Graduation to Expert Level Bus Traveler

I now consider myself to be an expert bus traveler.  I passed my final exam last week when I made the trip from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Piura, Peru exclusively by bus.  It was a doozie.  I calculated over 72 hours of bus time in five days.  As crazy as it may sound, I've met people who have done more (like a trip from Bogotá Colombia to Lima in 3 days straight, or a Lima to Buenos Aires trip).  Thats why I'm only an expert bus traveler, not professional yet.  I honestly hope to never get to the professional level.
But in order to get to the expert level there are more qualifications required than pure quantity or "seat time."  The quality of the bus experience is a crucial element in the advancement of bus expertise.  During my journey I had plenty of quality moments, but I would like to dedicate this post to one leg in particular.

I arrived in Puno, Peru at about 7:00 P.M.  My destination for that night was Arequipa, which was 3 hours away in Combi (minivan) or 6 hours by bus.  I had two friends waiting for my arrival in Arequipa, and I was looking forward to getting some rest at their place after the previous night's 18 hour overnight bus.  The terminal for the Combis was close to where I got dropped off, so I ignored the bike-taxi's offer to take me there and enjoyed stretching my legs and walking for a change.  I stroll around the corned and see a combi loading up its last passenger.  "Para Arequipa?" I ask.  Yes it was heading there, but it was full.  I would have to wait till the next one.  That was fine because I wanted to use the restroom and get some water anyway.  So I waited.  And waited.  After 15 minutes of waiting I started asking around about when the next combi would come.  Peruvians love to give you an answer even if they don't know the right one, so its kind of a game asking questions down here.  I try to feel out who is the most knowledgable and do what they say.  The final answer I got was that the last combi had left just a few minutes ago, I would have to take the 6 hour bus.

I get on and it isn't one of the luxury buses but I'm happy to have a row all to myself.  I take a quick nap and we arrive in Juliaca to pick up more passengers.  The crowd tonight consists of me, the odd ball out, and a healthy dose of Spanish-only-speaking peruvians and the bi-lingual serranos, or indigenous people native to the Titicaca area.  The serranas, or mamitas (indigenous ladies) may look cute for pictures but I know that underneath their black bowler hats, braided hair, and puffy skirts lies a sleeping dragon that no one in their right mind would intentionally disturb.  Actually, sleeping dragon is probably an incorrect depiction, the dragon is awake and ready to strike at any moment.  The bus starts to pull away as two mamitas start arguing up front and I sit back into my seat and get ready for the ride.
The chofer starts another random asian kung-fu movie dubbed in spanish.  I try to look at the title - "----- Man II"  I can't decipher the first word but whatever movie it is, they made two of them.  I start to recognize the characters and then realize that I've seen this one before!  They showed it on some other bus in some other city.  Then it hits me, I've been on so many bus rides that they have ran out of asian movies and have started to repeat.

We are traveling at about 13,000 feet so I start to get a bit of a headache from the altitude.  I rummage through my backpack for my bag of coca leaves, and.. whats this..?  I find a leftover mandarin orange from lunch!  Its like christmas.  I take it and the coca leaves out of my backpack and peel the orange and eat it, seeds and all because I have a belief that the seeds will kill whatever parasites I may have.  I finish my orange and resume my search for coca leaves.  Its not in my backpack pocket anymore.  Where did I put it..? Could I have left it on my seat?  I look in the crack between the seat and the wall and see the bag down there.  Score! I found them.  I pull out the back and instead of being my coca leaves its some leftover who-knows-what from who-knows-when.  Disgusted I shove it back in its cavern and in a germ induced frenzy I squeeze about half a bottle of hand sanitizer into my palm and it overflows, cleaning at least some part of the floor.  I look under my seat and find the coca leaves next to my backpack.  The bag is tied shut so I'm still fine.

I look back up at the movie and its now reaching its climax.  The final fight has started but the disk starts skipping.  I hear groans from the people around me. About 3 minutes away from the final climactic moment the disc stops.  Everyone is disappointed but amidst the complaints I smile.  I already know how it ends.  Instead of staring at the screen hoping it comes back on I look out the window and see thousands of stars.  The night is clear and the only lights come from our headlights, so the sky looks amazing.  The stars look brighter here, maybe because I'm closer to them.

At some point on the rumbling road I drift off to sleep.  In my semi-unconscious state I feel the mamita next to me lean in to snuggle.  She is fast asleep but I quickly readjust my position to avoid the unwanted peruvian attention.  Wait, wait a second.  Did I hear someone peeing?  And no, its not coming from the bathroom, rather its a few rows in front of me on the right.  No, it can't be someone peeing, it has lasted too long now.  I'm slightly comforted that it wasn't pee, but also slightly disturbed that I think so lowly of this bus that my first association with that noise was pee.

