Los Juegos Mecanicos

When we got back from Christmas vacation, Karen promptly presented us with the idea of going to the amusement park rides. Obviously, that sounds fun!

Finally, last weekend, we made it happen. Around 9:30am on Sunday morning, we headed out to catch a bus and head to the park. Lo and behold, the park didn't actually open up until 12pm, so we had to wait a while. It was nice to catch up with Rocio and Karen. Most of our conversations are things in passing because we really only chat in the evening right before going to bed. Sometimes, all we have a chance to say is good night. It was a little blessing. 

Also, while we were waiting in line for the park to open, we had to plan out what we were going to do first. Karen and I were up for any ride. Melissa didn't want to do any crazy rides. And I got the impression that Rocio has never been on a rollercoaster, so she was very uncertain. We opted to try "Crazy Mouse" first. 

Finally, a little after 12pm, we got into the park and headed straight for "Crazy Mouse". Well, it was an awesome idea, until we got there, one group that had made it there before us, rode the ride, and then it broke. Womp womp. 

Instead, our first ride was the Ferris Wheel. It was nice to get up high and see what all there was in the park (not that it was real big) and you could look out over the ocean and over the surrounding cliffs. It was an excellent and calm way to start the day. 

We rode lots of spinny rides, checked out the crazy mirrors, and went down the slide. The basic rides that you'll find at every park. Unfortunately, the spinny rides get to me after a while, so didn't ride all of the ones I wanted. We did however make it back to ride "Crazy Mouse".. it was a must. 

We noticed that the food stands were all in English and were selling some familiar fair foods. I got a little excited. I got a corn dog and it was awesome. We also had to buy a funnel cake so that Rocio and Karen could know the glory of funnel cakes. It had powdered sugar, strawberries, chocolate, and whipped cream on it. So good! I think the girls enjoyed it too. :) 

While we bought the funnel cake, we had a chance to talk to the lady making it about what was up with the fair. Turns out it is a traveling fair from the US, hence everything written in English and many of the event workers speaking English.. This was their first time in Lima, but there are plans to make it an annual event. They shipped all of their equipment down by boat. All of the workers were staying in trailers set up near the grounds. So, it ended up being a day of sharing something from our culture with the people here, but without the cost of the plane ticket. Haha. 

After that, we went to see the circus. I may be wrong, but I think it is the first time I have seen a circus act in person. Man, it made me nervous. Swinging up real high. Balancing on things high up in the air. My heart was racing for them. The clown was pretty funny and one of his games was to get a kid to only say the word "chicharron" regardless of what he asked. The kid never knew when the game ended, so he just kept right on saying chicharron. It was hilarious and cute.  

As we headed out of the park, Karen remembered she had a few more tickets left, so we found a game to spend them on. We only had enough to buy one chance at winning, so no one wanted to do it. Finally, we talked Rocio into the game were you pop a balloon with a dart. We handed her the dart and she asked, "what do I do with this?" After a brief explanation and one toss, she popped a balloon! She won a very handsome little starfish. It was the best! 

We had a great time at the park, and only got a little bit sunburnt. We even made it to church before it started. A very successful and fun day!

~nos vemos

Turismo en Miraflores

A couple of days ago, Melissa's friends, Erica and Dave, arrived in Peru to start their 3 week long adventure here. They are currently living in Paraguay, while Erica teaches at a school there. They are diligently making their way from country to country in S. America..hence coming to Peru, plus they get the perk of running into a longtime friend as well and I am sure Melissa is excited to see them too. 

They landed on Sunday night while we were at church, so we opted to meet up on Monday in Miraflores. We have visited Miraflores on a number of occasions, especially during the month that we were taking our Spanish classes there. However, we have never been the acting tour guides, so it was fun to switch things up and show them around. 

We meet up at the Bull in Kennedy Park, aka Cat Park (I think I blogged about it before). Turns out, this is a great spot to meet up. A huge ornately decorated bull is kind of hard to miss and it is very centrally located. 

