Peru

Cusco & the Sacred Valley

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In an effort to get construction projects lined up for the summer work teams, Billy has been visiting a few of our Girasoles homes over the past few weeks to meet with the directors and figure out possible projects and budgets. Since I know nothing about this, and we have been busy with other things, he has typically made the trip on his own. But, when time came for him to go to our home in the Sacred Valley, we decided to take a few days to visit & stay with the Girasoles and see a few Incan ruins in the area – including Machu Picchu. It was the first time I was back in the Sacred Valley and at the home since 2009.

We spent the first day walking around colonial Cusco.

Since I’m a Peruvian resident now, we both were able to go to Machu Picchu on the “Peruvian price” – that’s just 20 soles roundtrip for the train, 36 soles for the bus from the train to the entrance and 65 soles entrance to Machu Picchu (regularly about $250). We arrived in Aguas Calientes at 6:30am and the return train didn’t leave til 9:30pm, which afforded us a lot of time to explore Machu Picchu and the town. We both had been to Machu Picchu before, but this was our first time together.

We walked to the Inca Bridge (within Machu Picchu) and thankfully we didn’t have to cross it.

We also walked all the way up to Intipunku – the Sun Gate. This is where the Inca Trail ends and the first look at Machu Picchu. In the right photo, Machu Picchu is the clearing on the top of the mountain I’m pointing to, and the brown path is the road from Aguas Calientes up to the main entrance.

The next day, We spent time with the Girasoles boys drawing pictures, and later went out to dinner with all of them.

We also visited their new home which should be completed by mid-March (and Billy figured out some potential projects with Hector, the home director).

The kitchen and large dining room.

On our last day, we visited Salinas salt mines just outside of Maras. Since pre-Inca times, salt has been obtained in Maras by evaporating salty water from a local subterranean stream. The highly salty water emerges at a spring, a natural outlet of the underground stream. The flow is directed into an intricate system of tiny channels constructed so that the water runs gradually down onto the several hundred ancient terraced ponds. Almost all the ponds are less than four meters square in area, and none exceeds thirty centimeters in depth.

And drove through the beautifully green Sacred Valley to visit Moray, the Incan “agricultural laboratory” which consists of various circular terraces. The depth and orientation of the terraces with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C (27 °F) between the top and bottom. It is thought that the large temperature difference was possibly used by the Inca to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops.

It was a short 4 days in the rich, green Sacred Valley which left me wanting more time looking at the beautiful mountains, exploring the intriguing ruins, walking through the little pueblos throughout the valley and spending time with our Girasoles boys.

Girasoles Kawai

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Over the past few years, I haven’t spent much time at our home for abandoned boys in Kawai. Since there isn’t any new construction going on on the property, work teams don’t spend a week there, and if they do stop at Kawai, they typically don’t spend more than a day or two. I think last time I spent a considerable amount of time in Kawai was my first time volunteering as an intern in 2008.

Lots of things can change over 4 years, the most noticeable being the boys living at Girasoles. Without spending time at the house, it is hard to develop relationships and get to know more about the Girasoles boys than just their name and maybe age.

Last week I was able to spend some quality time in with Girasoles Kawai and a group from New York City. The group had activities planned for the 35 boys for morning, afternoon and evening, since the boys were still on vacation from school making it a different than the typical work team experience which involves a construction/maintenance project.

But, instead of telling you about the week, I’ll let my photographs show you what I did…

We painted and colored…

…spent time with best friends (Ricardo and Jonathan).

…played Apples to Apples (or, better said Manzanas con Manzanas)

…made silly faces and smiled for the camera.

…went to the Huachipa Zoo

…went to the movies in Asia

… we had a soup for dinner with really loooong noodles and chopsticks.

… And, we made new friends. (with Gonzalo)

 

 

Also while in Kawai, I spent some time with Sabino, our schools worker for the area, and his two little girls. Here are a couple photographs I took of his beautiful daughters.

Summer Camp

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It’s summer in Lima.

You might have seen my numerous tweets about sunny days in Lima, or the beautifully blue sky reflected in Facebook photos. While students in the States are in the middle of their second semester, Peruvian schools have just a few more weeks of summer vacation and people are enjoying the hot, sunny weather to go to the beach. And with summer vacation in full force, the Scripture Union camping ministry has been busy putting on weekend and 4-day camps at Kawai.