I relax into the journey and look at the stars.  Thats when I smell something burning.  A lady in the back starts yelling "Smoke, Smoke!" She wakes up everybody on the bus.  "Tell the drive the wheel is burning," she yells.  The smell gets worse and she starts coughing like Ben Stiller in Zoolander. (cough cough "I've got the black lung, Pop" cough cough)  Finally someone opens a window and the lady in back, in order to get the driver's attention, starts banging on the wall until everyone yells at her to stop.  She does it a couple more times for good measure.  By that point I'm laughing, and I'm probably the only one who thinks this is funny.  My six hour bus ride, full of trash, serranos, angry passengers, smoke, beautiful landscapes, and asian movies is so perfectly Peruvian that I can't help but laugh.

Combi ride to Puno, where I would then take the Bus to Arequipa

The Daily Grind

Its a bit of a different feel working in South America rather than just traveling through here, or working in some office somewhere.  While the "work" I'm doing is mainly just volunteer work, to me at times it still feels like a stressful job, although a different type of stress that a clock-in clock-out type of job.  I don't really have a boss that gets mad at me if I mess things up.  Thats a plus.  I also get to see interesting things, like the guy who stuck a screwdriver blade up his nose on a bus in Lima in order to get us to buy chocolate.  He was an ex-con who is trying to turn his life around by selling chocolate instead of robbing people.  I bought the chocolate.   But the downside of working down here is if I mess things up then I have to deal with the consequences, which may mean a long bus ride somewhere or quite a few apologies.  For example, one day while I was in Lima I got a phone call from a district president in the North of Peru who said that he was running late to the chapel and was wondering how long we would be there.  "Be there for what?" I thought.  Then I realized that instead of the 29th of June, like we had originally planned, he had told all of the Moms to bring their children to the chapels the 29th of May for the evaluation, and I was no where nearby.  In that situation the only thing to be done is apologize and hope he lets us work with him in June.  

As a whole the work has been enjoyable.  I'm helping start nutrition projects for Liahona Children's Foundation all throughout western South America, which sounds a lot harder than it really is.  In reality the whole process is pretty simple.  I, or someone with the foundation, calls a stake president (ecclesiastical leader) and asks if we can weigh and measure the children in that area to see if there are any that are malnourished.  We set a date, and we show up on that date to weigh and measure the children.  After that the ones who are below the World Health Organization standards for height and weight receive nutritional supplements each month through a local coordinator that we choose during the nutrition evaluation.  

For such a straightforward approach things sure can get complicated.  Not including those who cancel, or change dates for the evaluation, the majority of the issues arise when there has been a lack or communication to the community about the project.  Lots of times people think that American doctors are coming to give free medical services to everybody.  More than once have I had someone angry with me because I wasn't a doctor.  In those situations I usually recommend one of my mom's natural remedies or "witchcraft" cures and see what people's reactions are.  My favorite is the mom's who are worried about a child with a cough or runny nose.  I always recommend a lemon and honey tea, but I tell them to put a few chile peppers in it, and see what it does.  They never believe me, but that is my homemade remedy that I've sworn by for years.  Its probably good that I'm not a doctor.  

Anyways, another problem that seems to happen in the evaluations is that no one shows up.  For me this is the one that hurts the most.  Recently we screened two towns in the northern Bolivia/Brasil border.  Both have districts, which is a smaller version of an LDS stake.  In one evaluation we had about 30 kids show up, and 3 entered the program, one of whom was on the verge of death.  In the other area, which is less than an hour away, over 115 kids showed up and more than 50 entered the program.  The reason it hurts when no one shows up is because I'm guessing that there are malnourished children in both towns, but we can only help those who show up to get help.  

A lot of people think that giving handouts is the worst way to help people.  In all honesty what we do is basically give handouts to mom's so that they have something to feed their starving child.  In the states we can't really understand the situation of the people here.  We think "Get a job" or "learn how to eat healthier" or "I'll give you a loan so you can get yourself out of the situation you're in."  While in some cases these philosophies might be true, its a little hard to tell someone to get a job when there are no jobs to be had.  And its hard to give a loan when there is no market for them to sell their goods.  And its hard to tell someone to eat healthy when they don't have anything to eat.  We Americans have a hard time fathoming someone not having anything to eat.  But sadly, its a reality.  Some children eat one meal a day, if they even eat a meal, and their bodies visibly suffer.  One of the children that entered the program from the town where only 3 entered was so malnourished that I knew from just looking at him that he would enter the program.  We use three standards in order to tell if someone is malnourished; height for age, weight for age, and BMI.  He was extremely low in all three.  He looked a year or two younger than his age and rather than a smiling, or crying baby, (both of which signify life), he looked like a limp shell of a human being with barely enough energy to care that there were strange people measuring him.  

