what's happening with Perales

As mentioned before, I've had the honor of helping out and getting know the great people of the Perales community in the district of Santa Anita. The church there has been a great blessing for me and it's been incredible to build relationships with the people there. We've been implementing several programs for children in the community on Saturdays. This includes a morning of sports (soccer for the boys, volleyball for the girls), then an afternoon of classes (English, Mathematics, and Handwriting). They are the sweetest kids, especially the more I get to know them and it's really great to see the enthusiasm with coming out and participating in the programs. Other events throughout the week include a Wednesday class taught by a local seminary student on the history of the Presbyterian church (very very interesting), Sunday children's church, and Sunday night church service. Again, I can't say enough about how welcoming and encouraging everyone has been. Some of us have even formed a little dinner group where we try to get together once every two weeks or so and cook a homemade meal and eat together. I think I'm going to introduce them to Smeag's Lasagna this week. We all might try to go to the beach sometime soon as well. And as well, I'm excited for doing some special events with the church leadership or a few individual kids. We'll see!

So let me run down a typical trip to Santa Anita:

First of all I have to take three different buses to get there. If there's absolutely no traffic I can go from my door to the door of the church in 30 minutes, but it usually takes more like an hour to arrive. I don't mind though because for the most part I love riding combis. I especially like the ride on the second combi in which I ask for "Jockey Plaza" and without fail the bus assistant guy always yells out "YOCKEY YOCKEY YOCKEY!!" upon arriving. I know I'm going to miss that when I leave. Then I walk over a big bridge and typically pass by the "Llamadas girl." This is a girl who works selling calls and in order to get the word out stands in the same spot yelling in the most strange, whiny, loud, yet almost irresistible voice "Llamadas llamadas llamadas!!" Another one of those trip to Santa Anita staples. Then comes the final bus that brings me to Santa Anita where I cross another bridge into the neighborhood. Here I have to walk about 3 blocks to the church and pretty much every time I can recall get yelled something at me. "Chiquito (shorty)" is popular also "Hello how you?" or "Where you from?" are quite common as well. Good to know people are so friendly and willing to get to know so much about a stranger...right.

So that's the way it goes. Here are some photos to snack on.

catching up

Hellooo,

Alright I promise I'll try to be more current and up to date with the blog starting these next few days. But for now sink your teeth into some photos of what's been hap'nin in the past month.

1. Great group of kids at Saturday morning sports church ministry with Perales church.

2. Clouds creeping in on Cusco's central square.

3. My girlfriend Mary came and visited! Here we are in Cusco at the Temple de Sol

4. Mary with Camila, a cute girl from the Perales church

5. With my new friends Padre Alejandro and his sister, Lina at an incredible display of Incan landscaping off the beaten path in Chivay, Peru. My friends!

6. Condor sighting at 6am in Colca Canyon!

7. With my new friend Lina at the Canyon. It was freezing.

back

Greetings friends and followers!

Yes, I´m still alive. So why I haven´t I been writing? You see, my last post was in anticipation for the Hokies game with Alabama. After we lost, I feel into a deep state of depression...which fortunately came to an end this past week with a miraculous win vs. Nebraska (see video).



That, and during the hiatus I went on a 6 day excursion to the second largest city in Peru called Arequipa. It was one of those trips where I really had no idea what I was going to do or go, and I was just going take things as they came. Sometimes that can be a really bad idea and you might find yourself stuck in a hotel room with nothing to do, but not this time. I had such an incredible trip. I met some great people and had the most fun adventures. I´m sure I could write 10 posts about legitimitally interesting things that happend on that trip, but well that´s a lot of writing. I will however pick out a few feelings I experienced on the trips, yes...feelings.

Never before had I felt so close to the clouds. This just wasn´t a feeling, but was actually true. For most of the trip (I visited a few places), I was probably around 15,000ft altitude. I remember weaving through the mountains on a narrow dirt road, looking out the window and feeling like I could touch the clouds. That right there made me so happy to be on that trip. Feelings like that are priceless.

On my trip, I was able to see one of the most beautiful sites in nature. I witnessed (at 6am), the largest bird in the world (I think), the condor, gliding effortlessly through one of the deepest canyons in the world. The sun was rising, small birds were chirping, and there I was standing with my new friend Lina (who I had met just the other day), who had met up with me at my little hostel at 3:30 in the morning to take a two hour bus ride in order to catch a glimpse of the condor. It was so worth it. We agreed that we both felt closer to God when watching something like that.