Earlier this week, I was able to help with a summer camp organized by Carmen, one of our schools workers in Lima. During the school year, she goes into classrooms and leads values education discussions with students – teaching them values such as honesty, respect, and integrity through Bible stories, skits, songs and activities. This ministry is then complemented by camping program during the summer months.

In addition to visiting various classrooms, Carmen also works with an organization called Aldeas Infantiles SOS, bringing values education to the children and teens that are part of their program. Similar to our Girasoles abandoned boys ministry, Aldeas SOS works with disadvantaged families and operates homes around Peru (and the world) providing a home life for children who for certain circumstances cannot live with their own family. This past week, Carmen hosted a camp in Kawai for the teens she works with at Aldeas SOS.

There were 27 campers and 6 guias (guides) helping lead the camp. Since this was my first Scripture Union camp, I didn’t have my own campers, but rather was entrusted with the task of documenting the activities and events of the 4 days with my camera and video camera so each camper could receive a CD of photographs and videos from the week.

Since Kawai is located right on the Pacific Ocean (our property ends at the public beach) and being summer, the campers wanted to spend as much time as possible in the water, whether it be the beach or the pool. Between trips to the beach or pool, we had time for games, team building activities, and morning and afternoon devotionals. With the exception of 2 campers who I had briefly met over lunch a few months ago, all of the campers were new faces. I spent the 4 days getting to know the girls in the group, sharing a part of my life in Lima and the States and learning a bit about their families and life in Aldeas SOS. Once they discovered I also speak English, I found myself teaching phrases and words here and there.

One of the best activities of the week was the bonfire on the final night of the camp. By this point, I had gotten to know most of the campers and they had bonded within themselves. During the bonfire, we sang songs and listened to a handful of campers and guias share their experiences from the previous days. Listening to the campers share funny stories and “remember when” comments helped realize the importance of the camping ministry. While these and thousands of other students are reached on a weekly basis in school, a camp gives them 4 days of fun, laughter, encounters with God, games, and fellowship with other students their own age.

Here are some of the photos I took during the week.

One of the tents the campers stayed in.

One of Kawai’s beautiful summer sunsets.

The Aldeas SOS campers and guias before heading home.

A Lima Vacation

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A few weeks ago the boys from our Kusi home have been here in Lima on vacation.

Thanks to a generous donation, Angel and Rosa (the directors) were able to make the 9 hour journey with their 40 boys and staff and spend 10 days touring the city of Lima. Being a slow time of the year for volunteer groups, Billy and I were able to help the staff keep an eye on the 40 boys in a city of 10 million.

It was a busy 10 days, but so great to be a part of it, and great to share a little bit of this large city I have come to love. For many of the kids, it was their first time in Lima – and just a mega-city in general (most of the boys from Kusi are from small pueblos in the Andes and the largest city they might have been to would be Huaraz at just 100,000 inhabitants). In addition to the first time in Lima, for most, it was their first vacation (unless they go to stay with family somewhere else, most people don’t take vacations here – between expenses for food, transportation and a place to stay, in addition to missing time from work, they just cost too much).

Since everything was new, every time we boarded the bus to go somewhere, many intently stared out the window, taking in as much as they possibly could.

Wanting to take advantage of every opportunity during the 10 days, Angel and Rosa had organized a busy schedule of things to do with the boys. They stayed at the church in Villa El Salvador that Angel & Rosa attended when they lived in Lima and used it as their home base.

In addition to the first vacation, it was a week of first times for most; their first movie in the theater (Alvin 3), their first time to see the ocean, the first time swimming in the ocean, first zoo. Boys that are 14, 15 and 16 years old instantly turned into little 7 and 8 year olds when we did something completely new to them.

For me, one of the best part of the week was to see their reactions when we went to the zoo and they got to see lions & tigers for the first time, or how they youngest boys reacted at the beach when they discovered the ocean water is salty. I was able to relive some parts of Lima that I have come to take for granted and spent the week looking at things with a child’s eyes.

On Tuesday, we watched the sunset from the beach in Chorrillos – and stuck our feet in the water for the first time.

Wednesday, we went to the pool.