Seedy Hotels and Floating Islands

In all honesty I wasn't planning on writing tonight, but I'm stuck in my hotel room wide awake waiting to skype someone about stuff with the foundation.  What else was I supposed to do?  I'm surprised that the internet is working so well.  I guess thats as good a reason as any to take advantage of the time I have and write a little bit.
Today I got to see the floating Islands on lake Titicaca.  I found out that they pronounce the c's like the h in hanukah.  Its a throaty sound.  Titicaca means grey puma or stone puma, depending on the local dialect.  Pumas were a big deal for the ancient inhabitants of Peru.  Maybe thats why BYU has so many study abroads and internships in Peru, because we have the same mascot.

The islands were incredible.  They each last 50-100 years but require constant maintenance.  Each island is about 9 feet thick with floating chunks of root comprising the base, and reeds stacked on top to keep everyone dry.  I asked a girl if they ever fall in the water.  She laughed and said they did, but they all know how to swim so its fine.

The reason I'm in Puno is to rescreen a stake that is already participating in the nutrition program.  We did that yesterday.  The town we went to is on the Bolivia-Peru border and is called Yunguyo.  Everyone in the town has rosy cheeks because its so cold, and most of the women wear typical clothes.  We screened a few kids, in reality not too many showed up.  But there was one girl who entered the program and was severely malnourished according to the measurements.  I saw how low she was and it was a real blow.  Some of these kids don't have much to eat, and what they do have isn't very healthy or nutritious.  They like to eat this thing here called Chuño, which is basically mashed potatoes (feet are used to mash them) made into a ball and left out to dry.  Then when they want to eat they boil and rehydrate the black potato ball and voilà.  As bad as that sounds it actually tastes pretty good.  The thing that I don't like is chuños cousin (I forgot the name), which undergoes the same process but is left in a river for a while.  It ends up transparent and has a taste like the fat left on the pot after you cook a roast.
Well I've digressed.  Before coming here to the land of Chuño I was in Cusco for a week or so.  I saw Machu Picchu, hiked Machu Picchu Mountain and saw a chinchilla in its natural habitat.  However I think my highlight of the stay in Cusco was riding horses above the city to a few Inca ruins.  We hopped on the horses and rode to famous sights, and some sights that we had never heard of.  One had a sacrificial table deep inside a rock.  Another was a labyrinth of caves and tunnels called Area X.  The views were incredible, with vast plains looking over Cusco valley.  On the way back we were late to the last site, so we galloped across the plains and made it just in time to see it before it closed.  Well almost in time.  We got kicked out after 10 minutes but at least we saw a little.

Thats all I'm going to write for right now.  Hopefully later I'll write more, probably when I'm in another seedy hotel with surprisingly good internet.

Peru again?

Right now its about 9:30 pm and I have a flight tomorrow morning at 6 AM, which means I have to get up at 3 to get to the airport on time.  I should be packing seeing as my clothes are sprawling across the couch and my air mattress that has been my home for the last few nights, but instead I choose to write my first blog post of my new adventures in Peru.  Why did it take me so long to write my first post?  Lets just say that I've regretfully become a bit jaded, and frankly haven't felt the desire to broadcast my life on the world wide web.  But tonight is the night that I finally got the upper hand...

It all started on my plane flight from DFW to Lima.  I'm working with Liahona Children's Foundation again, but this time there are BYU interns that are also helping with the projects.  I'm in sort of a accessory position to the interns because I know the area and the foundation, so I help them with their respective projects.  But I digress, It all started on the flight.  After we board the plane we were told that the fuel gage wasn't working properly, so we would need to wait to take another plane.  That was all fine and dandy, I actually enjoyed the chance to eat some decent Texas BBQ.  But that also meant that we would arrive in Lima around 4:00 AM, and we had to work the next afternoon.

Thats how it started.  The following events included my debit card being eaten by the ATM machine with no possible way to get it back, almost following through a tin roof (that one was my fault for sure), missing busses because of schedules and not booking in advance, missing a screening entirely (that happened today, but is a story for another time), having my passport stolen, and sitting through endless hours of Lima traffic just hoping to get somewhere eventually.

My list is not exhaustive, but in all honesty none of the individual events really were that big of a mental/psychological blow.  Most of the time it didn't really effect me that much.  But I think a combination of the stress of setting up screenings, taking care of interns, and all of these events was creating somewhat of a dark cloud hovering over me.  Not the good kind that keeps Moses from sweating too much in the desert, but the gloomy one that looks like its always going to rain.  But tonight the tables have turned.