Just after condor watching, we decided to start walking back on the road, hoping to flag down a bus, but in the mean time we would just walk. This was when it hit me that I was in the middle of nowhere Peru, really far away from everything I knew. I really felt like an adventurer. The sun was now warming up and the sky was a deep blue. All Lina and I could hear was nature and the sound of gravel under our feet. It was bliss. After 45 minutes or so a bus came and stopped for us. But I´ll tell you I could have walked that road for a long time and been perfectly content.

So where are the pictures? Well I have pictures, but don´t have a computer to put them on at the moment. Expect an upload next week sometime and hopefully more pictures will explain more stories.

Thanks for reading.

pumped

So freakin´ pumped for the game on Saturday night vs. Alabama. We got a big crew here, ready to head to a bar in the city and root on the Hokies to victory. GO HOKIES!!!

gringo´s tips on how to be peruvian pt 1

1. Drink, love, and never disown Inca Kola
If pisco is the national drink of Peru, Inca Kola is second. It´s a yellow colored soda with a bit of a licorice taste to it, but quite good. Peruvians swear by it so much that it outsold Coca-cola up until a few years ago.
2. Set up your own Peruvian bank account...it´s easy
Yeah that´s right I got a bank account here. You want to fight about it? It was simple. Just give them two forms of ID, sign a few forms, and in minutes you got your own Peruvian debit card.
3. Always comment about how cold 60 degrees feels
I just don´t get it.
4. Know just about everything there is to know about pisco...especially that it´s from Peru
A couch surfer visitor and I were discussing pisco types in a combi a few days ago and a random eavesdropping guy turned around and gave a big schpeel about his favorite kind of pisco and why we should buy it. Moral of the story: ask any Peruvian and they can tell you what Pisco is, how it´s made, what their favorite kind is, and most importantly, why Chilean pisco is horrible.
5. Own a dog and put a sweater on it
I guess it´s because there are so many dogs running rampant here that the sweater signifies ownership. I would never actually believe that someone would put clothes on a dog for any other reason.
6. Refer to limes as lemons
I know they do this in a few other Latin American countries as well, but again I just don´t get it.
7. Work really hard...all day
This is very admirable. From what I´ve seen, people here work their butts off.

Salud

quechua

I don´t mean to offend anyone, but to me, the Incan language Quechua sounds a lot like baby talk.

biblio¨lame¨a

Ok let me explain...

Been doing a bit of work on a report for use with the microfinance project so my colleague, Marta, and I figured what better place to do research and gather sources than at the national library (biblioteca) of Peru. Talk about culture shock.

This place is nothing like what I grew up on back in the States and or what I knew from VT. First of all before we even enter the library we have to state our purpose to guards stationed out front. Then we proceed to a security check-in where we have to give the serial numbers of our computers, among other information. Now we finally enter the library building and must BUY a pass to do anything. 8 soles later we head up to the study room. Both of us wearing backbacks, we have to take out the materials we are using and lock our bags in a locker. Now, realizing we both had computer, the library attendant kindly reminded us we have to pay for the use of energy. Seriously? This meant walking back downstairs, getting a form written, then walking to the cashier, paying, and finally bringing your receipt back to the library attendant. Ok, now all that was done. It was time to immerse myself in some books, the real reason I came.

Unfortunately, that would be impossible. After walking in I first realized there were no books anywhere...maybe in another room I thought. I was right, however this room is inaccessable to the public. One must know the book he/she is looking for or find it in an electronic card catalog then request the library attendant to go retrieve it. This was really frustrating because I love so much the freedom back home to browse aimlessly among the shelves or have that one book you´re looking for and navigate your way through the dewey decimal system to locate it. These are simple satisfactions, but things you´re just unable to do here.

The past week I´ve been eating a lot of sandwhiches. I LOVE crafting the perfect sandwhich. There´s nothing like it. It´s definitely an art and I admire anyone who has those skills to create something so delicious. As the materials I typically use back home seem to be unavailable here, I´ve been seeing what the street restaurants have to offer, and let me tell you, there are some artists here. My most savory experience to date would be that at a small corner shop called ¨Club Sandwhich¨close to my house. I ordered the shreaded chicken topped with cheese, lettuce, bacon, chips, and aji (a spicy mayonaise type sauce). And they even toast the bun on the grill. One bite had me head-over-heals for this place. An explosion of taste in my mouth. These things make me happy...and I think Club Sandwhich and I are going to have a long, fruitful relationship.

Until next time...