We then wandered through the park and down to Larcomar to see the ocean and to hunt for internet because I was trying to get the instructions my doctor gave me on malaria pills because we couldn't seem to find the one the doctor here recommended that we get. We literally stopped in at every single pharmacy we passed on the 15 minute saunter down to the mall. Nothing. 

When we got down the the mall I found out that there is a Banana Republic AND Gap here! I am little bit excited. Just a little. Haha. 

From SF to Lima, just like me!

So, after securing internet at Starbucks and enjoying a blackberry drink, we headed out to find out how to get down to the beach. We spotted some stairs that we thought would get us down there, but unfortunately there was a huge brick wall blocking them off. We contemplated jumping the wall, but decided there had to be a better way. Still in search of stairs, we headed in the direction of Parque del Amor. Then, Melissa and I remembered that there were stairs down under the bridge! As we headed in that direction there were a lot of people with body boards and had their swimsuits on and all that jazz, so figured we were headed the right way. Turns out the city built a huge bridge contraption to allow pedestrians to cross over the 4 lane highway below to get down to the beach. Por fin, llegamos! 

Melissa and Erica enjoying the rocks at the beach!

The view up at Miraflores from down at the beach.

This was actually the first time that we spent any time at the water. The beach is all rocks, but there were still a number of people out there wanting to swim and all of the surfer dudes are out there finding people to give lessons to. It was quite nice and the cool breeze off the water felt wonderful! 

As seems to be our touristy place to eat now, we headed to Tanta's for lunch. It isn't touristy in that the restaurant is owned by Gaston Acurio, a famous Peruvian chef. BUT it is touristy because you can get a menu in English and the bathrooms have toilet seats and toilet paper. Oh well, it is a nice place to eat and they have good food, that includes traditional Peruvian cuisine. 

A tour of Miraflores is not complete without a stop at Melissa's favorite churro shop, Manolo's. It may the most expensive churro you can find in Peru at S/. 4 ($1.43), but they are dang good. I got one filled with vanilla, Melissa got the dulce de leche, and Erica and Dave got the chocolate. Yum yum yum. 

Now, I feel I could show someone around Miraflores and take them to good places to eat. Wanna come? :) 

Btw, we did find malaria pills! The very very last shop had them. Thank goodness for notes from my doctor, because we never did find Mefloquine, but we did find Chloroquine and Doxycycline Hyclate. We opted for the Chloroquine. Hope it works! Apparently we are in store for some interesting side effects - crazy dreams are the most common. I'll keep you posted on that front. 

Hipo

I just want to share a short tid bit today.. about hipos. No, I did not misspell it and no, not the animal. Hipo is the word for hiccups in Spanish. 

So today, I got hiccups. It is not such an uncommon thing for me. From my other occurrences, I have learned that they treat hiccups about the same way we do: scare the person, drink water, hold your breath for 10 seconds, etc. etc. 

While in the car on the way home, Wilfredo told Sandra's littler brother, Billy, 10 years old, to try and scare me to scare the hiccups away. Billy thought very long and hard about what he should do. First, he sort of growled, kind of like the growl that Simba gives the hyenas when he is little. It didn't work. Back to the drawing board. 

He thought long and hard, then looks at me and gasps then says, "you forgot your glasses!" It was hilarious. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure who would be frightened by said news. It was a good laugh, so good that it sort of increased my hiccups for a bit. 

After a bit more thinking, he told me to look away and then look back and he was doing this weird, creepy thing with his eyes. It was decently scary, but unfortunately, only time made these hiccups go away. 

Billy's Eyes of Miedo

It was a solid effort on his part. I especially liked the "you forgot your glasses!" part. Say what? Hahaha. 

Thanks for your assistance Billy! 

Seeing the Sites with Emily and Steve

In the middle of our first week back, our bosses/supervisors/mentors/etc etc., Emily and Steve, came to visit us in Peru! They arrived Wednesday night and stayed through Sunday. We had a blast getting to know them better (I had only met them 1 time each in the past), touring Lima, sharing thoughts, and sharing in church and class. It was a busy few days! 