The last couple of nights I have been sleeping on my air mattress on the floor of a lady in Lima's living room.  I prefer to be here than in the cramped bedroom of the interns, but there is this pestering clock that every hour on the hour plays a song then chimes bells for the number of hours that were completed.  Its not the classy grandfather clocks, but rather a cheap K-Mart throwaway that has shrieking speakers and a song that is longer than anyone would care to listen to.  The last few nights the clock woke me up every hour.  Needless to say I don't appreciate Latin home decorations.  Well, as I was packing up my stuff the clock did its thing again.  My frustration plumed and I decided to take a look at the thing.  I had never examined it before, but upon casual examination I noticed how easy it would be to take a battery out, thus putting the clock out of its misery until its owner noticed that the time was no longer accurate.  By the time she noticed that I would be hundreds of miles away.  My plan was flawless.
I looked around, and finding no one in sight I lowered the clock and tried to dislodge a battery just enough to stop the current.  I ended up pulling the battery all the way out and it fell to the floor.  For a moment I considered picking it up and trying to lodge it back into the clock in order to hide any evidence that it had been tampered with.  Then I realized that I really didn't care if they knew that I tampered with it.  I left the battery where it was and hung the clock back up, feeling for the first time in a month that I had come out on top, I was a champion.

Bethlehem and Christian Lessons

Well, its Christmas time in the Jerusalem Center.  I know it is before thanksgiving, but out of the spirit of our locations most of the students are already watching Christmas movies and making paper snowflakes.  The best part so far about this holiday season is that I still can wear a t shirt outside.  The weather is perfect.  There is also nice tropical fruits and palm trees.  I can understand why God made this place the chosen land.  

Last week we visited Bethlehem.  It is the only time we get to go because it is in the West Bank, and we aren't allowed to visit there, only on special occasions.  We went to a church which is above the Cave where traditionally Jesus was born.  The line was forever long to get into the cave!  We waited well over an hour, but we got to walk through and touch a gold star that the Christian pilgrims put in the cave.  After that, and a great bedouin meal, we went to a field that is across a valley from Bethlehem.  The valley had a bunch of caves, olive trees, and sheep with their shepherds.  It would have been something similar to the field with the shepherds that the angels visited the night that Christ was born.  We had a Christmas program type thingy planned, where someone reads a scripture, then everyone sings a song, and so on.  Everyone was being pretty serious and contemplative when all the sudden I see a fire erupt on the other side of the valley.  It wasn't a fire that started from a spark then slowly grew, it literally just erupted out of no where.  Oh man I lost it.  Everyone was getting distracted and watching the fire when all the sudden another fire starts right next to it.  I notice that there is a small group of Palestinian boys on the hill above it, across a road.  They are throwing what turns out to be Molotov Cocktails down the hill into the field.  A smile comes to my face just thinking about it.  Our Christmas program continues on, but by this time we all are just watching the boys and the fire.  Next we see a cop car that looks almost like an armored vehicle drive up and some men get out.  One of the kids runs towards them and the cop opens fire with rubber bullets, and it looks like they threw some type of gas as well.  The kids take off the other direction and I'm still laughing because our big spiritual program was interrupted by Molotov cocktails and rubber bullets.  It was perfect, it definitely put me in a good humor.  I asked one of our security guards about it the kids and their motivations afterwards.  He assured me that they are just kids trying to have a little fun.  I told him that if I were to have that kind of fun in the states I would be thrown in jail.  He just laughed and admitted that they can have more fun here.  

'Tis the Season for sure.  

On a more serious note I had a really cool experience with my brother's Palestinian friend from when he was here in the summer.  I went out with a small group of students and my brother's friend into the old city to just look around and have some fun.  We walked to Damascus Gate to walk into the Old City, and I was admiring how beautiful it is here with all the palm trees and buildings with domes.  Damascus Gates is notorious for pick pockets, and even though I've never seen one or had a problem with them, I'm always careful going through the gate.  While we're walking through my brother's friend sees a mother with a child begging for money.  The mother doesn't say anything, she is just sitting agains the wall and asking with her eyes for help.  My brother's friend, without saying a word, turns back to the lady and hands her some money.  I know this sounds like a small thing, but I realized that I hadn't seen any of the Jerusalem students, or Christian tour groups give beggars money in the Old City, or anywhere for that matter.  That doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, I just haven't seen it.  But walking through the city with my Brother's Palestinian friend, who is a Muslim, I remembered what it meant to be Christlike.  I thought that was a cool lesson from this week. 

Well, I'm excited for this next little while.  At the rate that I'm writing these blogs I might only finish one more by the time I'm done.  It has been a great experience so far and I really appreciate the people and the cultures here.  They are so different than what the news or media portrays.  

Bye!

Spiritual fires are burning baby!

Me at the Jordan River.  Its kinda muddy!

