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Billy, Kate & Will in Perú

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Valle Sagrado

Summer season, Part 1

Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2014 Leave a Comment

We are about halfway through the busy summer season of short term teams. So far, I have been to Kusi three times, Ica three times, Kawai, Cusco and Puerto Alegría in the span of about 6 weeks. Billy has been to Kusi twice, Ica three times, Cusco three times and Kimo. Needless to say, it has been a lot of traveling.

Despite the many hours on buses and planes, the destination is always worth it. At each destination we find familiar faces, friendly hugs and smiles and we pick right up on where we left the conversation the last time we were there.

I’ve had two really great groups in June. The first was a team of 8 women from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. We started their 2 week Peruvian journey in Kawai working on painting the playground and also visited a school in nearby Cañete with Scripture Union’s schools ministry. It was an all-girls elementary school so the team shared about the importance of friendships and what it means to be a good friend.

Making friendship bracelets at an all-girls school in Cañete
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From Kawai, we headed south to Ica where we spent 4 days playing with the Girasoles at the home. We went on a caminata (walk) with the older boys to the Bosque de Piedras, a “stone forest” not so nearby the home, explored the tall sand dunes at the nearby Huacachina oasis, had a movie night with the kids on the patio under the stars and delivered free water like we do with most groups to a poorer area of the city.

Continue reading…

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Girasoles, Ica, Kawai, Kusi, Peru, photos, Valle Sagrado

4 groups & 67 volunteers

Posted on Thursday, March 20, 2014 Leave a Comment

It’s been a busy past few weeks for Billy and me. We have officially kicked off the 2014 volunteer team season with 4 very different groups from around the States.

In February, we traveled to Ica for a week with a small group of 4 adults from New York City. They come every year during the final weeks of summer vacation to play with the Girasoles boys. We played sports, made crafts, went swimming a few times, saw the LEGO movie at the theater, went out for pollo a la brasa and had lots of fun with the kids at Girasoles Ica.

Alex, Cristian, Aldair and Maicol
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Nicolas, Victor, Wilmer
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All of boys and group at Huacachina
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Fabricio
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Just one of the few times we went swimming…
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Shortly after we said goodbye to our friends from New York City, we were back at the airport to welcome another group.

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Continue reading…

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Girasoles, Ica, Iquitos, Kimo, Kusi, Peru, photo, Puerto Alegria, Valle Sagrado

Spring Review

Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2013 Leave a Comment

I can’t believe it is already January. Almost 2 weeks after Christmas. Even worse it has been almost 4 months since I have written something here and I don’t know where to begin. The whole spring season has passed… it is no longer winter here, but summer!

The busy work team season came and went. Unlike the previous three years where I basically set up my own room at Puerto Alegria (our boys home in the Amazon jungle) and lived there for 6-8 weeks, I spent almost every week at a different location this summer. To some the constant travel might be tiresome, but for me it meant a new experience each week and time with friends all over the country.

Things started to slow down in September, but just briefly. Billy and I accompanied a team from Nashville to our boys home in the Sacred Valley (just an hour outside of Cusco) for the week. Peru is a beautiful country, but I can’t think of a place that is any more beautiful here than the Sacred Valley. The valley used to be the backyard for Incan royalty, and they especially appreciated it for its special geographical and climatic qualities. It was one of the Incan empire’s main points for the extraction of natural wealth, and one of the most important areas for maize production in Peru. But apart from all of that, the valley, mountains, adobe buildings and rich colors are beautiful. Drive between the little towns about an hour before sunset and it is amazing.

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After the week in the Sacred Valley, we returned to Lima for a couple weeks to catch up on office work and prepare for the next 2 groups in October. Once October came, we hit the ground running with 2 very different teams and many hours on the road. Neither Billy or myself can really explain where the month of October went because it just flew by so fast. One minute we were meeting a group at the airport during the first week and the next, kids were roaming the neighborhood going trick or treating.

We started October by heading south to Ica for almost 2 weeks with a group from Scotland.

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And then headed north to Kusi for a few days with a team of medical volunteers from Health Bridges International. The HBI team comes to Peru about twice a year to work with Scripture Union – once in July and again usually in October. Typical HBI medical campaigns consist of setting up temporary, 1-day clinics in local schools, medical posts or even on SU property and offering free medical and dental services to the general public. On this trip, we divided the week between Kusi (about 8 hours east of Lima) and Ica (about 4.5 hours south of Lima) and the American and Peruvian medical volunteers gave personalized attention to the Girasoles boys and staff.

