am thankful that I am not taller because here everything is small and short. The bathroom walls and stalls come to my shoulders so I see everyone and they see me, there’s not room for my legs in rows, chairs are short (haha I have lost count of how many times I sit down with a thud because I wasn’t expecting it to be so low!), and steps are so small only half of my foot fits on them (this makes going down them interesting, I have adopted a sort of crab walk otherwise I end up falling). Back on the bus we watched a couple of movies, one of them being Battleship (which I am going to have to watch in English sometime because I really enjoyed it) and let me tell you, who needs those expensive 4D experience movie theaters when you can watch an action movie while swaying back and forth through sharp turns on a double decker bus!

            Once we got to Cajamarca we split up into groups of 2 and took motos (they have motos everywhere here. They are hard to describe but they are motorcycles that have three wheels with a bench in the back and then the driver rides on the front) to go to Central Biblico Cajamarca (Church). This was a beautiful campus with many school classrooms and a large auditorium (could seat about 200 on the floor level) that closely resembled a church you might find in the states, even had two stained glass windows. We attended opening services for the conference and then dropped into bed (many in our group were not feeling so well from the ride, altitude and colds). In the morning we got up at 5am to go to the Inca Hot Springs (because there was no water in the church bathrooms. Yeah use your imagination for how that would work with nearly 200 women staying there for 3 days…) for a MUCH needed bath. This was another first as I had never paid for a bath before but it was so worth it! It was the hottest shower I’ve had since coming to Peru and I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it.

At lunch I was not feeling so well and running a fever when one of the men set a nice big bowl of soup (in the mountains we ate soup at every meal, even breakfast. Though on a bright note, for the first time in my life people don’t look at me and assume that I don’t eat very much, buddy they pile my plate high and usually I eat every bit of it) with a big ‘ol chicken foot waving at me. As I ate my way around it, it just seemed to be taunting me from the slowly diminishing broth and potatoes (they also put potatoes in every meal, lets just say I am taking a potato fast for a little while). It was just bones and skin with no meat and I was trying to figure out if I could manage to get it down when one of the ladies I was eating with saw my distressed look and offered to eat it for me. I quickly said yes and she picked it up, popped it in her mouth and ate it all (even the bones) leaving nothing left in the bowl. Then the woman next to me proceeded to tell me how she cooks (and they eat) the whole chicken, head, beak, eyes and all! The rest of the table then laughed as I failed to hide the surprised look on my face. 

The weekend was filled with different speakers and workshops but on Saturday we all piled into buses to drive an hour and half more up the mountains to a community that is run by believers. It was a really neat place that grows their own food, makes various dairy products…and even has their own zoo complete with lions, bears, and jaguars (but no tigers). In order to complete our tour of the zoo we had to walk all over the mountain, in some spots climbing rocks and others crossing little streams. At one point I was starting to feel the altitude and lack of food (they served a strange green soup at breakfast that many people did not eat) when this little old lady (with a cane!) climbs up beside me and that gave me the needed energy to keep going (that and the chocolate covered marshmallow I had stuck in my backpack when they passed them out at morning meeting, yummy!). The view from the top was beautiful with mountains on all sides (this FL girl was loving all the mountains! It was way better than anything we have in Clermont! Haha). At one point some of us paid half a sole to take a picture on a llama, y’all I rode a llama…and the best part? It didn’t spit on me!

After a long day of ‘mountain climbing’, zoo exploring, and closing ceremonies we were headed to the bus station to catch our 9:45pm bus back to Chiclayo. Before we could board the bus we had to leave our fingerprint next to our seat number and then when we got on the bus they made us put our seat belts on (no one wears seat belts here so that plus the finger print made me feel a bit uneasy). As soon as we started down the mountain, I knew why they required all of that, this driver was majorly speeding! He was going so fast even I got a little dizzy (and I don’t ever get motion sickness), let’s just say that me and God had some good conversations as I fell asleep, praying for our lives. About an hour into the six hour trip I woke up to hear the passenger behind me throwing up (and since my seat was leaned back and she was leaned forward she was practically on top of me) I quickly sat my seat upright as others around me started to throw up as well. Now for those of y’all who don’t know, I have a terrible gag reflex and I can deal with blood and gore all day but if someone starts throwing up I have a hard time not joining them. I remembered that I had earplugs in my backpack so I shoved those in my ears, squeezed my eyes shut tight, and just prayed that I wouldn’t join the group of vomiters. Well the Lord answers prayers and I managed to fall asleep and not wake up until we were pulling into the bus station at Chiclayo (the driver was driving so fast we got there an hour early!), we had made it there in one piece and I had managed not to join the ranks of a vomiter. All in all, it was a great weekend of fellowship with fellow women and believers filled with sightseeing, conferences, and many first experiences (plus it was three days away from kids!).

Things are going well here but I would ask that you continue to pray for the health of everyone here. Several of the volunteers are sick as well as some of the kids. Personally I am actually starting to feel better (and it was not until I started feeling better a couple days ago that I realized just how sick I have been since I got here) but am still trying to figure out how to balance and time manage everything (this whole teaching thing and helping with the kids is more time consuming than I thought). Also please pray for Daniel as he will (Lord willing) be adopted in the next couple of weeks. Pray for him as he is prepared to leave and for his family as they prepare to come pick him up and take him to his new home (where he will have a five year old sister who was also adopted from Morning Star). An update on my mom, she had the surgery and is doing much better. Thank you for your prayers for her and my family during this time.

Oh I have to throw in a funny ‘learning a new language oopsie’ (this is a daily occurrence and if I tried to list them all we would be here all day!). So on the trip I bought a bottle of orange juice and I was reading the label when I saw vitamin a,b, y c and I was like, wait a second they have a vitamin y here? What is vitamin y? Of course I had to say that out loud before I realized that it was not vitamin y but vitamin a, b, AND c! Oh my I still have a looooonnnngggg ways to go!