Turkey and other common misconceptions

Well, as you may guess from the title of today's Blog, I'm addressing some misconceptions.  First off,  Turks don't eat much turkey.  As for other common misconceptions, I'll have to think of them as I write.
One thing of interest, which is actually the reason why I decided to post today, was one of the things I learned on my trip in Turkey, at the Museum at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.  This museum, well, its one of a kind.  First off, I've never seen so many jewels in my life.  They have one of the biggest diamonds in the world, (86 carats (17 g)), they have tons of swords and most of them have jewels in them, and they have hairs from the prophet Muhammad's beard.  Talk about cool.  In the exhibit where Muhammad's beard hairs are found they have lots of other important religious artifacts, including Moses' staff artifacts from Mecca.  So this is my main point today- Because of the religious importance of that room with all the artifacts, a previous sultan had required the Koran to be read outloud without stopping, every day.  I walked through the rooms and sure enough, in the last room with Muhammad's beard and cloak there was a man reading the Koran.  It was pretty cool, they read in such a distinct manner, changing intonations so it sounds musical.  I love listening to it.  
As far as the rest of the Turkey trip went... It was amazing.  I did eat Turkish delights, my favorite was the pomegranate and pistachio.  Mmm thats good.  I went to a few bazaars and loved seeing all of the spices and food that they had out.  Their ice cream is made out of goat milk and is the best! They give you a small scoop, but it goes a long way because it is so stick.  You can lick the ice cream and make a peak 6 inches high.  Good stuff.  
I saw some pretty impressive ancient sights, including Ephesus.  It was so crowded there, but so big.  The Temple of Artemus is nearby.  It is one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, but all that is left is half of a pillar.  There were other more impressive sights.  
The library of Ephesus is really cool.  Its huge and has intricate carvings covering the whole face.  The other good part is the tourists that go see it.  Not only did we get pictures of the ruins, we also got some good shots of shirtless sunburned tourists with beer bellies.  I'll have to post that one too.  
Well, now I'm back from Turkey.  I still have some cool things to say about Jerusalem though.  And some more misconceptions to clear up, but some are political so if you aren't into that, then just skip over it.  

But before that, I have good news.  Yesterday I found a great fruit store.  I got a pomelo.  Mmm it was so good, and a bunch cheaper than before.  Exploring the Wadi Joz neighborhood was a much-needed break from being in the center.  And more good news.  Today I found another fruit store that is even closer to the center!  I got two pomegranates.  Mmmm so good.  They were huge and red and delicious.  My friend got a Guanabana (thats the spanish name, I don't know it in english).  It was good too.  I think fruit is my favorite drug.  Which I've been needing because its finals for a few of my classes and stress levels are running high in here.  It doesn’t help that most people haven’t left the center for days.  I can't handle that.  That is why I had to get out today and yesterday to find my goods. 

Speaking of finals, I have another common misconception that needs correction…The Two State Solution.  I’ve been learning in my class about the formation of Israel, and my other class from the Palestinian perspective, about the ins and outs of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and possible solutions.  Basically, the conflict isn’t over religion as many people think.  That may be a part of where some riots and stuff like that break out, but there are much bigger issues at play.  But since I’m on the subject I might as well add that many Palestinian Arabs are Christians, not Muslim, but they of course support Palestine.  That may help illustrate that this isn’t a religious conflict. 

Basically, the Jewish people were promised this land at the End of WWI by the British.  The British made a bunch of other deals and didn’t follow through with their promise.  Eventually, the Jewish people were given only part of the land they were promised, so they weren’t happy.  And the Palestinians weren’t happy because their land was taken from them. 

Now people talk about a two state solution, which is basically what my mom did to my brother and I when we were kids.  “You go to this room and you to the other and don’t talk till I tell you to come out.”  Unfortunately, you can’t do that with millions of people who all live in the same communities.  So that’s one reason why the two state solution isn’t the best idea.  
Thats all I'm going to say about the subject.  There are other things that are more fun for me to talk about.  For now though I'm going to call that good.  If I make it any longer I may have to print it out and bind it into a book.  Ok, till next time.  Peace!

Jerusatime

Contrary to the title, my blog has now extended itself to the Middle East, quite a big feat for such a fledgeling Peruvian blog.

I've been here for about a month and a little bit, mainly in the BYU Jerusalem center but also with a short stint in Turkey.  This time around I've decided that I'm going to try to put pictures in between writing in the blog, instead of all at the end.  That way more people will read all the words instead of just skipping to the bottom for the pictures. 

Ta Da!

I figured out how to put the picture on.  This is the Dome of the Rock!

My friend Alex found Jesus in Old Jerusalem!

...

Just Kidding, I didn't know how to get the picture in right there.  Maybe I'll figure out later.  

The Jerusalem center is really nice, the best part is that its really close to the city, so almost every day I get some time to walk out into the city.  

I'm going to have to share some stories of the happenings of the city when I get the chance.  Right now I just can't think of much.  

Last night I got back from Turkey.  It was amazing!  Istanbul was a magical land of Mosques and mustaches.  All I could ever hope for.  The first two days I spent in Istanbul.  I visited the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.  Both are breathtaking and amazing, and completely covered in calligraphy.  I also went to a museum and the palace that had one of the worlds biggest diamonds, 64 Karat or something, and also had a hair from the Prophet Muhammad's beard!  