I very big thank you goes to Wilfredo for letting us use his shower with  hot running water multiple times! They definitely helped us refresh and reset for the following busy days.. 

Thursday, Melissa and I chatted with Emily and Steve for about 2 hours going over things we have experienced and observed in the church, with WSC, and with each other. It was an intensive meeting, but was nice to get some feedback and do some venting with people that understand where we are coming from. 

Friday was our dia de turismo. We headed out to Lima to visit Plaza Mayor and the National Cathedral. I have visited the Plaza many times and is the first place Wilfredo takes everyone. It isn't very exciting or anything, it's just a plaza. We watched the changing of the guard again. The band hasn't changed up their playlist since we went 6 ms ago, in case you were wondering. The National Cathedral was pretty spectacular. They have all of these very ornately decorated nooks that celebrate particular saints or events. You can head down stairs and check out the graves, how people were buried, and what kinds of people were buried in the church. It was my first visit there because other people I went with said it was too expensive. As it turns out, it only costs S/. 10, which I suppose could be a lot for going into a church, but it doesn't break the bank. It was a good experience, so I am glad we finally went inside. 

Carved wooden statue.

Choir Pew

After checking out the Plaza and eating some Peruvian grub (or Ceasar Salad in Emily's case, though she did try chicha morada), we headed over to the Museum of the Inquisition. Wow. I mean, I have studied about it and seen depictions of the torture, but this takes your understanding of how gruesome it was to a whole other level. Did you know that 5 people had to accuse you to start an investigation, but only 3 had to stay firm on their accusation for you to then be tortured to death? They have a room that talks about how people were brought into the public square dressed in robes with the devil on them. Then there is the room with the various types of shackles, such as sitting with your feet strapped in for 6+ hours or the others where your head and hands are locked in place. After that, there is the room with dummies set up to show the types of torture - whipping, stretching, waterboarding, strangling, etc. Very vivid. You then go underground to see the very deep cells that the prisoners were kept in. On a lighter note, after making it through all of that, you go through the rooms that talk about the Congress of Peru. Haha. It was a bizarre and intense museum experience. We had a few kids around 8 years old in our group and I felt bad for them having to see that. Good for them for not freaking out as I probably would have done at that age. 

Melissa, Emily, Steve, and Wilfredo
with the President's house in the background.

Since it was Friday night, after getting back from Lima and getting cleaned up, we headed to Monte Sion for adult class. I enjoy every part of being in Peru, but when I show up at Monte Sion, I feel a sense of need to be in Peru. There is a lot of potential and possibility for the church there, but I also feel like I have a lot to learn from the people there. It's far and it's tiresome to trek there, but it is totally worth it. Steve started setting up the chairs for class and Wilfredo made a comment about it being a lot of chairs. However, all of those chairs were filled for class. Melissa led a class on giving up our anxiety to God, which led to the Trust Fall activity and then writing down a pressing issues that causes us anxiety and offering a prayer over those things. 

Saturday and Sunday were filled with classes and discussions, followed by a small church service. At the very least, it was fun to do. In time, I will figure out how much I actually learned from it. It was definitely nice to have "important" things happening because it meant everyone was in attendance, so we had opportunities to finally say hi again to everyone and catch up a little bit. It was an excellent way to throw us back into the thick of things here in Peru. 

Showin' us how it's done! (How to teach a little kids' class)

Jose Luis was very proud of our pictogram of Jeremiah 31:12!

Thanks for the visit Emily and Steve! 

~nos vemos~

Made it Back!

After a very very long day of travel, I have made it back to Peru! 