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November was a bit slower than October, but I managed to travel to Iquitos two separate times in the month. Billy and I spent a week helping a group from Living Waters for the World from a church in Nashville. The LWW team has installed a few different water filtration systems on SU properties and at a local church in Iquitos and they had come to check on the systems, perform maintenance as needed and scope out potential locations for another system.

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I ended up going back to Iquitos just a few days later with a small group on a vision trip. Vision trips are comprised of people who are interested in the ministry of Scripture Union Peru and want to know how they can get involved either as leading a work team or supporting the ministry financially. The 4-person group from the Hilton Head, SC area spent about 10 days in Peru and covered more country than most Peruvians do in a lifetime. I joined them exclusively for the Iquitos leg of their trip and in just 48 hours we visited our 2 boys homes, went out on the Amazon Hope boat while it refueled and flew to and from Iquitos.

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We were in Lima long enough to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. While the services, classes and events at our church, Camino de Vida, are in Spanish, the lead/founding pastors are Americans. Each year for Thanksgiving, the couple invites the Americans who attend the church to join them for dinner at their home.

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In December, we didn’t travel with work teams but still managed to get out of Lima for various events. A weekend was spent on the beach at Kawai for a leadership training for SU staff and later in the month we ventured to Kusi for the week to celebrate Christmas with the boys there.

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It has been a busy but fulfilling and fun last few months. Each of this trips is worthy of an entry on its own – each has plenty of stories and photos to share – but time got the best of me.

Since I didn’t get to say it before, Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy 2013. As Billy and I look forward to a wedding, a well-anticipated visit of friends and family from the States, many trips with work teams, and our own trip to the States in the spring, we wish that your next year be happy, healthy, and prosperous.

*And I promise to not let another 4 months go by!

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Girasoles, Ica, Iquitos, Kawai, Kusi, Peru, photo, Puerto Alegria, Scripture Union, Valle Sagrado

Cusco & the Sacred Valley

Posted on Saturday, March 3, 2012 Leave a Comment

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.

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Cusco, Girasoles, Peru, photo, Scripture Union, Valle Sagrado

Video from Cusco

Posted on Monday, February 8, 2010 Leave a Comment

Here’s a video of the water damage to the the former Casa Girasoles home in the Cusco region.

Make sure you see the last three minutes of the video…

Thanks to Billy and Hector, the house father for Girasoles Valle Sagrado for this video.

Please keep these boys and family in your prayers.

Posted in: Peru | Tagged: Cusco, Girasoles, Peru, Scripture Union, Valle Sagrado, video
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katebruder

When your uncle comes to visit, you wear your matc When your uncle comes to visit, you wear your matching shirts together (with a flashback to his last visit in January 2020) #littlewilliamnoah
Explored Arequipa, the white city, for the first t Explored Arequipa, the white city, for the first time all together and spent many hours outside under the blue sky. #littlewilliamnoah
The @monasteriodesantacatalina is one of my favori The @monasteriodesantacatalina is one of my favorite places in Peru. There is beauty around every corner and the colors, sillar streets and potted geraniums along the walls are just amazing. This trip we were able to visit as the sun was setting and see the former monastery in a new way. #littlewilliamnoah
Spent a few days outside under blue skies in the C Spent a few days outside under blue skies in the Colca Canyon #littlewilliamnoah
Just a small glimpse into what we did during July Just a small glimpse into what we did during July in 60 seconds #littlewilliamnoah
Celebrating Fiestas Patrias with dancing los capor Celebrating Fiestas Patrias with dancing los caporales 🇵🇪 #littlewilliamnoah
Ready to perform la danza de los caporales with hi Ready to perform la danza de los caporales with his classmates at @coloringdreamsperu to celebrate Fiestas Patrias 🇵🇪 #littlewilliamnoah
All of the people in these photos are now Peruvian All of the people in these photos are now Peruvian! When I first traveled to Peru in 2001 at 15 years old, I never expected that one day I would be a living here as a citizen. After 11 years of living in Lima, I have joined @wngreenman and @greenmanbilly with dual citizenship! 🇵🇪 🎉 🇵🇪 #littlewilliamnoah
We spent the morning with the llamas of @llamapack We spent the morning with the llamas of @llamapackproject and community partners from Cancha Cancha learning about how llamas are used for social development within local communities and to conserve and protect the environment in the Andes. #llamapackproject #littlewilliamnoah
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