We then went on a river boat ride on the Bosphorus Strait.  Man some of them Turkish guys (and gals) have some big houses.  I was surprised by how rich some some of the people are there.  I guess Turkey produces a lot of cars and stuff like that, so they probably make their money doing that or selling Baklava.  Mmmm, speaking of Baklava, I had the best Baklava there, just about every day.  But a girl in my study group says that she can make better, so its my goal to see if thats true.  Their Baklava is just drenched in honey... So gooood.  

We then took a trip down the coast to visit a bunch of New Testament sights.  

Lots of cool ruins but the best part were the views around the sights, and the lizards and turtles that are everywhere.  

Also, the ruins were cool.  We saw Ephesus, which was an awesome sight.  There were cats everywhere.  And Asians.  

I also went swimming in the ocean a couple times.  It was so cold, but worth it.  We got back to the hotel with about a half hour of sunlight left and about half of the 80 people in the group changed into their swimsuits and jumped in the water, even though our professors strongly discouraged it because of the temperature.  It proves to me that we are still stupid fun loving college kids.  I'm glad to be me.  

We saw a few more cool ruins.  My favorite was Miletus (or something like that) because it wasn't as restored as the rest of them and we were able to just explore for a while.  I found a building that had clay piping used for water (I think).  And I found 4 tortoises.  They were cool.  One of the highlights of the sight.  

One the way back I made my friends take a shortcut with me that ended up being about 5 minutes longer.  We cut through a grove of olive trees to make it back to the bus in time.  See, things always just work out.  

Well, 

Thats enough for this time.  I promise I will put pictures up soon.  In the mean time I will enjoy my perfect view of the Dome of the Rock, and my Baklava in the city.

Shalom!

Last Peru Blog

Blog-

The last few days have been pretty crazy.  I know I just barely wrote a post, but I feel like writing another.  Besides, by the time I finish this one it will probably be another two weeks, and I will be past due on my blog things. 

After Santo Domingo I made it to Quito.  I made it there alright, but quite tired. My feet and lower legs are covered in purple spots from some type of fly that had a feast of me when I was in the village near esmeraldas. 

Quito was a very pretty city.  I stayed with a friend of Brad Walker, and they took care of me really well.  From the terrace of their apartment you can see two snow covered volcanoes.  I woke up early enough to see the sunrise (5:30 AM to be exact).

I didn’t mean to wake up then, but the daughter had an archery tournament and had to get ready.  Since I was already up, I went to the terrace to watch it rise.  It was magnificent.  Its cool to see pink clouds surround the volcano, with the city in the foreground. 

From Quito I took the bus ride to Otavalo, or so I thought.  As I was pulling into the city I began to notice a lot of signs about Ibarra, which is a city just north of Otavalo (about an hour on Bus).  I thought, “Well, I hope they are just trying to promote Ibarra by putting billboards in Otavalo.”  When I got off the bus my suspicion was confirmed and I had arrived at Ibarra.  I had to laugh about it.  I made some calls and tried to rearrange my schedule, then went to find some food to eat.  I asked a lady how to get to the center of the town, and started walking the way she pointed.  As I walked I saw a church up on the hill, and since there are usually restaurants near churches, I decided it would be a good place to go.  I found a place, met some Colombians there and ate with them for a bit, then went to wait a bit longer till I could call the coordinator of Ibarra.  After 7:30 or so I went to a phone booth to make the call.  For the life of me I can’t figure out how to make phone calls in this country.  There was a guy there with his wife who helped me out, and we started talking.  He was a really funny guy, really nice too.  After the call I had to wait till 8 to call again, so I said I would just go wait in the park by the church till then.  He got serious and told me not to go there, because it was dangerous.  (I had just came from there).  He also warned me about the Colombians from this area (I had just eaten dinner with them).  Since I was already two for two I decided to try one more.  I asked him about the area by the church that I went to for the restaurant, and the market that I had passed through.  Both of them were bad places two, according to him. 

Seeing that I could use some protection, he had me stay in the store till I had to leave, then he called a taxi for me to go to the bus station.  Well, by that time the busses had all left, so I took a taxi to Otavalo. 

I think I’m lucky that I was in Otavalo instead of any other city in Ecuador at 9:30 pm in the street waiting for my ride.  The people here have to be the nicest people ever.  Most of them speak Quichua, in addition to Spanish, because they are the native people of this area.  The men all wear long braids, and they all have the coolest clothes.  A group of young guys stopped and talked with me on the street and taught me a few words in their language, then went on their way.  I felt a lot safer after that.

The rest of my time in Otavalo was great.  I stayed with the stake president and his wife, who is also the area coordinator for the program, and they took such great care of me.  I bought a bunch of cool souvenirs and wore their typical clothes to church.  