I woke up around 3am to be at the airport for what was supposed to be my 6am flight. The lines were huge and awful with a bunch of people with cancelled flights or connections, which led to me checking in literally 7 minutes late. Because of that, I had to get my flight rescheduled. The lady that took care of me was a freakin' rockstar. She was hunting and calling people and making things happen. It was awesome. I ended up on a 9am flight to Houston that would land about an hour before my connection left for Peru. Unfortunately, we ended up leaving about 40 min late from SFO because of loading the bags onto the plane. I was not alone on my plane freaking out about catching my connection. For this, the flight attendants announced that we could look up a map in the magazine of the airport layout to find out where we need to go and they asked that people who were not in a hurry to stay seated, so that those of us in the back of the plane could get off more quickly. Not many actually did, but all the folks with babies and little kids stayed seated near me. This was also awesome. I got off the plane and walked over to my next gate and immediately got in line to board my flight. I got there in time, but this flight was also about 40 min late leaving because of loading the luggage. We landed in Lima around 12am. We finally got home and settled and in bed by around 3am. 

Despite the delays I ran into and the snow Melissa had to encounter, we made it back! 

I am very thankful to have had the time to see my family and friends for the holidays. It was relaxing and refreshing. 

Now it is time to get back to life in Peru. There are a lot of things I would love to see happen. There are a lot of things I need to know about in terms of what the congregation feels they need from us. We shall see what God's got in store for us! As a very wise friend of mine has said, regardless of the outcome, "we are doing God's work." Through prayer, working together, and keeping our focus on God, I think we will have it in the bag. 

Gracias a mi familia peruana para una bienvenida muy bonita. Estoy muy emocionada para estar aqui con ustedes por 6 meses mas!

Tingo Maria Adventures

When I came to Peru in 2011, I had the opportunity to go with the school field trip of junior high students to visit Tingo Maria. It was pretty fun, but sorely lacking as I mostly got to observe the students doing the activities while I sat on the side with the adults. There was a part of me that really wanted to go back and actually get to experience the jungle (la selva). Thankfully, Yimi really enjoys going to Tingo and was game to accompany us on a short trip. We went from Dec. 5th to 7th.

We left Huanuco in the afternoon on Thursday and took a taxi (basically) to Tingo. It was about a 2.5 hour drive. The ride was fairly normal, the only thing of note was that the driver seemed to prefer driving with his head almost out of the side window rather than just looking through the front window. To each their own.

We got into Tingo around 4ish. First thing on the agenda was to find a hotel to drop off our stuff. I'm not sure if Yimi had actually stayed at this place before or not, but he led us straight to a hotel called "El Viajero," where we checked into our room and called it good. Wasn't the greatest place ever, but it did the job for 2 nights. We didn't do any price comparisons, but it seemed like a good price at S/. 45 ($16) per night and was in a good, convenient location.

After that, we went and wandered around the main road called the "Alameda." I'm not sure what all area Tingo Maria covers, but the downtown area is quite small and the main strip of road with all the shops, market, and restaurants covers about 3 full blocks. We walked up and down that for a bit. We also got some snow cones (raspadillas) from a business that highers people with disabilities, so the vender was a mute gentleman. We didn't realize that was the case until after the fact, so we didn't know what flavors we were getting until we tried them. It all worked out and was a delicious find. It was fun to hang out on the main strip for a bit and see what the locals do in the evenings. We did some good people and dog watching.


For dinner we happened upon a corner restaurant that served S/. 5 meals that were good! The name of the place was Kiosk con Confianza..that seemed to be a joke. I had chicken juanes (rice with chicken inside cooked in a leaf). Melissa has cesina (dried pork) and chorizo (sausage). Yimi got pollo broaster (roasted? chicken). We tried aji de cocona (some orange fruit), that is supposedly very bitter, but was mostly onion.

After our tasty meal, we road the Ferrish Wheel.. of death. It was a combo Ferris Wheel and spinning tea cups ride. It was fun, but probably not the best idea for something to ride right after eating a solid meal. Haha. Finally, we walked back to the hotel and turned in early to prepare for the adventures to come the next day (though we hadn't planned what those would be at that point).