And then spent an evening at the Circuito Mágico del Agua (a park with about 20 fountains in downtown Lima).

Thursday was a day in the sun at the Parque Huascar in Villa El Salvador where we played games.

And saw an ostrich at the small zoo they had. Apparently it captivated the 4 boys I was with…

On Friday we went to the Parque de las Leyendas (a real zoo) and saw tons of animals from the coast, mountains and jungle of Peru, but also from all around the world.

Saturday was museums and lunch at a restaurant together.

And Sunday, we went back to the beach. This time we went swimming (and played in the sand)!

The nightly bus rides back to Villa El Salvador were full of chatter about the day’s activities and anticipation for the next day (I can’t tell you how many times I heard boys talking about how excited they were to see animals at the zoo!). The boys truly enjoyed their time in Lima and it is something that these boys will always remember. It was a blessing to be a small part of their adventure.

And, if the week wasn’t exciting enough, in the middle of all of this fun and new experiences in Lima, I turned 26. While I missed spending the day in Dearborn with family and friends, I could not have asked for a better birthday in Peru. On Thursday, my birthday, we spent the day at the Parque Huascar playing games and enjoying the amenities at the park. Later on that evening, once we had returned to the church the boys were staying at, I sat around with a handful of the boys talking about birthdays and how they are celebrated in the States, among many other random things.

Little did I know that their questions and the spontaneous walk around Villa El Salvador with 4 of the boys and Rosa, the director’s wife, was so that Billy and all of the other boys could get Rosa’s home ready for a party. After walking around Villa for a good 45 minutes and apparently killing time, we arrived at Rosa’s house and found the boys hiding in the dark, waiting to yell “surprise!”

Throughout the night a few of the boys stood up and spoke, a clown came and did a mini hora loca with us (remember the hour long dancing from the graduation party?), we ate cake and took lots of photographs. It was a wonderfully, fun, hilarious and exciting night, and a perfect way to celebrate my birthday.

Happy Graduation!

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‘Tis the season of school graduations!

Earlier this month, Billy and I had the opportunity to make a quick trip to Kusi, one of our homes for abandoned boys. The directors, Angel and Rosa, invited us to celebrate the graduations of 6 of their boys: 5 from elementary school (Arnold, Frank, Kevin, Martin and Mauricio) and Eloy, who graduated from high school. Since they were unable to attend the graduation party that their school hosted, Angel and Rosa decided to have a big party at home with the other Girasoles boys to celebrate their accomplishments.


Frank, Mauricio, Kevin, Eloy, Martin and Arnold

I’ve heard stories of what happens at school graduations, but had never attended one before. They are much more of an evening event compared to our high school graduations in the States. Whereas my graduation from Cranbrook lasted a maximum 2 hours, graduations here are more of a party that last all night. Wanting to make this party similar to what the boys would have experienced at their school, Rosa had a whole ceremony organized. The graduates were dressed in a (matching) shirt and tie, special graduation photos were taken, a cake was decorated, dinner was served and there was lots of dancing.

As the padrinos (godparents) for the party, Billy and I bought new Bibles as gifts for the graduates. We both were given the opportunity to share a few words- to tell them how proud we were of their accomplishments, how much we value their friendships, and most importantly, to tell them that they have a bright future and a God-given purpose for their life.


with Eloy and Martin


with Arnold and Eloy

And if we hadn’t had enough fun yet, to finish the party off, a group of friends from town joined us in an hora loca. Literally translated, the hora loca means a crazy hour, which here in Peru means a straight hour of dancing without stopping. It was so much fun to dance with the graduates and all of the Kusi boys amidst confetti being thrown, shaving cream-like snow in the air and lights flashing. By the end of the hora loca, the graduation boys were just dripping with sweat. (Lovely.)

It was a wonderful evening of sharing and celebrating. It truly is a blessing to be a part of this ministry and a part of our Girasoles boys’ lives.


The Kusi boys with the graduates


with Mauricio and Arnold during dinner

(…I have to share one last photo from the weekend. The newest boy at the home in Kusi, Socimo, arrived just a few days before Christmas. When Rosa, Billy and I were picking up a few things in town, Socimo came with us. He spent the whole afternoon holding either Billy’s or my hand, and then during dinner wanted to take a picture with me.)