On Sunday night I took the long bus back to Guayaquil, then to Machala.  I stopped there again to say hi to the coordinator and see how things were going.  She is doing such a great job.  She made a deal with the local health centers and got free supplements for a bunch of the kids, and is ready to go.  She also made me rice with fresh crab and clams, so I can't complain.  

At 11:30 I took the overnight bus back to Piura.  I was happy to be back, its nice to stop traveling for a bit.  I realized that I had been gone almost three weeks!  I thought I was only gone two.  When I got back I found out that the Abuelo I live with was in the hospital.  He had gotten a hernia from lifting too much stuff up at his farm.  They found him in pretty bad condition, his daughter was pretty worried.  I went to see him and he seemed just like normal, except that he was lying in a hospital bed.  It turns out that the week before that he had been at the farm, and had fallen off of the trail and broke his hip.  A few days later he said he was healed from that, and went back to work and that was when he got the hernia.  He is a lot tougher than I am.  After he got back from the hospital he was put out because his daughter wouldn't let him go back to the farm.  He asked, "what am I going to do around here?"  Well, at 6 a.m. a few days later I hear a noise outside and see him shoveling sand in order to clear a space to dry out his coffee beans.  He always finds something to do.

Things are wrapping up with the Liahona project.  The coordinator here is a girl my age, but is doing such a good job with the program.  We bought the "Sprinkles" supplement (chispitas) and soy powder. This next month we will get soy powder from a company an hour north of here, so it will be even cheaper.  We are just under our budget, which means that the project can continue to run as long as prices don't raise too much.  Once I get home I want to work on fundraising, so watch out, you may be hearing from me.  

I visited a few houses to hand out the supplement. It surprised me the poverty that I saw, even after being here three months.  A few of the families had practically nothing.  Dirt floors, they barely had roofs and walls (its a kind of mud and stick mixture for the walls), and sand gets in everywhere.  We committed all the moms to only give the supplement to the kid in the program, but I can see why they would be tempted to share it, because it looks like all the kids don't get enough to eat.  But we can only help a few, so we focus on the youngest because it has the greatest impact in their development.  More than anything the program seems to give moms hope that their kids will get better, because they worry so much about them but aren't able to do much.  Tomorrow I am going to visit some more kids in the program to get a better idea about the situation here.

Well, it looks like things are coming to an end.  This Saturday I'm coming home.  I'm excited for cereal in the morning, raspberries, and good ol' Utah mountains.  I've had a great time here in Peru and have been blessed more than I could have imagined.  The people here have done so much for me, and have shared so much.  I feel blessed to have been able to meet them and experience there culture.  They are truly some of the kindest and loving people I have ever met.  

See ya soon,

Me with the Presidente Gomez and Gisella, and the Abuelo.  

traditional fishing boat from Chiclayo

Sean

I'm writing this from Cuenca, Ecuador.  Its cold, rainy, and beautiful.  And the best part of all, you can drink the water from the tap!  This city is a big hit for couples that are ready to retire.  They bring their savings here, and can live the same type of lifestyle for a fraction of the price.
This last week has been a wild one.  In Piura we finally bought the Chispitas and they are on their way now.  I had to leave to come up to Ecuador before they came because we had some screenings planned in Machala and Cuenca.  The first screening in Machala was packed with people.  There were over 100 mothers waiting with their children when we showed up.  No one seemed to get the whole take a number concept so it got a little wild.  Luckily my friends from help international came with me and they helped get everything under control.  The stake also had a bunch of volunteers.  We probably had over 20 people working and we used every one of them.  It was actually really fun, I think it is the most I have enjoyed doing the screenings.
Its funny how different the people from Machala are from Piura.  Its the first major city across the border, but even the people have a different look about them.  And their food is different too.  Every morning we ate encebollado, which is a fish soup that you put banana chips on.  I loved waking up for breakfast.  I never thought I would enjoy fish for breakfast so much.
.... A week later....
Now I'm in Santo Domingo Ecuador.  This last week has been so crazy.  I just got back from the program in Guyacana (I think thats how its spelled.)  Its a small village in the middle of the forest by Esmeraldas.  Coolest place ever.  All the houses are built on stilts, and they just take a bath in the river there.  There are pigs, chickens, and animals walking around everywhere and fruit trees that I've never seen before.  They live right on this river and I got to swim in it.  It even looked like clean water.  I was in heaven.  And the bugs ate me alive.  They speak a cool dialect there and it was kind of funny to speak to Ecuadoreans who spoke less spanish as a second language, if they even spoke it at all.  The coordinator and her husband let me stay in their house for the night.  They made the best smoked chicken ever, with a whole bunch of green bananas.  But the coolest part of it all was that to get back to the city I had to get up at 4 am and take a 3 hour canoe ride down the river.  I was so wet and dirty by the end of it but it was so fun.
Before that I was in Manta and Guayaquil.  I've been visiting the programs in each area of Ecuador and checking up on whats been happening.  All of them seem to be running well, but there are always more kids whose parents want them to enter the program.  The good news is that the government here is doing a lot right now to help kids.  They give everyone the chispitas if they go to the health centers.  The mom just has to take the kid each month in order to receive the supplement.  It seems like most people here like their president.  Its kind of nice to hear someone say something positive about a political figure.  
I probably have more things to write about, but I'm going to leave it at this for right now.  I've really enjoyed getting to know the people here, and the food.  The next few days I will see the rest of the programs here then I'm going back to Peru!
Oh, speaking of Peru, they just delivered their first batch of Chispitas to the kids in Piura.  Yippee, it looks like things will work out.
Adios,
Sean