Unfortunately, the hotel was pretty noisy, just like every other hotel I have stayed at in Peru. They are almost purely made out of concrete, glass, and tile, so sounds echo and carry like crazy. I was up around 6am. So I had to wait until 8am before Melissa and Yimi woke up. I got up and took a shower; yes, the water was cold, but there was really good water pressure.

First stop for the day was to eat breakfast. We headed to the market, where there are a few restaurants. The moment we got up the stairs the waitresses surrounded us and were like eat here, we serve these things. It was a bit overwhelming and not my favorite way to go about selecting a place to eat. We ended up eating at a place called "Bella Durmiente" after the famous mountain skyline that looks like a sleeping woman. This is where we tried tocacho, which is mashed up plaintains. I think it would be our equivalent of hashbrowns, but made with bananas. I am told that is what they eat instead of rice or potatoes as their starch. Makes sense.


The good thing about going with Yimi was that he was able to ask people about things to do and how much they would cost and hopefully would get a more straightforward and less inflated price. We ended up with a phone number for Tingo Maria Nunash Tours, where we met our tour guide for the day, Ruben. For the awesome (I think) price of S/. 40 ($14.50) each, we got a tour guide and mototaxi services for 6ish hours. Friday, we did the Circuito No. 1 tour of Tingo. This entailed going to Parque Nacional Tingo Maria, Cueva de Las Lechuzas, Agua Sulfurosa Medicinal, Catarata Santa Carmen, Balneario Cueva de Las Pavas, and Mirador de La Bella Durmiente. It was an incredible adventure!

I enjoyed the swimming adventures the most. First, we swam in sulfur water. Supposedly it is a very healthy thing to do, though I'm not sure why. It smelled pretty rotten, but not horribly strong and you eventually could get used to the smell. We played around in the pool, trying to catch the little fishies, throwing mud at each other, and generally enjoying the water. Second, we hit up the waterfall. My favorite. We had to do a bit of hiking to get up to the falls, but it was so worth it. Being that it had rained right before we got there, the water was not so clean and clear, but still refreshing and it was definitely a powerful falls. We awkwardly changed into our bathing suits (no changing room) and then hit the water. It was fun to swim against the current, climb on the rocks, and take all sorts of pictures of course. We have quite the photo shoot of pics.

The other parts were awesome too. We listened to the bats, parrots, and guaranchero (sp?) (oil bird) sing in the cave. We saw where the rivers meet that gave Tingo Maria its namesake. We saw an amazing double rainbow at the lookout point. And I have to credit Ruben for being an awesome tour guide. Good times. :)

In fact, we had such a good time, we opted to do Circuito No. 2 the next day. Unfortunately, Ruben was not available, so we had a new tour guide. He still did a pretty good job. His name is Alan. On this circuit, we went to Laguna de Los Milagros, Criadero de Paiche, and the Serpentario.

The laguna was really fun. We got to ride in, and even row, a canoe. We did some swimming, but mostly the time in the water was for our skin treatment. There is clay at the bottom of the laguna that is mixed with sand and fish poop. It is quite a good exfoliating treatment and makes your skin feel super soft, suavecito. Also, we visited the Arbol de Deseos, or the wishing tree. You can toss a coin at it and make a wish (then the lady that guards the tree picks up the money). I am informed that you really have to believe in the power of nature for it to come true, apparently I didn't exude belief or something. At any rate the tree is supposedly over 1000 years old. While not a willow tree, it reminded me of the tree from Pocahontas. At the laguna, we ate Pako, some sort of native fish of the piranha family. Delicious.

We didn't get to see a paiche, so that part was a dud. Hopefully, we will see the huge river fish in Iquitos. Finally, we made it to the snakes. We learned about venomous and non-venomous snakes. My favorite part was that the the Shupa Shupa venomous snake's nicknames are Suegra and Perra Rabiosa. Apparently, this snake can launch it's venom, beware if you have any open wounds. Also, it can bite its victim about 6 times, whereas others only bite once. I got to hold a turtle. And then, the ultimate adventure, I held a 10 kilo (22lbs.), 7-8ft long boa constrictor. It was kind of scary, but not too bad as he barely moved while I was holding him. The trainers had calmed him down before we got to hold it. I held a boa!