¡Hola!

Cute baby at the Machala Screening

Me in the Cajas, some lakes above 11,000 ft.  Brrrr. Cold.  But good trout.  

Iguana at parque de las iguanas.  This guy is a monster.  Raawwrr.  

Little kids in a house in the village of Guyacana.  Cool houses.  

The children of the branch president.  They got a kick out of my inflatable sleeping pad.  WWF style wrestling is common down here.  

On the river for the canoe ride.  This is probably around 6 AM.  Prettiest river I've ever seen. 

My aunt Kim asked me to put up another blog post.  I have just been putting it off.  A few minutes ago I was sitting in my room, not in the best mood, and just kind of frustrated of being stuck in the city for a little bit.  I miss the mountains.  After whining a bit, I just felt like I should go up on the roof, and maybe that would help.  When I got up there I walked over to the edge where I was met with the strong odor coming from the sewage plant in front of my house.  I just laughed at the irony of being sick of the city, and my one escape is now contaminated with the smell of the sewage plant.  Oh well, at least it gave me something to laugh about.
Things are moving along here.  Today I am meeting with someone to talk about prices to buy a soy powder that the kids mom's can make into a milk.  Soy is supposed to be good because it is high in fat and nutrients, and will help the kids have the nutrients they need.  If I can get the soy for cheap enough then I can buy another supplement called Chispitas, which has the micronutrients that the kids need.  So I'm hoping that things work out with that.
One other option that we have is having a factory here in Piura produce what we need.  It was cool how I found out about the factory.  The lady I live with has a niece that studied food engineering, and used to monitor a lot of the factories in Piura.  We became friends and she invited me to visit the factory because she knew that they had produced supplements in the past for malnourished kids.  We visited them and talked with the head engineer and he was more than willing to produce something for us.  They are looking to create a product to sell to the public, instead of just working off of government contracts.  So if the soy and chispitas doesn't work out, hopefully we can get them to make us something.
I had a good 4th of July down here.  I went with the kids in help international and they had a big BBQ with american food and everything.  They even got some fireworks from the market!  One lady made a cake with the american flag on it.  We all sang the national anthem and one kid held the cake in the front as we took a picture.  After it was done, as is tradition in Peru, someone smashed his face in the cake.  It turned out perfectly, he got a corner of the blue, and the rest was striped.  It was the american flag upside down on his face.
I also went to Canchaque a bit over a week ago. I cant remember if I wrote this in the other blog post or not..  Well, Canchaque is cool, its in the mountains where the people I live with have their land.  I went and helped pick fruit and coffee.  I ended up staining all of my clothes from carrying bananas.  The lady I live with told me to be careful, and not to carry all of them at a time.  But me being the big man that I am, didn't listen, and I stained all my clothes.
I'm working on the whole, "listening to other people" thing,  but its been kinda hard because I definitely like to do things my own way.  I also have a hard time when people tell me to put my coat on because it drops to 70 degrees.  I usually just haven't paid them any attention, but now I just put it on so they will stop bugging me about it.  It isn't really that cold, I'm just trying to just do what they say so they will be happy.
I went to a birthday party for the lady I live with, with her work.  A mariachi band showed up and the table and played for like a half hour, trumpets blazing.  They brought out what I thought was chicha morada, which is a really good drink made from purple corn and pineapple.  I was going to get some but then they said it was sangria.  I guess sangria is some type of alcohol.  Well, they sure like their sangria.  About halfway through the dinner they brought another pitcher and told me it was chicha morada.  So I was going to drink it.   Then they told me they were just kidding and they got a kick out of that.  I was sad because I just wanted some chicha morada.
Well, This next weekend I'm heading up to Ecuador to do some screenings there.  Tomorrow we are doing a meeting for all of the volunteers that are going to help out here, so it should be up and running. Hopefully we can get the supplements bought tomorrow.
I'll keep you guys posted on what happens.  I'm excited to get up in the mountains of Ecuador, I have been missing nature.
Adios,
Sean