Overall, it was a crazy adventure in Tingo! Swimming at the waterfall, swinging from the trees, and holding a boa constrictor - quite the jungle experience, if I do say so myself. I would highly recommend it!

Before we left Tingo, we had to buy some jungle bananas for the ride home. Yummers. We piled into our taxi home, ate a banana, and promptly fell asleep. Peace!

~nos vemos~

Killing Chickens for Yimi's Bday

Yimi is my birthday buddy here in Huanuco. He turned 25 on December 3rd (and I will on the 12th).

The tradition here seems to be to have ponche for breakfast. The birthday person gets to select the food of the day, and then Carolina cooks what she is motivated to cook. The birthday person invites people over to eat said food in the afternoon, around 2 or 3pm. Then, we take a break from eating to nap and hang out. Finally, before dinner, we eat the cake.

I tried ponche on Carolina's birthday, but we were not told in advance that you need to be up at 6am to enjoy it. This time, we got to really experience it. The ponche part is rice in this egg, sugar, and water mixture. There is a top icing-esque part that is bomb - so delicious. You just dip bread into the egg and sugar mixture. Mmmmm.

For his birthday, Yimi wanted lokro (sp?). We ate escabeche. Escabeche is an delicious, spicy onion dish that is served with meat and rice. That morning, abuela brought over some chickens from her group for lunch. Well, when I found out that Carolina would be killing said chickens, I had to watch and see how it was done. Orlando told her I wanted to help. She let me hold their feet while she sawed at their knecks.















As a side note: I don't think Carolina trusts us to do anything. She doesn't let us wash our own clothes, so we have to do it when she isn't home or she just takes over. She doesn't let us help her cook or clean anything. There are a few exceptions. For example, we helped her peel some potatoes once, but then she finished them. Also, I started peeling some oranges in the morning to make orange juice, and she came over and finished peeling those. And basically anything we try to help her with, she ends up doing it herself. Oh well, we try.

After she sawed at their knecks with her not so sharp knife, she dipped them in a pot of boiled water and went to town ripping out their feathers (another thing she wouldn't let me help me with). It looked impressively simple, though quite hot, as the feathers came out in bulk.







Finally, she set to cutting them up. We fed the nasty bits to the anxiously awaiting dogs. I think she threw them the intestines and each dog took a turn carrying it around in their mouth trying to break it apart to eat. It was gross to watch. Apparently, the fat is good for your knees or something, so she saved that part separately. One of the chickens had a egg in it that it hadn't laid, so it was kind of cool to see that in it's sack with the placenta and everything, but we ended up letting Carolina eat that business. Ick.





We opted to watch a movie instead of awkwardly hanging out the kitchen to see if Carolina could use our help while she ran around at 1000mph. The movie, called "Warm Bodies" or "Mi Novio es un Zombie," was pretty funny.

Then, we went back to the kitchen to eat lunch. Yimi and his friends ate in the living room. Apparently, we were not cool enough to eat with them. The good part was that Yunina, Tono's gf, brought cold soda, so we got first dibs. By the way, cold soda is quite a novelty here as everyone seems to prefer everything at room temperature or hot. I like my beverages cold, for the most part, so it was extra pleasant.

After another respite and lots of rain, we ate the cake. Orlando picked a flan and jello cake for Jimmy. It was actually pretty good, I was surprised. I have seen them around, but they don't look like a very good combination. The tradition at this part is to sing Happy Birthday in English, then in Spanish (castellano). After the birthday person blows out the candle, then take a bit out of the side of the cake and people try to push their head into the cake (the only time that was successful since we have been here, the cake ended up on the floor).

After cake, we ate dinner and everything went back to normal. End birthday.